Frequently Asked Questions About XSLT

How can I use quoted strings inside an attribute value?

If you need to include a quoted string inside an attribute value (in a select expression, for example), you can use the single quotation mark character (') in the value of the attribute. For example:

select = "book[title = 'Trenton Today']". 

The way xsl:for-each and xsl:apply-templates select nodes for processing is identical. The way these instructions find the templates to process the selected nodes is different.

With xsl:for-each, the template to use is fixed. It is the template that is contained in the body of the xsl:for-each element. With xsl:apply-templates, the XSLT processor finds the template to be used for each selected node by matching that node against the template rules in the stylesheet.

Finding a template by matching requires more time than using the contained template. However, matching allows for more flexibility. Also, matching lets you avoid repeating templates that might be used in more than one place in a stylesheet.

Most complex document-formatting stylesheets use xsl:apply-templates extensively.

If you want your result document to contain JavaScript commands, you must properly escape the JavaScript code. Use the following format in your XSLT template:

<script> 
<xsl:comment> 
<![CDATA[ <your JavaScript here> ]]> 
</xsl:comment> 

</script> 

In this situation, enclose the entity reference within an <xsl:text> tag with disable-output-escaping set to "yes". For example:

if(length <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&gt;</xsl:text> 1) 

My browser does not understand the tag <br/>. How can I output just <br>?