Re: [xsl] Data types and xsl:sequence

[Dimitre Novatchev <dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx>]

Just one missing improvement -- it is again about typing.

Following the same approach for specifying types and letting
type-checking catch errors that otherwise might go unnoticed, it is
best to specify the (return) type of an xsl:function, too.

Therefore, we'll add type to:

> <xsl:function name="t:pad">

and finally have:

     <xsl:function name="t:pad" as="xs:string">


Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev


On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 07:51:27 +1100, Dimitre Novatchev
<dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Just specify the types of the parameters -- types help eliminate
> exactly such problems:
> 
>  <xsl:param name="char" as="xs:string" />
> 
> When calling the template pass '0' insted of 0, otherwise you will
> (correctly!) get a type error.
> 
> So, with minimal changes the transformation becomes something like this:
> 
> <xsl:stylesheet version="2.0"
> xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";
> xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema";
> >
> <xsl:output method="text"/>
> 
> <xsl:template match="/">
>   Results: '<xsl:text/>
>   <xsl:call-template name="pad-number">
>     <xsl:with-param name="max" select="5"/>
>     <xsl:with-param name="char" select="'0'"/>
>   </xsl:call-template>'
> </xsl:template>
> 
> <xsl:template name="pad-number">
> 
>  <xsl:param name="max" />
>  <xsl:param name="char" as="xs:string" />
> 
>  <xsl:sequence select=
>     "string-join((for $i in 1 to xs:integer($max)
>                    return $char
>                   ),
>                   ''
>                  )"/>
> </xsl:template>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
> 
> and the result is as expected:
> 
> Results: '00000'
> 
> The code will be better written as an xsl:function and specifying the
> types of all parameters involved, so that type errors will not go
> unnoticed:
> 
> <xsl:stylesheet version="2.0"
> xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";
> xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema";
> xmlns:t="http://myURL/test";
> >
> <xsl:output method="text"/>
> 
> <xsl:template match="/">
>   Results: '<xsl:value-of select="t:pad(5, '0')"/>'
> </xsl:template>
> 
> <xsl:function name="t:pad">
>  <xsl:param name="max" as="xs:integer" />
>  <xsl:param name="char" as="xs:string" />
> 
>  <xsl:sequence select=
>     "string-join((for $i in 1 to $max
>                           return $char
>                          ),
>                         ''
>                        )"/>
> </xsl:function>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
> 
> Note how the code is actually simplified:
> 
>  1. No need to have a special template for pad-number and pad-character
> 
>  2. No need to construct an xs:integer from $max
> 
>  3. Benefits from type checking so that if inappropriately-typed
> arguments are passed this will not go unnoticed and will be
> immediately raised as error
> 
>  4. Referencing the function is much more compact than the 4 lines
> needed for xsl:call-template.
> 
>  5. More importantly, the function can be used immediately in any
> XPath expression at any place where the syntax rules allow this.
> 
> Cheers,
> Dimitre Novatchev.
> 
> 
> On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 16:17:41 -0500, Jim Neff <jneff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Greetings,
> >
> > I'm having trouble understanding data types and using the function
> > xsl:sequence.
> >
> > I have one common template that I call to create padding in my output
> > document:
> >
> > <xsl:template name="pad-number">
> >
> >   <xsl:param name="max" />
> >   <xsl:param name="char" />
> >
> >   <xsl:sequence select="string-join((for $i in 1 to xs:integer($max) return
> > $char), '')"/>
> >
> > </xsl:template>
> >
> > So if I am padding for a text field, I pass in &#x20; for a space and if
> > it's a numeric field I use '0'.
> >
> > My problem is (and I know this sounds silly) whenever I change from a text
> > to a numeric field there is an extra space inserted into the xsl:sequence
> > output.  This is a space and not the character I am passing into this
> > template.  So, if I use a tilda '~' instead of '&#x20;' I see the
> > appropriate number of tildas plus a space (hex code 20) in my output.
> >
> > I do not have this problem when I am not changing from numeric to text, or
> > if I have consecutive numerics or consecutive text fields.
> >
> > Perhaps I am not using the $max variable correctly?  I found the only way to
> > get it to work is when I specify xs:integer around it because the portion of
> > code that calls this template is performing a calculation and I think the
> > processor (Saxon 8.something) is creating a mandotory xs:double whenever a
> > calculation is performed.
> >
> > This is probably a logic problem and has nothing to do with XSLT syntax but
> > I just thought I'd throw this out here and maybe one of the gurus on this
> > list could point me in the right direction.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jim Neff