RE: Returning source document nodes

Michael,
 
Thank you for responding to quickly.  I am please as punch that this is
possible.  
 
The logic behind using "as", though, is completely opaque to me.
 
Matthew
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Kay [mailto:mhk@mhk.me.uk] 
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 11:58 AM
To: 'Matthew Fuchs'; public-qt-comments@w3.org
Subject: RE: Returning source document nodes
 
 
 
  _____  

From: public-qt-comments-request@w3.org
[mailto:public-qt-comments-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Fuchs
Sent: 12 March 2004 19:08
To: public-qt-comments@w3.org
Subject: Returning source document nodes
 
I'm trying to understand if it is possible to use <xsl:sequence> to
return nodes, specifically elements, from the source document.  
 
Yes, it is possible.
 
Without getting into the use case behind this, I read both the latest
public working draft and the current working draft as saying that in the
following:
 
<xsl:variable name="foo" select="somepath"/>
 
and 
 
<xsl:variable name="foo">
   <xsl:sequence select="somepath"/>
</xsl:variable>
 
$foo will be assigned equivalent nodes from the source document (in
particular, if the result is some descendant of the root, then I can
apply parent or ancestor axes and get the same results).
 
No: the latter case constructs a temporary tree. To return a value from
the source document, you need an "as" attribute, thus:
 
<xsl:variable name="foo" as="element()*">
  <xsl:sequence select="somepath"/>
</xsl:variable>
 
  If that's the case, is it further the case (here's the real
interesting part) that I can put the <xsl:sequence> in a template, i.e.,
 
<xsl:variable name="foo">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="test"/>
</xsl:variable>
 
<xsl:template match=".element." mode="test">
    <xsl:sequence select="somepath"/>
</xsl:template>
 
and, once again, get back an equivalent node?
 
Yes, you can do this. Again, you need the "as" attribute on
xsl:variable.
 
Michael Kay
(I'm not proposing to treat this enquiry as a formal comment on the
specification unless you ask me to do so.)
 
Thank you,
 
Matthew Fuchs