xsl:function

Allows the creation of user-defined stylesheet function that can be called from any XPath expression within the stylesheet in which the function is defined. This instruction is supported in XSLT 2.0 only.

Format

<xsl:function name="Qname" as="sequence type" [override="yes" | "no"]> 
function_body 
</xsl:function> 

Description

The value of the name attribute, Qname, is a qualified name and takes the form prefix:name. The prefix is required in order to avoid possible conflicts with any functions in the default function namespace. The prefix cannot refer to a reserved namespace.

The function_body contains zero or more <hyperlink>xsl:param elements that specify the formal arguments of the function. These xsl:param elements are followed by a sequence constructor that defnes the value to be returned by the function. The xsl:param elements within an xsl:function element must be empty; they cannot have a select attribute because they must be specified.

An xsl:function declaration can only appear as a top-level element in a stylesheet.

Example

Here is an example from the W3C XSLT Working Draft of a simple function that reverses the order of the words in a sentence.

<xsl:transform  
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" 
  xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
  xmlns:str="http://example.com/namespace" 
  version="2.0" 
  exclude-result-prefixes="str"> 
  
<xsl:function name="str:reverse" as="xs:string"> 
  <xsl:param name="sentence" as="xs:string"/> 
  <xsl:sequence   
     select="if (contains($sentence, ' ')) 
             then concat(str:reverse(substring-after($sentence, ' ')), 
                         ' ', 
                         substring-before($sentence, ' ')) 
             else $sentence"/> 
</xsl:function> 
  
<xsl:template match="/"> 
<output> 
  <xsl:value-of select="str:reverse('DOG BITES MAN')"/> 
</output> 
</xsl:template> 
  
</xsl:transform> 

XML Well-Formedness Checker & XML Indenter

Tidy up your XML documents with powerful integrated XML editing utilities including a single-click XML formatter, pretty printer, XML indenter and XML well formedness checker.

Export HTML to XML

Export HTML to XML with the click of a button - simplify migration of legacy HTML code to industry standard XML technologies with Stylus Studio.

Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes

Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes is the world's fastest introduction to XML development using Stylus Studio. In just six minutes, learn how to leverage Stylus Studio's powerful XML tools and utilities to simplify XML development.

DOM - The Document Object Model

The Document Object Model (DOM) is a cross-platform interface for parsing and manipulating XML. Learn how Stylus Studio supports DOM in our XML Pipeline and other XML parsing tools.

Stylus Most Wanted

 
Free Stylus Studio XML Training:
W3C Member