[xsl] test multiple parameters or just write a new template?

[sue butler <sbutler@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I've been working with XSL for a few months now and can do must things. 
There is one issue that crops up a lot, though, and I'm not sure of the 
best way to solve it.

I am doing lots of template calls so that I can make my code as flexible as 
possible. Often I find that I could reuse a template, except I need to 
alter it slightly. Say I can't do this by simply overriding it, because I 
need it to function slightly differently in the same file. Is it better to 
parameterize one template and test the parameter to select desired 
behavior, or should I just be writing an entirely new template? Sometimes 
the behavior differs in four ways, say, and the template has other 
parameters, so there gets to be a lot of testing and parameter-passing 
going on.

I'd send the code, but there's lots of other stuff going on in it, so maybe 
the example below will be enough.

Example:
	I have a template that creates an HTML form allowing users to create a 
hyperlink in their user account.
	The template is in its own stylesheet and gets imported whenever I need it.
	Generally the importing stylesheet uses this Hyperlink template two or 
more times (so I can't do a blanket override of the 		behavior I need to 
change)
	It has four text fields: link name, link title, URL, and icon.
	That works for one case.
	In another case I want the URL text field to be a drop down list of user's 
exising links, but other fields remain the same.
	I already have to pass in two parameters and execute a choose statement to 
determine whether I'm creating a new link or 	modifying an existing one. 
This is why I'm not sure if I should do yet another test or just write 
another template.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Sue
	


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