Re: [xsl] I love programs that output programs

["Michael Kay michaelkay90@xxxxxxxxx" <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> This really works well, much better than generating XSLT code again and
again

The first XSLT application I ever came across (it was still called XSL at the
time, this was 1998) was an on-line banking application. A key part of the
requirement was that they should be able to create different branded
front-ends to the same underlying banking engine, and this was achieved by
constructing the front-end as a set of (about 400) XSLT stylesheets, one per
user interface page, which were themselves generated by XSLT code from a
configuration file that provided a declarative description of the front-end
interface. The application was very successful and I think the imaginative
design was a key contributor to that. The main issues were (a) migrating it
from Microsoft WD-xsl to XSLT: there's always pain in being an early adopter,
and (b) when it was written, they could safely assume that everyone would be
using the same browser, a situation which rapidly changed.

Michael Kay
Saxonica