Re: several questions on XML to HTML processing with XSL

[Warren Hedley <w.hedley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

H.vanderLinden@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> 1. I want to output <LAYER ID='something'><!-- some HTML goes here
> --></LAYER> when I find the browser is
> Netscape 4+ and <DIV ID='something'><!-- some HTML goes here --></DIV> when
> the browser is Internet Explorer 4+.

<xsl:template match="some_div-like_element">
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="$browser = 'NC4'">
      <div ID='{whatever}'>
        <xsl:apply-templates />
      </div>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
      <layer ID='{whatever}'>
        <xsl:apply-templates />
      </layer>
    </xsl:otherwise>
  </xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>

> 2. I want to allow (well-formed) HTML in my XML file which I want to output
> as is in my HTML file, how should I go about? E.g. I want this in my XML
> file and out to HTML in the same way:

You've probably got the wrong end of the stick here. If you use the
HTML output method, then a conformant XSLT processor (like Saxon) will
convert your well-formed XML into the abbreviated HTML syntax with which
browsers are familiar.

Putting the following at the top of your stylesheet

<xsl:output method="html">

turns <img src="img.jpg" /> into <img src="img.jpg">
and <br /> into <br>.

If you really need to put some markup directly into your output document
you could consider using CDATA sections, but this is not the "right" way
to do things.

<xsl:text><![CDATA[<IMG src='img.jpg'>]]></xsl:text>


> 3. If I include an HTML tag as valid XML tag in my XML file, how do I output
> all attributes with their values?

Use <xsl:copy-of ... />. You must copy your attributes across before you
start on the element content.

<xsl:template match="table|img|...">
  <xsl:copy>  <!-- create start tag for current element -->
    <xsl:copy-of select="@*" /> <!-- copy attributes -->
    <xsl:apply-templates />
  </xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>


Hope this helps.

-- 
Warren Hedley


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