Re: [xsl] Shorthand.

[Steve <subsume@xxxxxxxxx>]

> If you despise it, why are you using it? In the code you showed, there
> is no reason to use XSLT as all you are doing is using it as a
> procedural language and you can better do that with ASP (which already
> is procedural, whereas xslt is declarative).

I like XSL because it provides a natural division between presentation
and processing logic. I also like it because I find the practice of
outputting HTML with ASP gross. =)

> Good time to upgrade, though: ASP (before .net) is age-old and not
> particularly suited for building web pages anymore, and definitely not
> RIAs (which you seem to build) and MS is planning (or already did?) to
> stop support for it. (but this matter may bring us far off-topic, for
> many it is all a matter of taste anyway).

I've never needed MS support to use ASP. Also, I agree ASP is age-old
but so much of my application is in SQL and XSL, so ASP is really just
a light-weight middle man.

> > Yeah, my template works perfectly fine but I was just hoping for
> > something more akin a 1.0 version of Angela's 2.0 solution, for pure
> > style and type-ability reasons. If I could just magically go:
> >
> > <xsl:ajaxLink link='Click Me' href='process.asp' />
> >
> > I'd be thrilled!
>
> That's good. Lookup a couple of templates from FXSL, it demonstrates
> many techniques, among one the sell-referencing method, where you use
> your own namespace for your own extensions, something along the lines of:
>
> <xsl:stylesheet
>      xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";
>      xmlns:ajax="http://ajax";
>      extension-element-prefixes="ajax"
>      >
>
>     <ajax:link link='Click Me' href='process.asp' />
>
>     <xsl:template match="/">
>        <xsl:copy-of select="document("")/*/ajax:link" />
>     </xsl:template>
>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
>
> will output your ajax link.
>
> But if all you care about is having an LRE, you don't need this
> complexity, nor a call-template, nor apply-templates. Just write it as
> an LRE, period (but here we are, back to the original question I asked
> you: we need to understand your situation better to really help you).

LRE...least restrictive environment?

> > I can't really use apply-templates (a la Grand Mr. Welch) because I'm
> > not transforming links with XSL, I'm generating them.
> Still hoping for a context explanation from you, I haven't seen any
> reason in your code why you need xsl:call-templates. "Generating them"
> says as much to me as it would when you explain what exactly you are
> doing with ASP and you tell me "generating web pages". I am under the
> impression that you are taking the wrong approach and I would like to
> help you with it, but you're not making it easy. Whether you use
> apply-templates or call-template, has nothing to do with 'transforming
> links' either, I wouldn't have a clue of what that could mean (xslt for
> one cannot transform links, it can only transform an input tree of nodes).

I need xsl:call-template because as it stands I have to type out the
anchor tags manually across my site in XSL and I'd rather have a quick
short-hand for outputting them according to a standard format
(template, function, etc).

Here's the top of one of my templates. Does this help?

<xsl:template name="nav">
	<xsl:variable name="id" select="//id" />
	<fieldset id="navigation" class="oneCol">
		<div>
			<span id="consumerInfo">
				<xsl:value-of select="//firstName" />&#32;
				<xsl:value-of select="//MI" />&#32;
				<xsl:value-of select="//lastName" /> &#32;<br />
				&#35;<xsl:value-of select="//consumerID" />
			</span>
			<span id="menu">
				<xsl:call-template name="a">
					<xsl:with-param name="href" select="concat('id=',$id,'&amp;xsl=basics')" />
					<xsl:with-param name="text" select="'Basics'" />
				</xsl:call-template>&#32; &#124; &#32;
				<a href="#"
onClick="showData('process.asp?id={$id}&amp;xsl=intake','body');return
false;">Intake</a>&#32; &#124; &#32;
				<a href="#"
onClick="showData('process.asp?id={$id}&amp;xsl=goals','body');return
false;">Goals and / or <abbr title="Independent Living Plan">I L P
</abbr></a>&#32; &#124; &#32;
				<a href="#"
onClick="showData('process.asp?id={$id}&amp;xsl=eContacts','body');return
false;">Emergency Contacts</a>
				&#32; &#124; &#32;
				<b>
					<a href="#"
onClick="showData('process.asp?id={$id}&amp;xsl=contacts','body');return
false;">
						<xsl:choose>
							<xsl:when test="//status = '' or //status = 'Open'">
								Contacts
							</xsl:when>
							<xsl:otherwise>
								Contacts
							</xsl:otherwise>
						</xsl:choose>
					</a>
				</b>
             --- etc ----