RE: how to include an ampersand in an html href using xt and xsl?

Subject: RE: how to include an ampersand in an html href using xt and xsl?
From: "John Sidlo" <jsidlo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 14:39:48 -0500
I was wrong - having an "&amp;" in the href does not appear to cause
problems.  I was being mislead by another problem.

Please ignore my comment about the flaw in the xslt specification, with
apologies!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Sidlo [mailto:jsidlo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2000 11:16 AM
> To: Eric van der Vlist; xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: how to include an ampersand in an html href using xt and
> xsl?
>
>
>
> Eric, thanks for your response. You've confirmed my suspicions/fears.
>
> To the XSL community:
> In my opinion this is a flaw in the xslt specification. Most
> (all?) existing servers use the ampersand in query string to
> separate parameters, and the xslt spec expressly forbids
> generating an ampersand in an attribute (see section 16.4 of
> XSL Transformations).  While it is fine for the xslt
> specification to by default require HTML 4.0 conformance, I
> believe it should allow 'disable-output-escaping="yes"'
> within an attribute, especially when so many servers and CGI
> implementations require it.
>
> It seems to me the only choice I have is to post-process the
> html output string to generate href's with ampersand!
>
> I hasten to add that if I'm wrong about this, I'd love to be
> corrected (even chastised)!
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Eric van der Vlist [mailto:vdv@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2000 2:58 AM
> > To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; jsidlo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Re: how to include an ampersand in an html href
> using xt and
> > xsl?
> >
> >
> > John,
> >
> > This (<a href="foo&amp;bar">xxx</a>) is conform to the HTML 4.0
> > recommendation (see B.2.2,
> > http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/appendix/notes.html#h-B.2.2 ) :
> >
> > > For example, to use the URI "http://host/?x=1&y=2"; as a
> > linking URI,
> > > it must be written <A href="http://host/?x=1&#38;y=2";> or
> > > <A href="http://host/?x=1&amp;y=2";>.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> > Eric van der Vlist wrote:
> > >
> > > Ooops, sorry,
> > >
> > > It's producing "<a href="foo&amp;bar">xxx</a>" !
> > >
> > > Sorry
> > >
> > > Eric
> > >
> > > Eric van der Vlist wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hi John,
> > > >
> > > > ---------------
> > > > <xsl:template match="/">
> > > > <a>
> > > >  <xsl:attribute name="href">foo&amp;bar</xsl:attribute>
> > > > </a>
> > > > </xsl:template>
> > > > ---------------
> > > >
> > > > Is just working fine (tested against XT) !
> > > >
> > > > Hope this helps.
> > > >
> > > > Eric
> > > >
> > > > John Sidlo wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm trying to generate an href like...
> > > > >
> > > > > <a href="foo&bar">xxx</a>
> > > > >
> > > > > using xsl similar to...
> > > > >
> > > > > <a>
> > > > >  <xsl:attribute name="href"><xsl:text
> > > > > disable-output-escaping="yes">foo&bar</xsl:text>
> > > > >  </xsl:attribute>
> > > > > </a>
> > > > >
> > > > > and a variety of permutations on this theme.
> > > > >
> > > > > Section 16.4 of XSLT "Disabling Output Escaping" seems
> > to say that
> > > > > putting ampersands in attributes is flat-out illegal!
> > ("Thus, it is an
> > > > > error to disable output escaping for an ... xsl:text
> > element that is
> > > > > used ot generate the string-value of a ... attribute node")
> > > > >
> > > > > But & is a common character in href's.
> > > > >
> > > > > I must be missing something somewhere.
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
> > > > >
> > > > >  XSL-List info and archive:
> http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> > > Eric van der Vlist
>       Dyomedea
> > >
> > > http://www.dyomedea.com
http://www.ducotede.com
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> Eric van der Vlist
Dyomedea
>
> http://www.dyomedea.com
http://www.ducotede.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
--

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric van der Vlist                                              Dyomedea

http://www.dyomedea.com                          http://www.ducotede.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------


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