Re: Netscape Support for XSL

>>>>> "MS" == Martin Stricker <shugal@xxxxxx> writes:

[...]

>> (b) What happens if a user does not have Internet Explorer for
>> Netscape to rely on?

MS> I#m sorry to say this, but for now you have to use another XML/XSL
MS> parser than Netscape. Even the brand new Netscape 6 preview (yes,
MS> it's 6, they skipped the 5) does not support XSL, and I found no
MS> information about when Netscape eventually will support
MS> XML/XSL. Sorry, but this is the unpleasant truth. 

Don't forget that the Netscape releases from 6 onwards are based on
Mozilla (the free version of the browser), so the right place to look
for the bleeding edge in Netscape/Mozilla technology is the Mozilla
site:

 http://www.mozilla.org

and lo and behold, there is mention of XSL(T).

Right now in the CVS tree (and the milestone builds) TransforMiiX is a
XSL(T) parser that a Mozilla module, and is very nearly integrated
with the Mozilla browser itself:

 http://lxr.mozilla.org/mozilla/source/extensions/transformiix/docs/readme.html

>From the above README:

 "TransforMiiX is an XSLT processor which is not yet complete, but
 supports a good portion of the XSLT 1.0 recommendation.

 TransforMiiX was designed to be a "standalone" XSLT processor. This
 means you can call the processor from the command line, or via the
 XSLProcessor API. The only thing TransforMiiX requires is an XML
 parser, and the currently supported parser is Expat written by James
 Clark.
 
 There is currently an effort undergoing to integrate TransforMiiX with
 Mozilla. This effort is not yet complete and therefor the XSLT
 processor cannot yet be used within the Mozilla browser.  Integration
 is nearing completion, however."

Another page that mentions the progress of XSL support explicitly is:

 http://www.mozilla.org/rdf/doc/xml.html

from what I understand their the intention is to have a stylesheet
"plugin" API that supports many different types of plugins (CSS, XSL,
DSSSL).  

MS> If you don't want to rely on Microsoft's browser you can try using
MS> xt or saxon with an XSL-T stylesheet to generate HTML which will
MS> be displayed by Netscape. But be careful: XSL as used by Microsoft
MS> is not compatible with the "real" XSL as standardized by the WWW
MS> Consortium (however, if you install the latest update/Preview of
MS> MSXSL you get an Internet Explorer which is about 90% compatible
MS> (maybe more, I didn't completely test it since it doesn't run on
MS> my linux box. Could you please help out here, Jonathan Marsh? I
MS> would really appreciate something like a list of which parts of
MS> the specification are still missing in MSXSL and the features of
MS> MSXSL exceeding the specification!).

As to the reason for support for XSL not being in the latest release,
here is the relevant Q&A from the layout FAQ:

 For XML formatting, why is Gecko supporting CSS rather than XSL in
 the first release?

 Simple: CSS1 is a finished, fully adopted, and mature two-year-old
 standard; XSL isn't done yet. As Tim Bray, the coeditor of the XML
 standard, has written:

 "Microsoft's XSL efforts are very impressive, but (readers will pardon
 us being something of a broken record on this subject) XSL is in the
 future. We are convinced that from the point of view of the largest
 number of users, the most important things that Microsoft could do in
 IE 5 would be:
 
 1.  Ensure interoperability of XML and stylesheets with other
 browsers, and 

 2. Build in conformance to existing, stable, well-understood
 standards such as CSS 1.0.
 
 Innovation, of course, is fine and necessary, and we salute
 Microsoft's leadership in this area. But innovation needs to be built
 on a foundation of interoperability and playing by existing
 well-understood rules." He further adds that "It seems obvious to me
 that for anyone who wants to deploy XML in production mode right now,
 XML + CSS is the way to go ?" ("Microsoft Outlines XML Support in IE5
 Beta 2" at http://www.xml.com/xml/pub/98/10/ie5-2.html)

Regards,

Alex
-- 
Alex Lancaster * alex@xxxxxxxxxxx * www.santafe.edu/~alex * 505 984-8800 x242
Santa Fe Institute (www.santafe.edu) & Swarm Development Group (www.swarm.org)


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