Re: [xsl] XPath element constructor

[Michael Kay <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This relates to two of the distinguishing characteristics of XSLT, which 
are closely related:

(a) it's a two-language system: XPath is embedded in XSLT, and as such 
the combination isn't fully orthogonal (the embedding only works one 
way; to invoke XSLT logic from XPath you have to go via functions or 
variables)

(b) XSLT is an XML vocabulary, which means it can't play the kind of 
games that XQuery plays, for example by allowing elements to be nested 
within attributes.

These characteristics of XSLT of course have significant benefits, which 
are presumably familiar to regulars on this list, but they also have 
drawbacks.

Michael Kay
Saxonica


On 28/08/2012 21:55, Jakub Mal} wrote:
> Hi,
> lets say, that somewhere in an XSLT context, I want to do this:
>
> <xsl:sequence select="<my-cool-element>foo</m-cool-element>" />
>
> But that is too insane, so I rewrite it like this:
>
> <xsl:sequence select="element my-cool-element { 'foo' }" />
>
> Only if constructors were supported in XPath.
> But I CAN create new nodes in XSLT context!
> So I end up with:
>
> <xsl:function name="my:const-my-cool-element" as="element()">
>    <const-my-cool-element>foo</const-my-cool-element>
> </xsl:function>
> .
> <xsl:sequence select="my:const-my-cool-element()" />
>
> Yay :(
> There is no question, really.
>
> Jakub.