Re: [xsl] zero width no-break space to prevent tag minimisation

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew,

At 04:27 AM 10/17/2008, you wrote:
> > You've said you can't use the insert-a-comment workaround, although you
> > haven't said why.
>
> The comments are stripped out at a later stage, followed by more
> stages of parsing/serialising which cause the then empty element to
> use the empty element syntax...

I figured it was something like that.

> > Would the reason you can't also preclude your using a similar hack, such as
> >
> > <div><span/></div>
>
> Good idea... seems too simple :)  I'm trying to think back - why isn't
> this the standard approach?  (why do we bother with inserting
> comments, #160s etc?)

I think we generally prefer a comment because it best fits the 
implicit requirement of "do no harm" to the data. (I think the #160 
thing probably hearkens back to the nbsp hack for common browsers' 
display of HTML tables, plus it's invisible while not subject to 
whitespace-stripping.)

Of course, the same reason comments do the least harm to the data is 
the reason why they don't always work -- since in some applications, 
like yours, they are considered by the same reasoning to add nothing, 
hence subject to stripping.

It's a good example of how the best solution is actually sensitive to 
the requirements -- "best" is relative. You have an edge case so 
what's usually best isn't best for you. (And what's an edge case for 
me might be normal for you -- something developers frequently forget. :-)

Another possibility to consider is plugging a nugatory PI in there as 
your doorstop:

<div><?open and close?></div>

-- which might be the in-between choice. (Dunno if your process drops 
PIs along with the comments.)

Cheers,
Wendell



======================================================================
Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                    Direct Phone: 301/315-9635
Suite 207                                          Phone: 301/315-9631
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in SGML and XML
======================================================================