Re: [xsl] Locating an attribute and its value indirectly

["G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 2011-11-07 12:57 -0500, Wendell Piez wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 11/7/2011 12:32 PM, Michael Kay wrote:
> > > On 11/4/2011 9:27 PM, G. Ken Holman wrote:
> > > > The current() function returns that node that was current at the
> > > > beginning of the evaluation of the XPath expression.
> > >
> > > I'm sure Ken won't mind if I add a little color commentary. It may
> > > help to keep in mind that the "context node" is an XPath concept,
> > > while the "current node" is an XSLT concept.
> >
> > That's the way the 1.0 specifications described it. In 2.0 both specs
> > speak of the context item, and the current() function, rather
> > inelegantly, is defined as returning "the item that was the context item
> > at the point where the [XPath] expression was invoked from the XSLT
> > stylesheet. "
>
> I suppose that's understandable, inasmuch as XSLT 2.0 in general is 
> being pulled in the direction of a generalized data processing 
> language and not just a tree transformation language. (What with 
> xsl:for-each no longer selecting -- or, some day, template rules no 
> longer matching -- only nodes.)
>
> Yet I dare say it may help to keep a rough distinction in mind in any case.
>
> So does this also mean the concepts of "current node list" etc. go 
> by the boards? (Now going to look and see.)

Yes, it does ... it is now the "context list".

J.2.1 Pervasive changes

    The description of the evaluation context has been
    changed. The concepts of current node and current
    node list have been replaced by the XPath concepts
    of context item, context position, and context size.

Though I don't often remember to use that terminology since the list 
sometimes has to be nodes.  For example in XSLT 1 and 2 some 
constructs (like the "/" operator) require the context list returned 
by left hand side to be a node list ... but I understand this is 
likely to be changed in the next version.

And I don't mind at all that you point out nuances in my posts, 
Wendell ... we are all participating to help posters and enrich the archive.

. . . . . . . . . . Ken


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