Problem using msxsl:node-set with xsl:param

[ipg]

I am running into issues passing a parameter (that is a XML string) into a stylesheet and using msxsl:node-set to parse the string. Can someone please explain why.

my html:
var xsl = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDomDocument.3.0"); xsl.async = false; xsl.load("campaignHtml.xsl"); var template = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XSLTemplate"); template.stylesheet = xsl; processor = template.createProcessor; processor.input = xmlDocument; processor.addParameter( "conferenceDocument" ,xmlConferenceDocument.documentElement.xml); processor.transform;

my xsl:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" version="1.1"> <xslutput method="html" indent="yes"/>

<xslaram name="conferenceDocument" select="."/>

<!-- the function does not return anything when a parameter is used
-->
<xsl:value-of select=
"msxsl:node-set($conferenceDocument)/ROWSET/ROW/CONFERENCE_CODE" />

....

<!-- However when I print the parameter to screen and hardcode the screen output into a variable tag, the function works fine. -->

<xsl:variable name="conferenceDocument">
<ROWSET><ROW><CONFERENCE_ID>1</CONFERENCE_ID><CONFERENCE_CODE>SEC</CONFERENCE_CODE><CONFERENCE_NAME>Southeastern Conference</CONFERENCE_NAME></ROW><ROW><CONFERENCE_ID>622</CONFERENCE_ID><CONFERENCE_CODE>NONE</CONFERENCE_CODE><CONFERENCE_NAME>Unassigned</CONFERENCE_NAME></ROW><ROW><CONFERENCE_ID>111</CONFERENCE_ID><CONFERENCE_CODE>ACC</CONFERENCE_CODE><CONFERENCE_NAME>Atlantic Collegiate Conference</CONFERENCE_NAME></ROW><ROW><CONFERENCE_ID>324</CONFERENCE_ID><CONFERENCE_CODE>B12</CONFERENCE_CODE><CONFERENCE_NAME>Big XII</CONFERENCE_NAME></ROW></ROWSET> </xsl:variable>

<xsl:value-of select=
"msxsl:node-set($conferenceDocument)/ROWSET/ROW/CONFERENCE_CODE" />

Can someone please explain why. Why is the parameter not being evaluated like the text written between the var tags above. Please enlighten me. I have spent 2 days on this.

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[Oleg Tkachenko]

ipg wrote:

I am running into issues passing a parameter (that is a XML string) into a stylesheet and using msxsl:node-set to parse the string.

Why do you think msxsl:node-set function parses a string????

 

[Patrick Gresham]

msxsl:node-set should process the string as it's value looks exactly like a node tree fragment. The nodes are well-balanced. As mentioned before, I can make the function work by setting the output of the parameter between xsl:variable tags by writing it out in the xsl. I cannot understand why the parameter is not evaluated the same as hard coding the value.

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[Oleg Tkachenko]

processor.addParameter(
"conferenceDocument"
,xmlConferenceDocument.documentElement.xml);

Why don't you pass xmlConferenceDocument.documentElement as is? Isn't it weird to serialize document to string just to pass it to XSLT and then parse it back again?

 

[Dimitre Novatchev]

Two things:

1. The xxx:node-set extension function does not parse a string. A string is not an RTF (Result Tree Fragment). An RTF is a tree of nodes.

2. You should pass as parameter the node-set itself, which you have already parsed (xmlConferenceDocument.documentElement) and not its string representation. Then you do not need xxx:node-set at all, the parameter is a node-set -- not an RTF.

=====
Cheers,

Dimitre Novatchev.
http://fxsl.sourceforge.net/ -- the home of FXSL

"ipg" wrote:

I am running into issues passing a parameter (that is a XML string) into a stylesheet and using msxsl:node-set to parse the string. Can someone please explain why.

my html:
var xsl = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDomDocument.3.0"); xsl.async = false; xsl.load("campaignHtml.xsl"); var template = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XSLTemplate"); template.stylesheet = xsl; processor = template.createProcessor; processor.input = xmlDocument; ...

<ROWSET><ROW><CONFERENCE_ID>1</CONFERENCE_ID><CONFERENCE_CODE>SEC</CONFERENC E_CODE><CONFERENCE_NAME>Southeastern Conference</CONFERENCE_NAME></ROW><ROW><CONFERENCE_ID>622</CONFERENCE_ID><CO NFERENCE_CODE>NONE</CONFERENCE_CODE><CONFERENCE_NAME>Unassigned</CONFERENCE_ NAME></ROW><ROW><CONFERENCE_ID>111</CONFERENCE_ID><CONFERENCE_CODE>ACC</CONF ERENCE_CODE><CONFERENCE_NAME>Atlantic

Collegiate

Conference</CONFERENCE_NAME></ROW><ROW><CONFERENCE_ID>324</CONFERENCE_ID><CO NFERENCE_CODE>B12</CONFERENCE_CODE><CONFERENCE_NAME>Big

XII</CONFERENCE_NAME></ROW></ROWSET>
</xsl:variable>

<xsl:value-of select=
"msxsl:node-set($conferenceDocument)/ROWSET/ROW/CONFERENCE_CODE" />

Can someone please explain why. Why is the parameter not being evaluated like the text written between the var tags above. Please enlighten me. I have spent 2 days on this.

