Re: [xsl] [xsl-list] Storing an XPath fragment in a variable

[David Carlisle <davidc@xxxxxxxxx>]

   I'm using the following partial XPath expression...:

   [name()='RED' or name() = 'GREEN' or name() = 'BLUE']

It's almost always better to use the self:: axis rather than name()
(name() is not really reliable if namespaces are in use)

   ... in several locations in my stylesheet:

   <xsl:for-each select="/*/*[1]/*[name()='RED' or name() = 'GREEN' or
   name() = 'BLUE']">

   <xsl:for-each select="*[name()='RED' or name() = 'GREEN' or name() = 'BLUE']">

better to do /*/*[1]/*[self::RED or self::GREEN or self::BLUE]

or, if you are using XSLT2 draft,

/*/*[1]/(RED|GREEN|BLUE)



   Is it possible to store a fragment of an XPath expression in a
   variable

No. Variables store values not expressions so this is not posisble.
If you are selecting the same nodes then of course you can save the
selected node set in a variable, but if you are selecting different
nodes then you can't use a variable.

    or is there another method of eliminating redundancy that I'm
   not aware of?

XML has a standard macro pre-processor that you can use if you want,
<!DOCTYPE xsl:stylesheet [
<!ENTITY mypath "*[self::RED or self::GREEN or self::BLUE]">
>]
<xsl:stylesheet
...
<xsl:for-each select="/*/*[1]/&mypath;">
...


   Thanks in advance,
   Jason


David

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