[Bug 27258] New: [XSLT30] ambiguities in text in spec on @item-separator

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=27258

            Bug ID: 27258
           Summary: [XSLT30] ambiguities in text in spec on
                    @item-separator
           Product: XPath / XQuery / XSLT
           Version: Last Call drafts
          Hardware: PC
                OS: Windows NT
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: XSLT 3.0
          Assignee: mike@saxonica.com
          Reporter: abel.braaksma@xs4all.nl
        QA Contact: public-qt-comments@w3.org

This was first discussed by email,
see:https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-xsl-wg/2014Oct/0031.html (member
only)

Copying the email contents for convenience here:

<quote>
The item-separator serialization parameter defined in [XSLT and XQuery
Serialization] is not available in xsl:output; it is not applicable, because
the sequence that is serialized by XSLT is always a singleton document node.
Formally therefore, the serializer is always invoked passing an empty string as
the value of this parameter.
</quote>

Under 2.6 we say this:

<quote>
An XSLT stylesheet describes a process that constructs a set of final result
trees from a set of source trees.
</quote>

But earlier in 2.4 we say:

<quote>
The process of generating a result tree from the raw result of the initial
template may be replaced with the very similar sequence normalization process
described in 25 Serialization. In the latter case the serialization parameter
item-separator may be used to separate items in the raw result with a string
other than space
</quote>

In 2.3.3, 2.3.4 and 2.3.5 we only talk about "raw result" for the three types
of invocation.

In 2.3.6 we offer two optional stages of post-processing: (1) result tree
construction (optional) and (2) serialization (optional). 

The problem with the above is that:
1) under xsl:result-document and xsl:output we say that @item-separator has no
effect
2) under 2.6 we say that a transformation always creates a result tree
3) under 2.3.6 we say that a transformation creates a raw result and that you
do not need to create a result tree
4) also under 2.3.6 we say that you can use @item-separator to separate the
items in the raw result.

I'm not sure what was discussed about @item-separator, but I think we should be
clear about it: either it has no effect, or it can be used similar to
xsl:value-of/@separator (my preference). I'm not sure what the spec currently
tries to say.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Addendum: during WG telcon of Oct 23, it was recognized that item-separator
should be supported and should separate items when serializing, typically
similar to the way xsl:value-of/@separator works. The text should be updated to
reflect this.

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Received on Thursday, 6 November 2014 14:25:15 UTC