Sorry I should have been more clear.
Consider this XML as an example
<events>
<event>
<title>Cello Performance by XYZ</title>
<startDateTime>2006-06-03T05:03:02</startDateTime>
<endDateTime>2006-06-03T07:03:02</endDateTime>
</event>
<event>
<title>Violin by ABC</title>
<startDateTime>2006-06-03T08:03:02</startDateTime>
<endDateTime>2006-06-03T09:03:02</endDateTime>
</event>
</events>
And another example of the same data
<events>
<event>
<title>Cello Performance by XYZ</title>
<startDate>2006-06-03</startDate>
<startTime>05:03:02</startTime>
<endDate>2006-06-03</endDate>
<endTime>07:03:02</endTime>
</event>
<event>
<title>Violin by ABC</title>
<startDate>2006-06-03</startDate>
<startTime>08:03:02</startTime>
<endDate>2006-06-03</endDate>
<endTime>09:03:02</endTime>
</event>
</events>
Now sorting of events by their dateTime becomes more straighforward when both
the date and time are combined as opposed to having them under separate tags.
Given that events is the context node
<xsl:apply-templates select="event>
<xsl:sort select="startDateTime/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
I haven't tried this pseudo code
Also comparing dateTime is also easier with the full format, when you want to
find out which even occurs before another event.
Calculating the time duration between events also become easier with the full
date representation.
If you use separate nodes for date and time, you'll have an additional step of
concatinating the date and time and then converting it into xs:dateTime and
then using the resulting value.
I hope this helps.
----- Original Message ----
From: Kamal Bhatt <kbhatt(_at_)tt(_dot_)com(_dot_)au>
To: xsl-list(_at_)lists(_dot_)mulberrytech(_dot_)com
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 9:54:00 PM
Subject: Re: [xsl] Standards checkers for XSLT
I think the approach is that the sorts of calculations you are talking
about are done before the production of XML. The XSLT would be used for
f
ontradict and there might be valid reasons in your application for using the
short-hand date format
YYYY-MM-DD instead of CCYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+Z but, there are a few more
advantages of using the composite date format that also includes
time instead of just the date.
For example, it's more straightforward to calculate the *duration* between
two dateTimes when the dates are represented in full format.
The time-zone is optional, so if you represent it as CCYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS it
assumes the implicit time-zone of the server combined with daylight savings.
I think if your application is going to be complex with many possible
scenarios then I would consider using the full format,
but if your application tends to be small and doesn't deal with event math or
dateTimes then the shorter version of dateTime seems fine.
But thinking in terms of making the application as change-proof and
future-proof as possible (to be able to easily handle all possible future
situations with as little or no change to the original design) , I would use
the full date format.
In either case there are functions in XPath2.0 which allow you to combine
dates or break them up in any way, which makes it flexible to use any date
format.
----- Original Message ----
From: Kamal Bhatt <kbhatt(_at_)tt(_dot_)com(_dot_)au>
To: xsl-list(_at_)lists(_dot_)mulberrytech(_dot_)com
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 7:04:16 PM
Subject: Re: [xsl] Standards checkers for XSLT
Rashmi Rubdi wrote:
Using a common and standard convention for representing dates helps
significantly when manipulating date fields.
The standard format is
CCYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+Z
Example:
2004-10-01T18:23:17+00:00
With this representation it's easier and manageable to sort date fields
because it's a sortable value unlike a date represented in say MM/DD/YYYY
format.
While displaying dates the XPath2.0 format-date function can be used to
display the date in a particular locale.
There might be other benefits like add and subtract dates, but I hav
I think we use YYYY-MM-DD (we don't handle timezones), but thanks for
the tip.
--
Kamal Bhatt
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