Subject: Context node/Predicates in Expressions From: John Robert Gardner <jrgardn@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 13:18:39 -0400 (EDT) |
One more question of abstract nature. Reading XPath 3.3, viz. Node Sets, I saw the following: <snip> NOTE: The meaning of a Predicate depends crucially on which axis applies. For example, preceding::foo[1] returns the first foo element in reverse document order, because the axis that applies to the [1] predicate is the preceding axis; by contrast, (preceding::foo)[1] returns the first foo element in document order, because the axis that applies to the [1] predicate is the child axis. </snip> I can see that preceding::foo[1] returns the first foo element in reverse order--by this I am given to understand, the foo immediately preceding the context node. However, in (preceding::foo)[1], I do not understand the "discursive meaning" (cf. my prev. post looking for a human-readable meaning of "::") of the ()'s in this such that preceding::foo, when in ()'s, is child axis . . . It could be that I'm not "getting" the notion of context node. It makes clear sense to me, per 2.5, that "The most important abbreviation is that child:: can be omitted from a location step. In effect, child is the default axis. For example, a location path div/para is short for child::div/child::para." In the (preceding::foo)[1] example, I can't quite verbally/narratively parse this so I can wrap my head around it. I'm working for the assumption that, in such a stylesheet with a first template of: <xsl:template match="body"> The context node --unless something else has been specified-- is the document root, correct? Sort of "by default" -- rather than, for instance, the root element. thanks for any clarifications. john robert XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
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