2422 2005-10-28 00:50:48 +0000 unclear how to interpret empty attribute values in xsl:output declarations 2007-02-25 23:57:00 +0000 1 1 1 Unclassified XPath / XQuery / XSLT XSLT 2.0 Working drafts All All CLOSED INVALID P2 normal --- 1 mike mike public-qt-comments oldest_to_newest 6946 0 mike 2005-10-28 00:50:48 +0000 It is not clear in XSLT 2.0 (or 1.0) how a processor should handle empty attribute values in xsl:output declarations. Is this something that could be addressed in XSLT 2.0? Basically, we have a case where a user wants to be able to have an importing stylesheet suppress the generation of a DOCTYPE. Is this possible? For example, what does doctype-system="" mean? Is it supplying an 'explicit' value for doctype-system? What should the effect of such a declaration be, if it is in an importing stylesheet, while doctype-system="foo" is in the imported stylesheet? Should the processor use "foo" or "" or should it 'undeclare' the doctype-system altogether and thus use a default value (unless there's another value with a higher import precedence)? How would other xsl:output attributes be affected by empty values? For example, cdata-section-elements="" in the importing stylesheet, and cdata-section-elements="x y z" in the imported stylesheet. Would the result be as if there were one declaration, "x y z", or would it be as if there were no declaration? What if that first stylesheet were imported by a stylesheet containing cdata-section-elements="w x y"? Would the result be "w x y z" or "w x y"? Thanks 6954 1 mike 2005-10-28 18:31:13 +0000 It seems to me that the spec is pretty clear on what the permitted values of each of the xsl:output attributes are. For example, the indent attribute must be "yes" or "no" and an empty string is therefore an error. On the other hand, doctype-public is simply a "string" and therefore the empty string is a permitted value (although not a very useful one). For cdata-section-elements the value is a list of QNames, and an empty list of QNames is perfectly well-defined. Michael Kay (personal response) 6962 2 mike 2005-10-28 20:56:42 +0000 I am not asking what an empty string as the attribute value in isolation means. I am asking about the interaction of explicit empty-string attribute values, in attributes that allow such values, across import precedences. I think anything else I could say to clarify would just be repeating the original inquiry. Does doctype-system="" override a lower-precedence doctype-system="foo"? (My colleagues and I think it should.) Does cdata-section-elements="" override a lower-precedence cdata-section-elements="x y z"? (My colleagues and I think it shouldn't, but but maybe it should?) 6963 3 mike 2005-10-28 22:46:02 +0000 The spec says "... the output definition uses the value of that attribute from the xsl:output declaration with the highest import precedence." Therefore if doctype="" has higher import precedence than doctype="abc", the effective value of doctype is "". There's nothing in the spec that says "" is handled differently from any other value of the attribute: therefore it isn't handled differently; it's an ordinary value like any other. cdata-section-elements is different because it is cumulative: "For the cdata-section-elements attribute, the output definition uses the union of the values from all the constituent xsl:output declarations." (The next draft actually has slightly revised wording to clarify that it's the union of the expanded QNames). Sorry if I'm being dense, but I can only see one way of reading the spec. Michael Kay (personal response) 6964 4 mike 2005-10-28 23:27:04 +0000 It's good to hear there will be clearer language re: cdata-section-elements. I am not satisfied overall, but you seem to feel there is nothing to clarify and that I am calling you dense (or perhaps you are calling me dense), so never mind; I withdraw the request. 14182 5 jim.melton 2007-02-25 23:57:00 +0000 Closing bug because commenter has not objected to the resolution posted and more than two weeks have passed.