Re: Source code formatting

Agreed, the attribute normalization spec is an absolute pain, and being able
to switch it off would have many benefits and no adverse consequences I can
foresee.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

> On 29 Jul 2020, at 09:27, Pieter Lamers pieter.lamers@xxxxxxxxxxxx
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> I have the same problem when storing XSLT documents in eXist-db. Attribute
normalization also kills whitespace there because the spec says whitespace
should be ignored in attribute values (and eXist-db normalizes against the
spec). Isn't it about time to change the spec in this respect?
> Pieter
> On 28/07/2020 23:18, Willem Van Lishout willemvanlishout@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:willemvanlishout@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Hi list,
>>
>> Like many of you, I assume, I use a version control system when working on
XSLT projects. I'm working together with multiple people, and we run the code
through an XML formatter before checking it in to avoid formatting differences
showing up in the diffs.
>>
>> The problem is that, due to attribute value normalization, carriage returns
are removed from attribute nodes during XML parsing. When using long XPath
expressions (and this has become very common in XSLT 3, especially with higher
order functions), which are split in multiple lines, this results in huge
single line outputs which are impossible to read.
>>
>> It seems any sort of XML processing will irreversibly transform the
whitespace, therefore I have to choose between:
>> - No formatting
>> - Formatting using non-XML tools?
>> - Finding a parser that bends the rules...
>>
>> Have any of you experienced the same problem and did you find a solution?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Willem Van Lishout
>> willemvanlishout@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:willemvanlishout@xxxxxxxxx>
>>
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> --
> Pieter Lamers
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