Re: [xsl] When *not* to use XLST...

[Robert Koberg <rob@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 23, 2009, at 3:57 PM, Robert Koberg wrote:

> First, you wouldn't be the guy who wrote this garbage? :)


Sorry, I meant to include this link:

http://java.dzone.com/news/death-xslt-web-frameworks


> What version of XSL are you using? (answer should be 2.0 if using it  
> on the server :) )
>
> more inline...
>
>
> On Apr 23, 2009, at 2:50 PM, Shawn Milochik wrote:
>
> > I'm writing an online application (as in a form you fill out). When
> > printed, it's about 30 pages long, so the site has to be modular. I'm
> > putting sections of it into XML files and having XSLT process the
> > controls (text boxes, etc.) into HTML forms.
> >
> > XSLT is fantastic for allowing me to define XML and then create
> > dynamic text boxes, check boxes, and radio buttons. However, it gets
> > more complicated as need to add some advanced features. I'm wondering
> > if I should just create a (programming) class to handle my XML pages
> > and have my back-end code read the XML directly and create the  
> > dynamic
> > HTML instead.
>
> I would look at it in a slightly different way. How about using XSL  
> to pregenerate *as much as possible* (or comfortable) and then let  
> some dynamic language like JSP or whatever handle the runtime. In  
> other words, in the case of JSP, generate a JSP page. That way the  
> runtime does as little work as possible. Also, if your app is using/ 
> requires javascript, you can use the XSL to set up page specific JS.
>
> > Below are a few things I need to do. My question is whether these
> > things are easy or straightforward enough in XSLT, or whether I  
> > should
> > just be writing server-side code to do all this.
>
> do both where it makes sense.
>
> > As I said earlier,
> > I'm brand-new to XML (as of about two weeks ago), and have just  
> > pieced
> > a bunch of things together from Google searches to get it working so
> > far. I wouldn't really say I "know" XSLT -- only that I have "been
> > using" XSLT.
> >
> > 1. For some controls, I want to automatically create additional
> > controls. An example would be a table which, when generated, would
> > also need a set of text boxes (one per column in the table), which
> > would be used to edit data within a table row, or add a new row.
>
> what is the discriminator? Is it something that can be determined  
> before deployment based on some page attribute or do you need to  
> have info at runtime?
>
> > 2. If I have many simple controls in a row, for example 15  
> > checkboxes,
> > I'd like to have them two or three per line, rather than one per  
> > line.
> > Of course, it has to gracefully handle a number of items which  
> > doesn't
> > divide evenly by the desired number per line.
>
> modulus
>
> > 3. Some XML nodes of the same type may have some, but not all,
> > possible attributes. The HTML for one case can be different than
> > another.
>
> xsl:template/@match up your needs
>
> > It seems that XSLT is designed to turn XML data into a formatted
> > document, rather than use XML data to create dynamic forms, and maybe
>
> yes to the first part and no to second
>
> > I should just be writing code. I just wanted to check in with the  
> > list
> > to see whether the problem is more due to my lack of knowledge about
> > XSLT than limitations of XSLT.
>
> Yes
>
> > If that's the case, let me know, and
> > please recommend the best book for becoming a proficient user of  
> > XSLT.
>
> I learned XSL by diving into the docbook XSLs and modifying those.  
> As for books, the only one I never found useful was O'Reilly's  
> (which is strange). Mike Kay's is the bible
>
> > A final note which may help clarify what I'm asking for: The two most
> > challenging problems I've had so far were how to get the value of an
> > attribute of a parent node in the XSLT section that processes the
> > child,
>
> You can either pass it as a param or
>
> <xsl:value-of select="parent::*/@myattr"/>
>
> > and how to check to see whether any of the child nodes had a
> > specific value in a named attribute when processing the parent node.
>
> <xsl:if test="*[@myattr='foo']">
>
> </xsl:if>
>
> > Both are trivial to do with a class in a programming language by just
> > accessing a property or method. To be fair they're trivial in XSLT as
> > well, but the syntax to do takes a long time to discover by Google
> > searches.
>
> one of the best things you can do is follow and/or ask good  
> questions on this list. Include a small XML source, your XSL try and  
> the desired output. Usually doing this will eventually solve the  
> problem for you. But, if you are still uncertain, show what yo9u  
> have done and ask about a better way.
>
> best,
> -Rob
>
> > Thanks,
> > Shawn