[xsl] Newbie question - does the built-in template rules output the attribute node?

["Paul Moloney" <paul_moloney@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

Another newbie question, this time about XSL itself
rather than xsltproc. (sorry!)

Quoting from XSLT for Dummies, it says:

------------------------------------8<----------------------------------
For text and attribute nodes, a built-in template rule copies their
text through into the result tree:
<xsl:template match="text()|@*">
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
</xsl:template>
In this rule, the match pattern returns all text nodes with text() and
all attribute nodes with @*.
The xsl:value-of instruction then transforms the current node to the
result tree as text.

------------------------------------8<----------------------------------

However, if I run this against a blank stylesheet:

------------------------------------8<----------------------------------
<!-- miniscore.xml -->
<score id="1">Text here
   <film name="I should see this attribute">A Little Princess</film>
   <composer>Patrick Doyle</composer>
   <year>1995</year>
   <grade>100</grade>
</score>

------------------------------------8<----------------------------------
The result is:

------------------------------------8<----------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>Text here
A Little Princess
Patrick Doyle
1995
100
------------------------------------8<----------------------------------

However, since the attribute node name is supposedly matched,
I expected:

------------------------------------8<----------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>Text here
I should see this attribute
A Little Princess
Patrick Doyle
1995
100
------------------------------------8<----------------------------------

Can anyone tell me where I'm wrong?
cheers,

-pm

http://oceanclub.blogspot.com

"It is said that at the age of 55 each man becomes what he most
despised at the age of 25. I live in constant fear lest I become
a badly organised trip to Bournemouth."