[xsl] Why Should I Do It This Way ?

Team,

A colleague, who is not on this mailing list, has recently written a couple of
XSL stylesheets.
Here's one of them (device_description.xslt):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";>

<xsl:template match="/">
  <html>
  <body>
  <h1>
      <xsl:for-each select="device_description">
       <td><xsl:value-of select="@name"/></td>
       </xsl:for-each>
       </h1>
    <table border="1">
      <tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
        <th>Name</th>
        <th>Class/Style</th>
        <th>Access</th>
        <th>Slot</th>
        <th>Detail</th>
      </tr>
      <xsl:for-each select="device_description/param">
      <tr>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="@name"/></td>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="@class"/> / <xsl:value-of
select="@style"/></td>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="@access"/></td>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="@slot"/></td>
 <td>
 <xsl:for-each select="state">
         <xsl:value-of select="@value"/> = <xsl:value-of select="@caption"/>
<br />
       </xsl:for-each>
 <xsl:for-each select="values">
         min = <xsl:value-of select="@min"/><br />
         max = <xsl:value-of select="@max"/><br />
         step = <xsl:value-of select="@step"/><br />
         bigstep = <xsl:value-of select="@bigstep"/><br />
         default = <xsl:value-of select="@defaultvalue"/><br />
       </xsl:for-each>
 <xsl:for-each select="display">

 <br />Display as:<br />
         (<i>value</i> + <xsl:value-of select="@inoffset"/>) * <xsl:value-of
select="@multiplier"/> + <xsl:value-of select="@outoffset"/> <xsl:value-of
select="@units"/><br />
       </xsl:for-each>
      </td>
      </tr>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </table>
  </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>


This will take an XML file like this (this is an extract, not the whole thing)
:

<?xml version = '1.0'?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="device_description.xslt"?>
<!DOCTYPE device_description SYSTEM "device_description.dtd">
<device_description name="arc20" >
    <param class="enum" access="readonly" style="button" name="SDI_Input"
slot="8" >
        <state caption="Missing" style="" value="0" msg="" />
        <state caption="Present" style="" value="1" msg="" />
    </param>
    <param class="enum" access="readwrite" style="button" name="Filter"
slot="9" >
        <state caption="Video" style="" value="0" msg="" />
        <state caption="Film" style="" value="1" msg="" />
        <state caption="Mixed" style="" value="2" msg="" />
        <state caption="Film Eff" style="" value="3" msg="" />
    </param>
    <param class="range" access="readwrite" style="" name="Pan" slot="11" >
        <values defaultvalue="0" step="1" min="-180" max="180" bigstep="10"
/>
        <display inoffset="0" units="  px" outoffset="0" dp="" multiplier="1"
/>
    </param>
    <param class="range" access="readwrite" style="" name="Tilt" slot="12" >
        <values defaultvalue="0" step="1" min="-100" max="100" bigstep="10"
/>
        <display inoffset="0" units="  px" outoffset="0" dp="" multiplier="1"
/>
    </param>
    <param class="range" access="readwrite" style="" name="H_Blank" slot="13"
>
        <values defaultvalue="0" step="1" min="0" max="190" bigstep="10" />
        <display inoffset="0" units="  px" outoffset="0" dp="" multiplier="1"
/>
    </param>
    <param class="enum" access="readwrite" style="" name="Comms" slot="30" >
        <state caption="Fail" style="" value="0" msg="" />
        <state caption="OK" style="" value="1" msg="" />
    </param>
</device_description>


And convert it into an html equivalent.

I hadn't seen this until recently and when I did I thought "it shouldn't be
written like that, it should be more like this" (device_description.xsl):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";>

<xsl:template match="/">
  <html>
  <body>
  <h1>
<xsl:apply-templates mode="names"/>
       </h1>
    <table border="1">
      <tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
        <th>Name</th>
        <th>Class/Style</th>
        <th>Access</th>
        <th>Slot</th>
        <th>Detail</th>
      </tr>
<xsl:apply-templates mode="params"/>
    </table>
  </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="device_description" mode="names" >
       <td><xsl:value-of select="@name"/></td>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="device_description/param" mode="params">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@name"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@class"/> / <xsl:value-of select="@style"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@access"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@slot"/></td>
<td>
<xsl:apply-templates />
</td>
</tr>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="state" >
<xsl:value-of select="@value"/> = <xsl:value-of select="@caption"/> <br />
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="values" >
min = <xsl:value-of select="@min"/><br />
max = <xsl:value-of select="@max"/><br />
step = <xsl:value-of select="@step"/><br />
bigstep = <xsl:value-of select="@bigstep"/><br />
default = <xsl:value-of select="@defaultvalue"/><br />
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="display" >
<br />Display as:<br />
(<i>value</i> + <xsl:value-of select="@inoffset"/>) * <xsl:value-of
select="@multiplier"/> + <xsl:value-of select="@outoffset"/> <xsl:value-of
select="@units"/><br />
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>


I haven't yet discussed this with my colleague, but when (if) I do so he'll
say "Why should it ?", and I don't think I know the answer.
Can the list members (assuming you agree with me) provide me with a summary of
why the XSL stylesheet should be written in the latter style.

And would I be right that the file's extension should be .xsl and not .xslt ?

Regards,
Richard.





Richard Kerry
Colledia Control Engineer
Siemens IT Solutions and Services Ltd
Room 457 Drama Building, BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London, W12 7RJ
T: +44 (0)20 82259063 F: +44 (0)20 8576 8182 M: +44 (0)7921 244993
Email: richard.kerry@xxxxxxxxxxx <blocked::mailto:richard.kerry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Website:  www.siemens.co.uk/it-solutions
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