Subject: Re: [xsl] Apply-templates - how to omit top level element tags? From: Jon Gorman <jonathan.gorman@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 15:50:07 -0500 |
On 9/8/05, Mike Schinkel <mikes@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> Are the examples in the spec not to your liking? > > It isn't whether I like them or not, it's whether I can understand them > easily. The problem is they explain in words but not in examples. > > So, for example: > > "* selects all element children of the context node" > ". selects the context node" > "{no explicit definition of node()}" node() is a node test, the most general form. It's true for any node, and since pretty much everything is a node, it'll always be true. In most situations it's kinda like "while (0==0) {}". One other issue I found confusing was the split between reading XSLT and the Xpath specs. Figure out the general layout of XPath first. > > But no: > > Given > <Make><Name>Honda</Name><Model><Name>Civic</Name></Model><Model><Name>Ac > cord</Name></Model></Make> > > then > "*" refers to.... > "." refers to.... > "node() refers to... > > And so on. > Ahh, I see. When I first started using XSLT I used the book "Mastering XSLT". To tell the truth, I don't know if what I picked up with it. It was only when I let it sit for a while and went back did I really start getting the hang of it. And that was more through reading the specs and playing with different xml inputs and sources. I don't know of any good sources of examples like that, but I'm sure there's quite a few people out there that can suggest some. > To understand http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath requires you to understand the > terms in the way they are used, which for a newbie, requires > chicken-or-egg logic. Examples help the newbie learn the context in > which the terms are applies so that they can they learn the subject > which the terms are used to describe. True, but this is pretty much the same for nearly anything to do with computers. I learned any programming language. To really understand and manipulate SQL requires understanding of set theory and logic. You might want to start with section 5 and then use the previous sections to define things. > For example, my editorial team for http://www.howtoselectguides.com/ is > pushing me to drop the use of XML publishing and move to publishing in > Word. Doing that will kill my ability to use the content in numerous > contexts, but because XML/XSLT is so difficult for the laymen, I may be > forced to. It's one of those problems I'm rather puzzled about too. XML is very flexible but I have yet to find many tools that I could be pretty sure that most people would be comfy with using. I somewhat optimistically believe better tools are arriving. Jon Gorman
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