Re: Debugging.... Conditionally including XML

John,

> I would like to be able to do something like this in my XML file...
> <page>
>         <content>....</content>
>         if (debug = true)
>                 Include a debug data file, which would contain the data and
> item tags
>         else
>                 The data and item tags will be returned to me.
> </page>

Probably the best way to approach this is to have a parameter called
debugp that is by default 'false' and can be set to true when you call
the processor from the command line.

To set up the parameter:

<xsl:param name="debugp" select="'false'" />

How you pass the value for the parameter into the stylesheet is
dependent on the processor that you're using.  With Saxon, for
example, you'd use something like:

  saxon -a -o out.xml in.xml debugp=true

Within the stylesheet, I would then set up a variable that is true()
when $debugp is 'true' and false() when $debugp is 'false' - this is
just to make testing for whether you're in debug mode easier:

<xsl:variable name="debug" select="$debugp = 'true'" />

You can then conditionally add text when in debug mode using xsl:if or
xsl:choose/xsl:when that test on the value of $debug:

<xsl:if test="$debug">
  <!-- add some debugging text -->
</xsl:if>

<xsl:choose>
  <xsl:when test="$debug">
    <!-- text added when debugging -->
  </xsl:when>
  <xsl:otherwise>
    <!-- text added when not debugging -->
  </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

To send the debugging information to the screen rather than into the
output file, you can use xsl:message within the debugging sections (or
outside them for messages that you always want to see).

I hope that helps,

Jeni

---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/



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