Re: [xsl] SAX ParseException error: expected )

[Michael Kay <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

An XML name cannot begin with ".". So after

number(.

the only things that can legally come next are either ")", or an 
operator such as "+", "div", or "/".

It's not a good message. Sometimes when you get a poor error message, 
it's worth trying another XSLT processor to see if it gives you a better 
one. Saxon on this one gives you:

Error at xsl:when on line 24 column 67 of test.xsl:
  XPST0003 XPath syntax error at char 9 on line 24 in 
{(number(.DisplayPrice)}:
    expected ")", found name "DisplayPrice"

The "expected ')'" when there are many other symbols that could occur is 
symptomatic of a top-down parser, which typically only reports what it 
was expecting as a 'last resort'. A bottom-up parser that builds a 
finite-state machine would know all the possible symbols that could 
validly occur in this context.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

On 29/09/2011 21:28, aellath wrote:
> Hello! i wish i could tell you versions, etc., but i am modifying code  for a webstore my boss is opening, and everything goes through IAModules. i'm not even allowed to see the .jsp files they're using, much less tinker with *them*. all store inventory data is xml, and the jsps wrap html around various xsl files, pulling data from the xml files.
>
> i'm trying to get the product page to show certain text if the product selected is on sale, based on code found in IAModules' knowledgebase, but i keep getting
>
> <blockquote>
> XSL Transform Error:
> java.lang.Exception: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: expected )
> Message:org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: expected )
> </blockquote>
>
> i've checked and rechecked, i had others check and recheck, and no-one can find where the ) is missing. i know it's in the following block of code, because when i remove the one block, the page works (as original, though, not as what i want).
>
> <code>
> <xsl:choose>
>     <xsl:when test="(number(.DisplayPrice)&lt; number(./Price4))">
>        <p style="color:red; font-style:bold">On sale now! Regularly $<xsl:value-of select="./Price5" /></p>
>        found sale<br />  <!-- just to reinforce, whilst testing -->
>     </xsl:when>
>     <xsl:otherwise>
>        not on sale<br />  <!-- again, just for my reference whilst testing -->
>     </xsl:otherwise>
> </xsl:choose>
> </code>
>
> There's only one line with ( ) in it, and there are three complete pair there.
>
> Can anyone see where i'm missing a )? or would know why *else* that error would get thrown?
>
> i'd ask IAModules, but i'm afraid they'd see it as a chance to charge us for design-time.>P
>
> Thank you!
> aellath