Re: XSLT/XPATH jargon

[Steve Tinney <stinney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Add:

 AVT: see Attribute Value Template

 Steve

"Pawson, David" wrote:
> 
> RTF and AVT finally did it.
> 
> I've 'lifted' various definitions from various places to try and put
> together
> a jargon buster for XSLT.  Comments please prior to my putting it in
> the FAQ.
> What would you like in it / whats missing.
> Can you improve on the definitions?
> I'd appreciate any help.
> 
> Intent is clarity of understanding, not exactness.
> 
> Regards, DaveP
> 
> XSLT Terminology:
> Source: W3C Recommendation 16 November 1999
> Revision: Draft 0.a
> 
> @: The @ character is an abbreviation for the attribute:: axis.
> 
> .. : The string .. is an abbreviation for parent::node().
> 
> * : A * matches all of the element children of the context node.
> 
> . : The . character is an abbreviation for self::node().
> 
> / : the / character at the start of a location path makes it
> absolute, i.e. starting at the root node of a document.
> 
> // : The string // is an abbreviation for descendant-or-self::node().
> 
> ATTRIBUTE VALUE TEMPLATE: An expression can be used by
> surrounding the expression with curly braces ({}). The
> attribute value template is instantiated by replacing the
> expression together with surrounding curly braces by the
> result of evaluating the expression and converting the
> resulting object to a string as if by a call to the string
> function.  Plain English version please someone????
> 
> AXIS: There are 13 axes defined in XPath:
> 
> child, descendant, parent, ancestor, following-sibling,
> preceding-sibling, following, following, preceding,
> attribute, namespace, descendant-or-self,
> ancestor-or-self. Each specifies a 'direction' relative to
> the context node and can be used to provide an initial
> selection of nodes.
> 
> CONTEXT NODE:
> The context node is where XPATH addressing starts.
> 
> CURRENT NODE: When a template is instantiated, it is always
> instantiated with respect to a current node and a current
> node list. Plain English version please??
> 
> DOCUMENT ORDER: Normally top down, left to right traversal
> of the document tree. The ancestor and preceding axes use
> reverse document order and the attribute and namespace axes
> are unordered. If parentheses are used for grouping, you
> will always get forward document order.
> 
> EXPRESSION: Expressions are used in XSLT for a variety of
> purposes including:
> 
> selecting nodes for processing;
> specifying conditions for different ways of processing a node;
> generating text to be inserted in the result tree.
> 
> 
> LOCATION PATH: There are two kinds of location path:
> relative location paths and absolute location paths. A
> location path describes how a specific part of a document
> may be found. Location paths describe the address of one
> node with respect to another. A location path is composed of
> a series of steps. Each step consists of an axis, a node
> test and optional predicates . The syntax for a location
> step is the axis name and node test separated by a double
> colon, followed by zero or more expressions each in square
> brackets. For example, in child::para[position()=1], child
> is the name of the axis, para is the node test and
> [position()=1] is a predicate.
> 
> NODE TEST: A node test identifies a type of node in the
> document, the simplest type being an element name.
> 
> NODE TYPE: There are seven node types: element, attribute,
> text, processing instruction, comment, namespace, and
> root. These are: the elements, attributes, text, processing
> instructions, and comments in a document. Namespace nodes
> represent the namespaces used in the document. The root node
> is the root of the document. In every XML document, there is
> exactly one root node, which the node that contains the
> (optional) prologue and the document element.
> 
> PREDICATE: A predicate occurs in square brackets after the a
> node test. For example, para selects all of the para
> children of the context node. Adding the predicate [3]:
> para[3] selects only the third para element.  XPATH section
> 4 and XSLT section 12 enumerate all the functions.
> 
> ROOT NODE: The root node is the root of the document tree.
> 
> RESULT TREE FRAGMENT: Some part of the output resulting from
> triggering a template.
> 
> RTF: See Result Tree Fragment
> 
> STEP: Steps may be joined with slashes to form a complete
> location path.
> 
> XPATH: XPath is a language that describes how to locate
> specific elements (and attributes, processing instructions,
> etc.) in a document. It allows you to locate specific
> content within an XML document. XPATH treats an XML document
> as a logical ordered tree,
> 
>  XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Tinney                                        Babylonian Section
                                 *   University of Pennsylvania Museum
stinney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx                          Phila, PA. 215-898-4047


 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list