FW: node-set() function in MSXML?

Subject: FW: node-set() function in MSXML?
From: "Evan Lenz" <elenz@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 15:13:31 -0700
[re-sending this; sorry if it got posted twice]

Thanks, Mike.  I have one more question.  If XSLT had originally had native
support for accessing RTFs as node sets, would it have looked any different
than what MSXML does (ie. just referring to the variable without a
node-set() function)?  Or is there a semantic difference between the two
such that it would only make sense if you tacked on an additional function
to indicate that the RTF is being accessed as a node-set?  In other words,
in future versions of XSLT, should this support then be added as a
node-set() function (as you suggest on page 462)?  And, if so, would that
only be because that's the way it has been done in the past (Saxon, xt's
node-set(), etc)?  Or, if they were starting from scratch again, would it
make sense to simply allow the RTF to be accessed as a node-set without any
functions, as MSXML does?  I'm trying to put my finger on why the spec
allows only a subset of the operations permitted on a node-set.  I can
understand what they are, but not why.

<excerpt>
A result tree fragment is treated equivalently to a node-set that contains
just a single root node. However, the operations permitted on a result tree
fragment are a subset of those permitted on a node-set. An operation is
permitted on a result tree fragment only if that operation would be
permitted on a string (the operation on the string may involve first
converting the string to a number or boolean). In particular, it is not
permitted to use the /, //, and [] operators on result tree fragments. When
a permitted operation is performed on a result tree fragment, it is
performed exactly as it would be on the equivalent node-set.
</excerpt>

Thanks,

Evan Lenz
elenz@xxxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Kay Michael
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 10:56 AM
To: 'xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: node-set() function in MSXML?


> I tried your stylesheet with Saxon and with MSXML3, and it
> worked for both.
> However, I still don't entirely trust it.  Is it really safe
> to assume that
> the processor will not choke on the attempt to access an RTF
> as a node-set
> because it won't come across that code at run-time?
> Especially if we're
> talking about compiling stylesheets--that's where I'd have my
> doubts about
> this stylesheet's portability.

The stylesheet is portable among a finite set of known XSLT processors.
Which is better than not being portable at all.

Mike


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