Re: [xsl] Set variable via contents of <variable> element

[Martin Honnen <Martin.Honnen@xxxxxx>]

Rowan Sylvester-Bradley wrote:
> As I understand it, I can set the value of a variable in two ways:
> 1. By the "select" attribute of the <variable> element:
> <xsl:variable name="myvariable" select="'myvalue'"/>

That way the variable 'myvariable' is of type string.

> 2. By the contents of the <variable> element:
> <xsl:variable name="myvariable">
>   My value
> </xsl:variable>

That way, with XSLT 1.0, the variable 'myvariable is of type result tree 
fragment. With XSLT 2.0, the variable is of type document-node() I think.


> The reason I need to do this is because I want to set the variable 'usethis'
> to the result of a <choose> element which (as far as I know) I cannot
> include in a "select" attribute. Also in my real example 'this' is a
> parameter.

Do you use XSLT 1.0 or 2.0?

With 2.0, are you aware of the XPath 2.0
  if (condition) then expression1 else expression2
conditional expression that might help to use
  <xsl:variable name="myvariable"
                select="if (someCondition) then foo else bar"/>
to use the select attribute.

For XSLT 2.0 also http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20/#variable-values might 
help, in particular that table explaining how combining the 'select' 
attribute and/or the 'as' attribute and/or the content of xsl:variable 
decide the type of the variable.

--

	Martin Honnen
	http://msmvps.com/blogs/martin_honnen/