Re: check if nodes match xpath expression

Subject: Re: check if nodes match xpath expression
From: Dimitre Novatchev <dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 12:21:46 -0800 (PST)
Christian,

Thank you for your high appreciation of this "great little tool". :o))

> > <xsl:if test="count(. | $SelectedNodes) = count($SelectedNodes) ">

> Thanks very much for that trick... This should be in the XSLT FAQ! 


The above is not a trick at all -- it is such universal law of set
theory and logic, that it's actually an axiom -- one of the pieces of
knowledge that do not have to be proven, because they are at the base
and start of everything.


> However, the stylesheet we need must not depend on microsoft
technology
> since we have to use it in a variety of operating systems, so the
> visualiser is out of the question. 

I think you're quite mistaken here. The XPath Visualiser does not rely
significantly on proprietary technologies at all. Here are the facts:

1. The html output generated is displayed in Netscape (4.7) without
problem -- apart from the minor issue that nodes cannot be collapsed,
the formating, hilighting and syntax colouring is displayed perfectly
OK. You can try this for yourself -- copy the source of the lower frame
and save it to a file -- then display it with Netscape.

2. The stylesheet that does 100% of the processing (although heavily
based on the original MS defaultss.xsl) is pure XSLT and could easily
be used with another XSLT processor. The only extension function that
is used is to get the "xml" property of a node. Something like this
will be necessary regardless of which XSLT processor is being used. The
reason is that it is not possible without extensions to determine the
fact (of) and exact location of a namespace definition. 

Consider the fact that IE is a browser with one of the best XML/XSL
built-in support and also used by 70-80% of all users, and you could
understand why many developers do not believe in universal solutions
and do not feel enough masochistic to try to implement such.

Cheers,

Dimitre Novatchev.

P.S. About colours -- I haven't changed the colour scheme used in the
IE defaultss.xsl and I like it.


-------------------------------------
Christian Nentwich wrote:

> I'd greatly appreciate receiving any comments reflecting your
> experience with the XPath Visualiser.

> <xsl:if test="count(. | $SelectedNodes) = count($SelectedNodes) ">

Thanks very much for that trick... This should be in the XSLT FAQ! The
XPath Visualiser is a great little tool. I have used it in talks for
lightning introductions to XPath. I think it is particularly valuable
as
a teaching tool.

However, the stylesheet we need must not depend on microsoft technology
since we have to use it in a variety of operating systems, so the
visualiser is out of the question. My summary: Great stuff, but only
under windows. And also, I had to change the colours because the
default
ones killed me :) (Colour customisation wasn't that easy because, for
example, it's not that easy to see from the documentation which class
is
the colour for the '+' character)

-- 
"If anything can be linked, it will be linked." - xlinkit
Christian Nentwich Dept. of Computer Science, University College London
+44 (0)20 7679 7190 - http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/c.nentwich




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