Re: HTML/XHTML/HTML5 Serialization Options

XSLT 1.0 does not define a serialization method for XHTML.

Michael Kay
Saxonica
mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx
+44 (0) 118 946 5893




On 11 Apr 2015, at 15:31, Michele R Combs mrrothen@xxxxxxx
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> What about 1.0?
> ________________________________________
> From: Michael Kay mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, April 10, 2015 5:23 PM
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re:  HTML/XHTML/HTML5 Serialization Options
>
> As it happens I've been working on this the last couple of days: I found
that there were no tests in the W3C QT3 test suite for XHTML serialization,
and I committed about 50 this morning.
>
> In XSLT 2.0, the XHTML serialization method treats elements like <br/>
specially only if they are in the XHTML namespace.
>
> In 3.0, it depends on whether the property html-version="5" is set. If not,
it behaves as before: only elements in the XHTML namespace are recognized. But
with html-version="5", elements in no namespace are also recognized.
>
> Inevitably, given the shortage of test material, I found that Saxon 9.6
doesn't get all the details right, but on this particular point, I think it's
largely conformant.
>
> Michael Kay
> Saxonica
> mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> +44 (0) 118 946 5893
>
>
>
>
> On 10 Apr 2015, at 22:08, Eliot Kimber ekimber@xxxxxxxxxxxx
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> This may be a Saxon-specific question, but I'll start here as there may be
>> a general answer.
>>
>> I am generating HTML, either as XHTML or HTML or HTML5 and I'm running
>> into issues with the handling of empty elements (meaning elements that
>> were or can be tagged as self-closed elements, e.g., <br>).
>>
>> Doing a quick test with Saxon 9.6 and XSLT 2, given this input:
>>
>> <p>A br element: before<br/>after</p>
>>
>>
>> And serializing it using method "html" the result is the expected:
>>
>> <p>A br element: before<br>after
>>     </p>
>>
>>
>> But for XHTML it's:
>>
>> <p>A br element: before
>>        <br></br>after
>>     </p>
>>
>>
>> What I would like to is a self-closed BR element: <br/>.
>>
>> Looking at the Saxon documentation I didn't see any Saxon-specific
>> serialization parameters that would control this behavior.
>>
>> I realize I could implement my own serializer but I'm not keen to go to
>> that length if at all possible.
>>
>> Is there a general solution that allows me to have XHTML or HTML5 output
>> with self-closing elements?
>>
>> This comes up for me in several contexts:
>>
>> - Generating XHTML as required for EPUB2 and Kindle documents
>> - Generating HTML as required for Web sites
>> - Generating HTML5 as required for EPUB3 and for use in HTML5-based Web
>> sites
>>
>> I suspect that the real problem is generating XHTML when I should be
>> generating HTML. I need to explore that more, but I wanted to understand
>> my readily-available serialization options first.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Eliot
>>
>> 
>> Eliot Kimber, Owner
>> Contrext, LLC
>> http://contrext.com