Re: [xsl] Default namespace in result document

[andrew welch <andrew.j.welch@xxxxxxxxx>]

> I have been using XSLT successfully for a few years now but have never
> tried to make namespaces work, mainly because at least one component in
> the system has not supported them properly.  I've now tried using them
> for the first time and although I get a result document that is correct
> it's not quite what I had expected.  Here's an example:
>
> [XML input:]
>
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <foo xmlns="http://example.com/foo";>
>    <blah/>
> </foo>
>
>
> [XSLT:]
>
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
> <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";
>    version="1.0"
>    xmlns:foo="http://example.com/foo";>
>
>    <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>
>
>    <xsl:template match="/">
>      <foo:root>
>        <xsl:apply-templates mode="copy"/>
>      </foo:root>
>    </xsl:template>
>
>    <xsl:template match="*" mode="copy">
>      <xsl:copy>
>        <xsl:apply-templates mode="copy"/>
>      </xsl:copy>
>    </xsl:template>
>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
>
>
> So the stylesheet contains literal result elements in namespace foo, and
> also copies elements from the input XML that are in namespace foo.  I
> was hoping to get something like this:
>
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <root xmlns="http://example.com/foo";>
>    <foo>
>      <blah/>
>    </foo>
> </root>
>
> i.e. the default namespace is defined on the root element, and no
> namespace things are used anywhere else.  But instead, using libxslt
> version 1.1.15, I get this:
>
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <foo:root xmlns:foo="http://example.com/foo";>
>    <foo xmlns="http://example.com/foo";>
>      <blah/>
>    </foo>
> </foo:root>
>
> This is not ideal because it makes files much larger than they need to
> be.  I guessed that there would be some xsl:output attribute to select a
> default namespace but I can't see anything that does exactly this.  I
> can't help feeling that I've missed something obvious.  Can someone
> suggest what I need to do?
>
> (I assume that this is also an issue for people trying to generate
> "HTML-compatible XSLT" - not something I have tried to do yet...)

Use a default namespace in the stylesheet, eg:

<xsl:stylesheet
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";
  version="1.0"
  xmlns="http://example.com/foo";>

(note the foo prefix has been removed)

This puts all literal result elements in that namespace, so you would
need to remove the prefixes.

This creates the result:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root xmlns="http://example.com/foo";>
   <foo>

      <blah/>

   </foo>
</root>

...which I think is what you are after.

cheers
andrew