Re: [xsl] XSL Variable not getting set

[Abel Braaksma <abel.online@xxxxxxxxx>]

mIchael wolff wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am using Saxon 8.8 and and trying to set a variable
> when a certain value is found in the node list.
>   

Setting a variable is something not possible in XSLT.

> When I walk through the code with XMLSpy debug, I see
> that the variable never gets set.  In fact,  it skips
> everything between the <xsl:variable> tags and goes
> right to the line: <xsl:if test="not(Found)">
>   

If you use XMLSpy Debug, you are not using Saxon anymore, but the 
internal XMLSpy parser, which is likely to do things differently, more 
so because it is still in the stages of adopting the xslt recommendation.

> Does anyone know what is wrong with this template?
>
>
> <xsl:variable name="Found">
>   <xsl:for-each select="current-group()">
>      <xsl:sort data-type="number" order="ascending"/>

You have a 'current-group()' here. But you do not have a 
xsl:for-each-group instruction. The current-group function will return 
the empty sequence when there is not xsl:for-each-group and as a result, 
the xsl:for-each in your code has nothing to do, which results in the 
empty sequence for the variable 'Found'.

The reason that the debugger does not step over it is probably because 
XMLSpy has optimized it away. If you could step over it using Saxon, you 
likely encountered the same behavior. For a processor, if it encounters 
your code, regardless the input, '$Found' will contain the empty 
sequence always.

As a consequence, your line with '<xsl:if test="not(Found)"> ' is the 
first stop for the debugger (nothing else to do before that).

Cheers,
-- Abel Braaksma