Nicely Michael :-)
Some of these rather 'non' obvious!
Use <xsl:comment><xsl:value-of
select="system-property('xsl:vendor')"/></xsl:comment> so you
are in no
doubt about which XSLT processor you are using
Like it. E.g. I developed it under Saxon and it fails to work under
X some time later.
If you want to leave debug lines in the stylesheet that can be
switched on and off at will, make them into extension elements:
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:debug="debug.uri"
extension-element-prefixes="debug">
...
<debug:debug x="{$x}" y="{$y}"><xsl:fallback/></debug:debug>
The <debug:debug> element will be ignored, but values will be output
if "debug" is removed from the "extension-element-prefixes" attribute.
I don't understand this. I believe you, but how do I switch it on/off
please?
My simpler one (more work, I know)
<xsl:param name="debug" select="0"/>
then
<xsl:if test="$debug > 2">
dump the debug stuff,
higher number, more dumped - stolen with glee from Norm's uri resolver
</xsl:if>
To see what's in a temporary tree (or result tree fragment), copy it
to the output:
<debug tree="$x">
<xsl:copy-of select="$x"/>
</debug>
I haven't a clue what this is doing, or why the processor should treat an
attribute
as ... whatever?
To add tracing to all template rules, add a debug module:
<xsl:import href="real-stylesheet.xsl"/>
<xsl:template match="*">
<xsl:message>Processing <xsl:value-of
select="name()"/></xsl:message>
<xsl:apply-imports/>
<xsl:message>Finished processing <xsl:value-of
select="name()"/></xsl:message>
</xsl:template>
(You can also use xsl:comment instead of xsl:message)
Sneaky! I like that.
A richer method (less typing again I see!) than mine.
I re-write that default each time, but add one more level, dumping
<xsl:value-of select="name(..)"/>/<xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
which tells me that doc/section hasn't been 'styled' (yet), hence
prompts me to provide the missing template.
One more in this area.
When you have forgotten the namespace prefix? e.g.
trying to match on 'section' instead of 'myns:section' ?
try
<xsl:template match="theTopLevelElement"> ***
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="theNext-to-TopLevelElement"> +++
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</xsl:template>
It will show you where its 'blocking'.
No, I never forget either :------ooooooo
To deal with character-encoding problems: use a hex editor!
Recommendations please?
Win32 and Linux anyone?
I actually prefer to view in a more readable format, but now that
my only Unicode editor has gone commercial I'm missing a 'real' view.
Mike Brown?
If you don't understand the error messages from your XSLT processor
(or if you are beginning to suspect that it has a bug), run the
transformation through another XSLT processor to see if it sheds any
light on the matter.
Again I can't see how this is going to tell me anything other than
'its well formed XML' ?
Thanks Mike. Very useful.
Regards DaveP
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