Re: [xsl] stylesheet organisation

[David Carlisle <davidc@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 04/09/2011 10:59, Alex Muir wrote:
> Something I'm just wondering for the sake of learning more...
>
> Had XSLT only defined an xsl:include in the spec and did not define
> an xsl:import such that I assume it would force the authors to use
> template priorities to establish precedence.
>
> Would XSLT...
>
> 1. Be lot less powerful such that you could not implement something
> in an xsl:import-less XSLT?
>
> 2. Be much more difficult to program certain things or perhaps just
> less convenient?
>
> 3 Be something else....
>
> ---

Having both xsl:import and xsl:include is probably one of the more
confusing and arguably least successful parts of the XSLT language
design, but I think one of the main factors governing the design of
xsl:import is that you should be able to take a big stock stylesheet as 
a black box (say the docbook or TEI collections) and over-ride templates
for specific elements without knowing too much about the internals.
hence the design that import precedence trumps priority.

On the other hand though, the fact that import precedence has such a
fundamental effect on template matching makes it hard to use xsl:import
as a means of splitting up large stylesheets purely for organisational
convenience, hence the need for xsl:include...


David


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