[Bug 4589] [XSLT 2.0]Effect of stable="no" when sorting groups

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=4589

           Summary: [XSLT 2.0]Effect of stable="no" when sorting groups
           Product: XPath / XQuery / XSLT
           Version: Recommendation
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Windows XP
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: XSLT 2.0
        AssignedTo: mike@saxonica.com
        ReportedBy: mike@saxonica.com
         QAContact: public-qt-comments@w3.org


An xsl:sort element may appear as a child of xsl:for-each-group, and defines
how the groups are sorted.

It's not clear what happens if the first such xsl:sort specifies stable="no".
Section 14.3 (Grouping) says "If two groups have the same values for all their
sort key components, they are processed in order of first appearance." But
section 13 (Sorting) suggests that this is not guaranteed in the case where
stable="no" is specified.

Proposed resolution: stable="no" should mean what it says, and 14.3 should
change to say "If two groups have the same values for all their sort key
components, they are processed in order of first appearance if the sort is
*stable* [link to termdef] or in an implementation-dependent order otherwise."

Received on Tuesday, 29 May 2007 17:00:33 UTC