...

 

[Patrick Gresham]

You get credit for the assist. Your response was not exactly correct, but good enough. The solution is one of those things that make me say wow!

First, you were on the right track with "why convert the node set to a string when it is already an xml doc." So I made this adjustment in the javascript

i.e.:
processor.addParameter("xmlDoc", xmlId)
not
processor.addParameter("xmlDoc", xmlId.documentElement)

Next, once the parameter is passed to the XSL, it is a tree fragment, set of nodes. You have to call xxx:node-set so that XSL will treat it is such.

i.e.
<xslaram name="xmlDoc" select="." />
<xsl:value-of select="msxsl:node-set($xmlDoc/Element)" />

This is so cool because you can pass multiple XML documents to the XSL stylesheet dynamically. This will come into use when you are building a select list of options with an external document and the source document stores the option selected.

I am posting this because I am sure some poor soul will spend 3 days on this as I have. By the way, you have to include a urn with the node-set function available. You can get that from msxsl, xalan, and others.

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[Patrick Gresham]

Opps made a typo in the example above:
<xsl:value-of select="msxsl:node-set($xmlDoc)/Element" />

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[Dimitre Novatchev]

"Patrick Gresham" wrote:

You get credit for the assist. Your response was not exactly correct, but good enough. The solution is one of those things that make me say wow!

First, you were on the right track with "why convert the node set to a string when it is already an xml doc." So I made this adjustment in the javascript

i.e.:
processor.addParameter("xmlDoc", xmlId)
not
processor.addParameter("xmlDoc", xmlId.documentElement)
...

No. It is just a regular node-set. Remove the call to the msxsl:node-set ext. function and see that you'll get no error.

The definition of an RTF requires that its contents is produced by the transformation itself. Also, an RTF is defined *only* as the contents of an xsl:variable. Both of these two conditions are not satisfied in your example.

=====
Cheers,

Dimitre Novatchev.
http://fxsl.sourceforge.net/ -- the home of FXSL

 

[Mark Johnson]

Two things:

1. The xxx:node-set extension function does not parse a string. A string is not an RTF (Result Tree Fragment). An RTF is a tree of nodes.

2. You should pass as parameter the node-set itself, which you have already parsed (xmlConferenceDocument.documentElement) and not its string representation. Then you do not need xxx:node-set at all, the parameter is a node-set -- not an RTF.

What's the difference between a "tree of nodes", then, and a "node-set"?

 

[Oleg Tkachenko]

What's the difference between a "tree of nodes", then, and a "node-set"?

The difference between result-tree fragment and nodeset:
http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt.html#section-Result-Tree-Fragments It's only XSLT 1.0 related data type, XSLT 1.1 and 2.0 managed to get rid of it.

 

[Mark Johnson]

Mark Johnson wrote:

The difference between result-tree fragment and nodeset:
http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt.html#section-Result-Tree-Fragments

Doesn't really say what it is, though. It mentions vague - extension functions - from a small section further on. But I assume a result fragment is a node-set representation of part of the result of the xslt transform. And a node-set, generally, is the subset of the XML as returned by an XPath expr.

It's only XSLT 1.0 related data type, XSLT 1.1 and 2.0 managed to get rid of it.

So there's only - node-set. I've seen various articles of yours, say at MSDN. You've been referring to a proposed 2.0. Is it available? Is it part of an msxml 4? 5?

 

[Oleg Tkachenko]

Doesn't really say what it is, though. It mentions vague - extension functions - from a small section further on. But I assume a result fragment is a node-set representation of part of the result of the xslt transform. And a node-set, generally, is the subset of the XML as returned by an XPath expr.

Well, that's not quite clean explanation too. RTF is actually just a temporary tree. The only way to produce it is using a variable. Variable is bound to RTF if it has any content (hence doesn't have select attribute). The same goes for xslaram and xsl:with-param actually:
<xsl:variable name="rtf">
<a>foo</a>
</xsl:variable>
It's called result-tree fragment, becuase all you can do with it is to copy it out (usually to the result tree) either by xsl:value-of or xsl:copy-of.

So there's only - node-set. I've seen various articles of yours, say at MSDN. You've been referring to a proposed 2.0. Is it available? Is it part of an msxml 4? 5?

It's still working draft and there is no MS implementation yet. I'm aware of the only experimental XSLT2.0 impl - Saxon 7.X.