RE: context-independent counter

Ben and all,

sure; in most cases, the transformation is dealing
with the structure of the source-doc: this is what
XSLT is designed for; in most of those cases,
context-sensitive  operations/expressions/functions
are the most elegant and most appropriate. No doubt.

But in some exceptional cases, context-independant
operations are appropriate, to save code.

If I have three elements "ruler", and want to output
one ruler with a hundred lines for each I could:
1) code the ruler as a template, and output one for
each element "ruler"
- makes 100 line-elements to code
or
2) generate the ruler with a loop, and run that loop
for each element "ruler"
- makes 1 line-element to code

The case in my email was just a basic example, where
position() would have been appropriate.
I just couldn't figure out how to create a
context-independant loop; it's good to know that XSLT
is capable of doing this.

Many thanks to all for your emails; this is my first
day in this list and I really feel at home; this list
is *awesome* !

Thanks,
Tobi

> It works, yes, but I'm not sure that this is the way
> you should be doing it.
> I only use this when I need to do a for loop which
> bears no resemblance at
> all to the input XML... for example, drawing a grid
> of set size no matter
> what the input is.
> 
> Your input has 12 list items - if you need a generic
> way of doing this, then
> position() should be enough.
> 
> Try something like:
> 
> <xsl:template match="/">
> <svg>
> 	<xsl:for-each select="/list/li">
> 		<rect x="{position() * 10}" y="10" width="6"
> height="4"/>
> 	</xsl:for-each>
> </svg>
> </xsl:template>
> 
> which should do the same thing, but be completely
> dependant on the number of
> <li> elements in the input (and is a lot quicker to
> type *grin*).
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Ben

=====
Tobias Reif  http://www.pinkjuice.com/svg/  http://www.pinkjuice.com/
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