Re: [xsl] Why does using the XSL namespace default namespace preclude literal result elements in the empty namespace?

Subject: Re: [xsl] Why does using the XSL namespace default namespace preclude literal result elements in the empty namespace?
From: Aaron Hope <edh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 15:37:36 -0400
Trevor Nash wrote:

Because namespace-alias is used to swap one namespace for another.  It
has nothing to do with what prefix the XSLT processor uses in the
output: you do not get any control over this, though most processors
try to follow what is in the input.
It is a feature of the namespace recommendation that the empty
namespace cannot be associated with a prefix.  I.e. you can say
xmlns="" but not xmlns:null="".  If you want the empty namespace in
the output, then you have to reserve the default namespace for literal
result elements.  I guess somebody somewhere knows why?

Yes, please, "Why" is exactly what i'm looking for.


One way to address this problem, and other perceived shortcomings of XSLT syntax, is to write a stylesheet which takes something like

<stylesheet>
<template match="/">
 <h:html/>
</template>
</stylesheet>

and produces

<xsl:stylesheet
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"; version="1.0"

<xsl:template match="/">
 <html/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Its not hard.  Though you will have to understand what namespace-alias
really does, and you may end up finding out more than you really want
to know about white space handling ;-)

I suppose this is the most attractive approach. Thanks for the suggestion!

As to the "perceived" part, don't you see this as a shortcoming? Personnaly I find
such unnecessarily low signal to noise ratios mildly offensive. (Messy in life,
anal retentive in code ;) It was one of the most off-putting things about xsl
when we first met, an "Eww, gross" factor that kept me away for quite awhile.
I've since become aclimated to xml, and, well, I see xsl as our only chance for
a semantic web. I *have* to like it.


aaron


Regards, Trevor Nash -- Traditional training & distance learning, Consultancy by email

Melvaig Software Engineering Limited
voice: +44 (0) 1445 771 271 email: tcn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


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