Re: monotonous nbsp coding

Greg Faron <gfaron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> At 02:50 PM 11/13/2002, you wrote:
> ><td>
> >   <xsl:choose>
> >     <xsl:when test="string-length() &gt; 0"><xsl:value-of select="."
> >/></xsl:when>
> >     <xsl:otherwise>&nbsp;</xsl:otherwise>
> >   </xsl:choose>
> ></td>
> >
> >This gets monotonous after a while.  It would be nice if <xsl:value-of>
> >could take an attribute which would provide a default value if the select
> >produces an empty result!
> 
>    Make a template that does just that.
> <xsl:template name="monotonous">
>    <xsl:param name="str" select="." />
>    <xsl:value-of select="$str" />
>    <xsl:if test="string-length() = 0">
                                ^^ Is this a typo?
>      <xsl:text>&nbsp;</xsl:text>
>    </xsl:if>
> </xsl:call-template>

Actually, since a named template does not change to another context node, you
should be able to dispense with the "xsl:param" altogether.  Thus:

<xsl:template name="monotonous">
    <xsl:value-of select="." />
    <!-- put "&nbsp;" in place of nothing -->
    <xsl:if test="string-length(.) = 0">
        <xsl:text>&nbsp;</xsl:text>
    </xsl:if>
    <!-- or whatever other way to get an "&nbsp;"
         into an empty "td" element -->
</xsl:call-template>


> and then you have
> 
> <td>
>    <xsl:call-template name="monotonous" />
> </td>

Actually, I would rather put the "td" element into the named template, like so:

<xsl:template name="tablecell">
    <td>
        <xsl:value-of select="." />
        <xsl:if test="string-length(.) = 0">
            <xsl:text>&nbsp;</xsl:text>
        </xsl:if>
    </td>
</xsl:template>

So that the markup surrounding the "call-template" element can be simplified
even further, to something like this:

<xsl:call-template name="tablecell"/>

>    I don't think you need to explicitly pass the parameter because of the 
> default value, but play with it to make sure.  You may need to include the
> line
> <xsl:with-param name="str" select="." />
> but I hope not.

You don't need the "xsl:with-param" element.  That would defeat the whole point
of the default value on the "xsl:param" element.


=====
-- Roger Glover

   "Have you ever noticed, it's 'a penny for your thoughts',
    but you put in your 'two cents worth'?....
    Somebody somewhere is making a penny."
            - Steven Wright

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