RE: RE: [xsl] DOM and XML parser

Subject: RE: RE: [xsl] DOM and XML parser
From: "Didier PH Martin" <martind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 09:59:33 -0400
Hi aashut

Aashut said:
I guess it is the second edition as it has no where your name in 
writers list.

Didier replies:
Yes you're right. Too bad I won't have royalties from you :-)

Aashut said:
A third ,related specification is XPATH ,which is a language for 
identifying parts of (and locations in)an XML document."
Now what i want to ask is that the "Language is XSL or it is 
something else composed of THREE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES ". what 
should one call that he/she is using XSL or XSLT or .......?
And I am not getting any idea of any style sheet which can be 
formed only by XSLT or by XPATH.
Whenever you write any template match you are using XPATH and 
while writing what to do with that is when you use XSLT ?
So how can you separate those two when it is impossible to use 
them in isolation.yes XSL-FO is definitely something different and 
i have no doubt about that.
At the end i must say that may be whatever i have written is 
absolutely weird but I wish if you can explain me these things and 
clear any doubt whatsoever.

Didier replies:
In fact, the XSLT transformation language is a composite of several
languages:
a) XPath: This is a kind of location language. It provides a way to
refer to an object located in a document's tree. The XSLT element's
attribute "match" uses as value an Xpath expression. Notice that XPath
expressions have a different syntax than the one specified by XML. As
implied by its name, XPath refers to a "path". A way, a path to reach
the right tree's node.
b) XSLT: It's a transformation language based on an XML syntax. A
particular characteristics of XSLT is that the template element can
contain elements coming from namespaces/document types/schemas other
than XSLT. For instance, SVG, HTML, SMIL, HTML, XHTML, VoiceXML, etc...
elements can be contained in the <template> element. Therefore, a
template is, as implied by its name, a template of what you want to get
as output. Since you have to specify the matching rule indicating 1) the
XML document's node to be matched with and 2) the output template, you
use an Xpath expression as a value of the "match" attribute.

In conclusion: yes, XSLT is the composition of several languages
a) a pattern match or location expression (i.e. xpath) used as value for
the <template match="xpath..."> element. Notice that the Xpath
expression is used as a value (i.e. a string) of the match attribute.
b) XSLT is mainly a domain language used to define templates. A template
is simply a definition of what you want to get as output. A template
contains:
c) any other XML based domain language or any text based language if its
contained in appropriate XSLT elements. For instance, you can generate
JavaScript as the result of a match with a document tree's node or you
can generate an XML or a particular SGML based (i.e. HTML) domain
language. Frequently, the domain language in question is a rendering
language but it could also be a business transaction domain language or
a remote procedure call marshaling language (Ex: SOAP).

Hope this clarifies what XSLT is

Cheers
Didier PH Martin





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