Re: A Counter Variable in XSLT?

[Grant Mc Auley]>

> I want to create a "counter variable" - one that I can increment
> within a stylesheet.  Something like:
>
>   <xsl:variable name="matchNumber" select="'0'"/>
>
> (and later...)
>
>   <xsl:value-of select="$matchNumber++"/>
>
> I know $matchNumber++ won't work, but is there anyway to do this
> in XSLT, or do I have to use an extension?  (I am currently using
> Xalan)
>

Looking over the various responses to this post, I didn't see the key point
stated clearly.  It is this - usually there are other ways to get the
results you want with xslt, in lieu of using a running counter.  The use of
a counter is a technique used in procedural programming, but xslt does not
do procedural programming.

Usually, there are at least two alternative approaches, one of which is
recursively calling a template while passing it a locally-generated counter
parameter(which does not get updated but gets recreated on each recursion).
Often there are better ways.

You have to figure out what you want to accomplish, then you can figure out
some other way to do it.

Cheers,

Tom P


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