[xsl] Global namespace prefixes

[Nathan Potter <ndp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings,

I have the situation that I need to use (create elements in) a  
namespace whose name is contained in, but not a declared namespace of,  
the input document for my XSLT.



Input:

  <Dataset xmlns="http://xml.opendap.org/ns/DAP/3.2#"; base="http://base.document 
">
    <Attribute name="Conventions" >CF-1.0</Attribute>
    <Attribute name="logname" />olson</Attribute>
    <Attribute name="host" />bb0001en</Attribute>
  </Dataset>


XSLT:

  <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
       xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";
       xmlns:dap="http://xml.opendap.org/ns/DAP/3.2#";
       >
    <xsl:output method='xml' version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'  
indent='yes'/>

    <xsl:template match="dap:Attribute" mode="body" >
        <xsl:element name="{@name}" namespace="{/dap:Dataset/@base}/ 
att#"><xsl:value-of>.</xsl:value-of></xsl:element>
    </xsl:template>

  </xsl:stylesheet>

And this works:

    <ns0:Conventions xmlns:ns131="http://base.document/att#";>CF-1.0</ 
ns0:Conventions>
    <ns1:logname xmlns:ns132="http://base.document/att#";>olson</ 
ns1:logname>
    <ns2:host xmlns:ns133="http://base.document/att#";>bb0001en</ 
ns2:host>

However this bit of creating a new prefix for every element - even  
though the namespace is the same - is a bit of a drag from a  
readability standpoint. From what I can tell the only way to get a  
single, global, namespace prefix into the result tree is for it to be  
declared in the xsl:stylesheet element of the transform.

Is that true?

If so then I think that means I need to modify the xsl:stylesheet  
document for each document processed.
Is that a reasonable design pattern?


Nathan


============================================================
Nathan Potter                 Oregon State University, COAS
ndp at coas.oregonstate.edu   104 Ocean. Admin. Bldg.
541 737 2293 voice            Corvallis, OR   97331-5503
541 737 2064 fax