XSL ability to select node by links?

[ree32]

I am wondering if XSL has
the ability to select a node when a link is clicked on the XML
document. i.e. So when a link is clicked it displays more information
on that particular node ( i.e. shows info from child nodes.)

 

[Martin Honnen]

I am wondering if XSL has
the ability to select a node when a link is clicked on the XML
document. i.e. So when a link is clicked it displays more information
on that particular node ( i.e. shows info from child nodes.)

XSL is a template language to transform XML to HTML or text or XML while
clicking a link happens in a user agent/browser. What you could do for
instance is write an XSL stylesheet that transforms your XML data to a
HTML document with JavaScript which then inside the browser allows the
user to expand/collapse parts of the (HTML!) document as needed.

 

[ree32]

Okay so there is no way of using Xlinks(??) or other XML features to
achieve what I want?

So does that mean XML/XSL is a static way of displaying data ?

 

[Peter Flynn]

Okay so there is no way of using Xlinks(??) or other XML features to
achieve what I want?

So does that mean XML/XSL is a static way of displaying data ?

No, I don't think you read Martin's reply carefully enough.

You certainly can do what you want, but XSLT will only be part of the
solution.

You appear to be confusing the browser interface with the language used
to handle the data.

///Peter

 

[Martin Honnen]

Okay so there is no way of using Xlinks(??) or other XML features to
achieve what I want?

XLinks are as far as I know only implemented as simple XLinks in
Mozilla, I don't know of any other browser supporting that feature.
If you are only building documents to be rendered by Mozilla then you
can make use of simple XLinks of course. Mozilla has also some support
for XPointer, have a look yourself here as to whether that solves what
you want to achieve:

So does that mean XML/XSL is a static way of displaying data ?

XSL is not a way to display data, it is a programming language to
transform an input tree into a result tree which is then usually
serialized, either in plain text format or in XML format or in HTML
format. Of course often XSL is used to transform data stored in XML
format into another format, usually HTML, to render the data or part of
the data. And then, as said, you can use all scripting techniques
available to make the resulting HTML dynamic.

As for XML being static that is too general a question to give a
conclusive answer, SVG for instance is an XML application that is highly
dynamic, you can use both script and SMIL to animate graphics.

Or are you asking about XSL-FO? That is an XML application to define the
rendering of objects but usually it is not XSL-FO that is rendered in a
user agent but XSL-FO is transformed to PDF and that is rendered.

 

[reclusive monkey]

I am not exactly sure what you want to do, but if its a case of wanting
a list of hyperlinked nodes at the top, then more detail beneath, you
can use the Muenchian Grouping method, build a list at the top which
will be linked via anchors to the relevant data groups below. If this
is indeed what you want, get in touch as I can probably help you.