Re: Simple API for XSL?

[Paul Prescod <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ray Cromwell wrote:
> 
> But there is still a need to reuse the XSL matching engine as
> a query API, 

That isn't necessarily possible because a query API can only work over a
fixed data structure. I don't think we can require all XSL implementations
to use the DOM. XT doesn't, for example. This is just another aspect of
the problem wherein XSL's matching language should be standardized
separate from XSL for use in XPointer and XQL.

> a standard error reporting and debugging API besides
> just XML errors (like malformed template expressions), 

All filters must report error messages.

> and
> a standard way to retrieve the results of processing
> (a DOM tree or an OutputStream stream)

The results of processing are XSL events. That's what it means to be a
filter!

> Even on the Unix command line filter model, there are lots of things I
> can do (like specify arguments, redirection, substitution, etc), likewise,
> there are things besides "input stylesheet" that need to be defined.

I don't doubt that there are some options we will want to set. I think
that's the topic of the ModSax thread on XML-DEV right now.

-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for only himself
 http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

"Intel has a big bull's-eye on its forehead because everyone is gunning
for it. But they have to be as nimble and aggressive as they were when
they were a small company," Mr. Howe said. "It's easy to be nimble when
you're a $5-billion company, it's a whole other thing when you're a
$40-billion company." 
    - http://www.globeandmail.ca/gam/ROB/19990217/RPENT.html


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