RE: functions and XSLT

Dave Gomboc>
>The concept of subroutine is expressed in XSLT by the template.  Templates
>take parameters; templates define scope; templates encapsulate algorithms;
>templates compute returned results.  So why is it that proposals to extend
>XSLT to allow the creation of functions written in XSLT go to the trouble
>of inventing a new syntax to define them?

The purpose of a template is to write nodes to a result tree. A template
does not return a result, though you can capture its output in a tree that
you then analyse.

An XPath function computes a result, which can be a value of any XPath data
type. It has no side effects and it never writes to the result tree.

So XSLT named templates and XPath functions are very different things, and
it is a consequence of the two-language design approach that you need both.

Mike Kay
Software AG


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