RE: [xsl] name() of root element

Subject: RE: [xsl] name() of root element
From: Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2003 12:34:07 -0500
At 10:42 AM 4/1/2003, Stuart wrote:
The XPath "/" does not return the document element (the element in which all
others are contained), but the root node, which is an abstract higher-level
container which contains everything (including any comments, etc., which do
not fall within the document element). It has no name, it just is
(nominalist metaphysics notwithstanding).

Nominalism has no problem: it merely asks how you define "name". Is a "name" something you call something, or is it a string returned by the name() function? (Ah, Romeo!)


The fact that at the start of an XPath "/" means the root node, whereas
anywhere else it is the step delimiter can be confusing.

As can the fact that in XPath, "name()" is a function (which takes an optional node-set as an argument), but "text()", "comment()" and "node()" are node tests.


Cheers,
Wendell



======================================================================
Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                    Direct Phone: 301/315-9635
Suite 207                                          Phone: 301/315-9631
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in SGML and XML
======================================================================


XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list



Current Thread