Re: Accessing context from xsl:function body

Thanks Mike for the insightful comments ...

On Nov 8, 2007 3:17 PM, Michael Kay <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > Why does XSLT 2.0 language prohibits xsl:function to access
> > the context information?
>
> It makes static analysis and optimization a lot easier if all the parameters
> to a function are explicit. Otherwise you find yourself passing information
> to a function just in case it needs it.
>
> Consider last(), which is probably the most extreme case. When using
> apply-templates, you don't know statically what templates are going to be
> called and you don't know whether they will call last() or not. So the
> caller has to do a lot of just-in-case preparation, which will usually be
> wasted.
> >
> > On the contrary, the named template can access the context
> > information. Why is this difference in capability on named
> > template, and xsl:function?
>
> History. One was designed with the benefit of hindsight.
> >
> > Is there any use case, where xsl:function body would really
> > need the context information? Is there a merit in the
> > argument, to provide this capability to xsl:function?
> >
> If the function needs the information, it can define it as an explicit
> parameter.
>
> Michael Kay
> http://www.saxonica.com/


-- 
Regards,
Mukul Gandhi