Re: XSLT 4 xsl:with

Yes. Little things like this can make a big difference. We've tried to
eliminate cases (e.g. xsl:number, xsl:copy) that force you to set the context
item, so the need for this is perhaps less than it was, but I can still see it
being handy.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

> On 19 May 2020, at 09:54, Pieter Masereeuw pieter@xxxxxxxxxxxx
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Just something that I've always wanted to bring up, but always hesitated to
do because I don't know if it's really worthwhile:
>
> I often find myself using xsl:for-each for no other purpose than merely
setting the context, e.g., in order to call a named template or to simplify a
set of XPath expressions.
>
> Because such a for-each does not repeat, I always add a comment like <!--
Merely sets the context, does not repeat -->.
>
> I would be very happy if I could make my intentions clearer by using a real
XSLT construct in this situation, such as <xsl:with select="...">. The
semantics could also help as an assertion that, indeed, the selection has
exactly length 1.
>
> The proposed name comes from my first computer language, Pascal.
>
> Pieter Masereeuw
>
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