Re: [xsl] reverse and forward order

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:57 AM 4/11/2003, David wrote:
> What Dave means about paremthesese is
>
> ancestor::*[1] gives you the first ancestor in reverse document order
>                ie your parent
> whereas
> (ancestor::*)[1] gives you your first ancestor in document order, ie
>                 your most ancient ancestor; Adam (or Eve) in some
>                cultures.

This leads to a bit of funniness, so that

ancestor::*[1] gives you what Dave says

preceding::*[1] gives you the most recent preceding element

(ancestor::*|preceding::*)[1] gives you the first of the union of both node 
sets, in document order, namely the document element

so if you want to get the <preceding> element here

<ancestor>
  <preceding>I'm preceding<preceding>
  <node>I'm the context node</node>
</ancestor>

but the <ancestor> element here

<preceding>I'm preceding<preceding>
<ancestor>
  <node>I'm the context node</node>
</ancestor>

you have to do (ancestor::*|preceding::*)[last()]

Cheers,
Wendell


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