Re: p:xslt

"Dave Pawson" <dave.pawson@gmail.com> writes:

>>From http://www.w3.org/TR/xproc/#c.xslt
> it is not obvious which 'parameters'  (xml child elements)
> are optional, which are required.

Parameters suck. The WG tried on several occasions to find a way to
get rid of them, but we couldn't. Simply removing them would have made
it impossible to pass parameters to XSLT stylesheets, which would have
made XProc far, far less useful.

> <p:xslt name="trsf">
>   <p:input port='stylesheet'>
>     <p:document href="step1.xsl"/>
>   </p:input>
> </p:xslt>
>
> Is resulting in an error
>  Pipeline failed: err:XS0055: Parameter input parameters unbound on
> p:xslt step named trsf and no default binding available.
>
> Why is the parameter parameter 'required' seemingly?

It's a port, a special kind of port. It has different binding rules
that (often) make life simpler for authors. But not always.

Here's how it works.

1. If you don't specify a binding for the 'parameter' port, then it
binds by default to the parameter port of the pipeline that contains
it. This way, parameters you pass to the pipeline automatically get
passed to the steps that can use them.

2. If there is no binding for a parameter input port on the top level
pipeline (the one that you start executing first), then it
automatically gets bound to an empty document.

3. If you declare your pipeline with <p:pipeline>, you get a parameter
input port by default and things "just work".

4. But if you declare your pipeline with <p:declare-step>, as I usually
do, then you have to either remember to provide a parameter input port
explicitly:

  <p:declare-step ...>
    <p:input port="parameters" kind="parameter"/>
    <p:input port="source"/>
    ...

Or you have to remember to explicitly provide a binding when you use
the XSLT step:

  <p:xslt>
    <p:input port="parameters">
      <p:empty/>
    </p:input>
    ...

Like I said, they suck.

> I'm guessing this relates to params passed to the xslt processor?

Yep.

                                        Be seeing you,
                                          norm

-- 
Norman Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com> | One's never alone with a rubber duck.
http://nwalsh.com/            |