I'm getting a problem with namespaces, where the output document needs to
change its namespace in the middle. Saxon works OK, but libxslt behaves
differently.
Here's a highly simplified example - the intended output is:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Message xmlns="http://me.envelope">
<Header>
<Title>My document</Title>
<From>someone</From>
</Header
<Body xmlns="http://me.content">
<Item>
<Ref>1234</Ref>
<Info desc="A widget">
<Note>min qty 5</Note>
</Info>
<Quantity>10</Quantity>
</Item>
<!-- etc. -->
</Message>
note the change in namespace (fictitious URIs for simplicity)
Source is:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<report>
<title>My Document</title>
<origin>someone</origin>
<form>
<code>1234</code>
<description note="min qty 5">A widget</description>
<qty>10</qty>
</form>
<form>
<code>99999</code>
<description note="add comment">Miscellaneous</description>
<qty>3</qty>
</form>
</report>
And stylesheet is:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns="http://me.envelope"
version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="report">
<Message>
<Header>
<Title><xsl:value-of select="title"/></Title>
<From><xsl:value-of select="origin"/></From>
</Header>
<Body xmlns="http://me.content">
<xsl:for-each select="form">
<Item>
<Ref><xsl:value-of select="code"/></Ref>
<xsl:element name="Info">
<xsl:attribute name="desc">
<xsl:value-of select="description"/>
</xsl:attribute>
<Note><xsl:value-of select="description/@note"/></Note>
</xsl:element>
<Quantity><xsl:value-of select="qty"/></Quantity>
</Item>
</xsl:for-each>
</Body>
</Message>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
But using libxslt (in fact xsltproc) this produces:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Message xmlns="http://me.envelope">
<Header>
<Title>My Document</Title>
<From>someone</From>
</Header>
<Body xmlns="http://me.content">
<Item xmlns="http://me.envelope">
<Ref>1234</Ref>
<Info xmlns="http://me.content" desc="A widget">
<Note xmlns="http://me.envelope">min qty 5</Note>
</Info>
<Quantity>10</Quantity>
</Item>
<Item xmlns="http://me.envelope">
<Ref>99999</Ref>
<Info xmlns="http://me.content" desc="Miscellaneous">
<Note xmlns="http://me.envelope">add comment</Note>
</Info>
<Quantity>3</Quantity>
</Item>
</Body>
</Message>
note all the xmlns attributes !
It seems to assume that literal result elements in the style sheet that are
children of Body belong to the top-level default namespace, not the
namespace declared on Body. It thus switches namespace in the output.
However, elements created by xsl:element are assumed to belong to the inner
namespace. With a mixture of both methods of creating elements, the output
contains a mass of namespace changes (all wrong).
The real application is vastly more complex than this, and I'm hoping to be
able to use xsltproc (or a custom app using libxslt) without having to
resort to major reconstruction of the stylesheet (the only way I can see to
fix it so far is to add explicit namespaces to every element in the
stylesheet :( )
It strikes me as inconsistent, but I can't find anything explicit in the
books or docs. that says how this should work. Is Saxon and MSXML wrong, or
is libxslt - or is it "undefined"?
Comments and suggestions much appreciated
TIA
Rick Jones
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The statements and opinions expressed here are my own
and may not represent those of the company.
This e-mail is subject to copyright and the information in it
is confidential. It is intended only for the named recipient.
You are advised not to disclose the contents of this e-mail
to another person or take copies of it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list