[xsl] Hash / Translation Tables (the right way)

[Hank Ratzesberger <hankr@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi

I know that XSLT code can be a verbose, but often enough I
find that it's because I'm not using the language as
intended, so I'm asking for your thoughts.

I'm having some problems with constructs like hash tables or
indexes, which are quick in other languages but presently I
am using some brute force with.  E.G.


<xsl:template name="month-of">
  <xsl:param name="mon"/>
    <xsl:choose>
      <xsl:when test="lower-case($mon) = 'jan'">
        <xsl:value-of select="'01'"/>
      </xsl:when>
      <xsl:when test="lower-case($mon) = 'feb'">
        <xsl:value-of select="'02'"/>
      </xsl:when>
      <xsl:when test="lower-case($mon) = 'mar'">
        <xsl:value-of select="'03'"/>
      </xsl:when>

It seems there must be a way to accomplish this with
a simple sequence. Months of the year, days of the
week, and other one to one translations from the
textual to ordinal or vice versa.

Cheers,
Hank

--
Louis (Hank) Ratzesberger
sopac.ucsd.edu