This document describes the language-specific
format and code generation behavior of a Dynamator File with
language specified as "xsl.text". This language
plugin may be used to create XSL scripts for code
generation.
A Dynamator File with a root element of
"<dynamator language="xsl.text">"
identifies a file containing transformations to be
applied to an XML template in order to produce an
XSL source file (i.e. a file with filetype ".xsl").
Dynamator applies the Dynamator file to an HTML or
XML file (the "template") to create an XSL script
that outputs a text file with structure
corresponding to the template and behavior
specified by the Dynamator file.
The only difference between language "xsl.text" and
language "xsl" is in whitespace handling. Language
"xsl.text" treats all whitespace as significant,
and inserts <xsl:text> elements around
textual content to force XSL to preserve all
whitespace. Otherwise, there would be no way to
prevent XSL from discarding whitespace between
script elements.
For example, the XSL script fragment
<xsl:value-of select="'a'"> <xsl:value-of select="'b'">
|
generates
But the Dynamator template fragment
generates (assuming the appropriate Dynamator tag
elements)
XSL Elements
See the documentation for language="xsl".
Patterns
Prolog and epilog
As with language="xsl", the prolog and epilog must
specify the start and end of the XSL file to be
generated, specifically the <xsl:stylesheet>
element and an <xsl:output method="text">
element.
File-level element
Although optional, it is often useful to begin and
end an xsl.text template file with an XML element.
For example, it can provide a way to specify which
template files apply to a set of elements:
|
x.template
|
<module match="element-name">
template file
...
</module>
|
|
x.dyn
|
...
<tag tag="module">
<rename to="xsl:template"/<
</tag>
...
|
Selection
Selection is accomplished by specifying a tag
element with a pseudocode-like name, replacing it
with an XSL conditional:
|
x.template
|
...
<if-meaningful-condition-name>
conditional-text</if-meaningful-condition-name>
...
|
|
x.dyn
|
...
<tag tag="if-meaningful-condition-name">
<discard-tag/>
<if>xpath-conditional-expression</if>
</tag>
...
|
Choice
Selection of one of a set of alternatives may be
supported by providing the boilerplate code in the
example below for <xsl:choose> and
<xsl:otherwise>, and by creating a tag
element for each specific condition.
Because all whitespace in a template file is
significant, care must be taken not to introduce
whitespace between tags.
|
x.template
|
...
<choose
><when-meaningful-condition-name>
conditional template text</when-meaningful-condition-name-1
><otherwise>
default template text</otherwise
></choose>
...
|
|
x.dyn
|
...
<tag tag="choose">
<rename to="xsl:choose"/>
</tag>
<tag tag="otherwise">
<rename to="xsl:otherwise"/>
</tag>
<tag tag="when-meaningful-condition-name">
<rename to="xsl:when"/>
<attr name="test">
<content>xpath-conditional-expression</content>
</attr>
</tag>
...
|
HTML and XML elements
If a template contains HTML or XML elements to be
propagated to the generated file, they must be
explicitly retained using the pattern below.
HTML elements must be valid XML: end tags may not
be omitted.
|
x.template
|
...
<p>
...
<p>
...
|
|
x.dyn
|
...
<tag tag="p">
<discard-tag/>
<before><p></before>
<after></p></after>
</tag>
...
|
HTML and XML entities
If the template contains ampersands, they must be
explicitly replaced with elements.
|
x.template
|
...
if ( x <and> y )
...
|
|
x.dyn
|
...
<tag tag="and">
<discard-tag/>
<content>&&</content>
</tag>
...
|
Tips
Unmatched elements
To find template elements without a corresponding
Dynamator file transformation:
===> grep "<[^x/!]" generated-xsl-file ...
|
Extra line breaks
To remove unwanted line breaks or whitespace,
insert a comment that begins immediately before the
whitespace and ends at the end of the whitespace.
|
x.template
|
...
The natural ordering of objects of this type is determined by<!--
--><choose
><when-has-one-sort-attr>
...
|
Common error messages
|
A message like
|
Probably means
|
|
Only xsl:when and xsl:otherwise are allowed
here
|
There's whitespace between the choose, whens,
or otherwise in an xsl:choose element.
|
