[xsl] xsl:sort -- XSLT version 1.1/2.0: document order and request for reverse doc. order

[vermet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Eric Vermetten)]

XML elements that are already in some kind of order 
in the source document are processed in order they are written in, 
this order is refferred to as document order.  Since WD XSLT v1.1 it is 
stated explicitly that when such elements/nodes are used in the 
select att of an apply-templates/xsl:for-each  --without an xsl:sort as their child--
they are processed in document order (XSLTv1.1 ch. 10). 
Sometimes, however, I want to process these nodes in
*reverse* order.

Q: Is there some deaper reasoning why such a possibility isn't offered?

Suggestion:
Would it be a usable idea to extent the order att of the xsl:sort in the
following manner:

order  [optional]
values:
  ascending
  descending
  document-order
  reverse-document-order

The default remaining ascending. 

On the minus side we now have some redundancy:
<xsl:for-each select="test">
	...
</xsl:for-each>

would now have the same semantics as:
<xsl:for-each select="test">
    <xsl:sort order="document-order" />
	...
</xsl:for-each>

Any ideas?

thanks,
Eric

P.S. I realise that such a reverse-document order can be programmed
with the node-set extension, but that doesn't seem a very concise solution.



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