Jernigan, TieSha wrote:
So I have a fairly general question. I am using XSLT 2.0 and am
interested in creating user defined functions. Which construct is better
to use... xsl:function or a named template?
Indeed fairly general, but not easy to answer. The answer lies somewhere
between your own taste, the places where you are about to use the
function and what return type the function has. If you want to be able
to use your function within XPath syntax, you *must* choose a function,
and not a named template. For reasons of personal taste, I tend to use a
function when it has to run recursively.
Other points you can balance are: A
- Are you writing a function library? Go for functions, they are easier
to maintain.
- Do you have a need for predefined values for your parameters? Go for
templates.
- Do you need tunneling variables? Then templates is your onely option.
- Is all you need to do manipulating some atomic value (i.e., string,
integer, double, url etc), then using a template is overkill.
- Do you need the current execution context (i.e., do you want to act
on the current selected node etc?)? Then your two options are: passing
the node on to the function (bad idea) or use a named template, which
won't loose the context.
- Do you like named parameters, for their ease of mnemonics? Use a
named template with params
I want to replace it with .....
<greater>upperfreq</greater>
<lesser>lowerfreq</lesser>
You do not necessarily need a function for that. Just use plain template
matching, like as follows:
<xsl:template match="greater">
<xsl:text>upper</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="." />
</xsl:template>
Cheers,
-- Abel Braaksma
http://www.nuntia.nl