Re: [xsl] searching string! Need your help

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Norm,

At 09:25 PM 5/21/2002, you wrote:
> First I would like to thank all of you for all the help you have
> provided!!!
>
> I think my problem is very simple but I am having trouble making it to
> work.
> The xsl code should go through the document and find all the <super>
> tags. Instead I get this:
>
> [ERROR]: The markup in the document preceding the root element must be
> well-formed.
> (The xml file is well-formed but not the .fo file.  )
>
> <xsl:template match="node()">
> <xsl:copy>
> <xsl:copy-of select="@*"/>
>     <xsl:if test="contains(. ,'<sub>')">
>        <fo:inline baseline-shift="super" font-size=".75em">
>          <xsl:text>FOUND SUPER </xsl:text>
>       </fo:inline>
>   </xsl:if>
> </xsl:copy>
> </xsl:template>

As Stuart pointed out, your document isn't well-formed, which is why you 
are getting this error.

Yet even when you fix this, your technique won't work. This is due to a 
fundamental misconception you are laboring under with respect to the way 
XSLT handles a document.

By definition, the XSLT code *cannot* "go through the document and find all 
the <super> tags". This is because it does not see tags at all. A tag in an 
XML document is merely, in an XSL system, a notation that indicates the 
beginning of an element. By the time an XSLT processor sees it, the 
existence of this element has been noted (that's the job of the parser) and 
the tag is no more. It's the *element* that you match on or "find". You 
can't find its beginning apart from finding the whole thing -- and when you 
do, there won't be any tag there. (It'll have a type name, 'super', but no 
"tag".)

You are thinking of XSLT as a string-processing routine. It's not. Spend a 
few minutes on an introductory XSL tutorial and see if it helps illuminate 
things. Concentrate your attention on the XPath (XSLT) data and processing 
models.

Once you get the hang of it you'll find it's a very powerful way of 
working, and fun too.

Enjoy!
Wendell



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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
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Suite 207                                          Phone: 301/315-9631
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
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