RE: [xsl] Re: XSLT 2.0: On xsl:sequence and xsl:copy-of

Subject: RE: [xsl] Re: XSLT 2.0: On xsl:sequence and xsl:copy-of
From: "Michael Kay" <mhk@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 11:15:37 +0100
> ... In which case the as attribute is redundant.. unless I 
> 'invent' content (i.e. use a literal) since I can't change 
> the type (my 'cast' idea
> above) using the as attribute.

The "as" attribute on xsl:variable is redundant in cases where the value
is a literal or a constant subexpression (though it's still good
documentation and good software engineering to provide it, like an
"assert" expression in Java). It's not redundant in cases like:

<xsl:variable name="x" select="document('invoice.xml')"
   as="document-node(element(invoice))"/>

This is saying that you have written your stylesheet on the assumption
that the input document is going to be an invoice, and that the system
can make use of this information, and that the system will give you an
explicit error message if you feed something other than an invoice as
input to this stylesheet.

Michael Kay


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