Re: dynamic XProc?

Hi Wendell,

> Okay, so what if I want to run a stylesheet, generate an XProc, and  
> run it?
> Can I do this natively in XProc, or do I have to resort to other  
> means?

As far as I know (I'm quite new to XProc) this is not natively  
supported in XProc. But some processors are providing some 'eval'  
extension steps.

See cx:eval in Calabash:
http://xmlcalabash.com/extension/steps/#cx.eval

And emx:eval in the recently announced Calumet 1.0.11:
http://markmail.org/message/yvdby2d3ws35obvr

Also, be aware that designing an 'eval' step that allows the execution  
of any pipeline (which can have many signatures) is certainly not  
trivial (see an email from Vojtech Toman on the issue: <http://markmail.org/message/43ke2sa6yksa2uje 
 >).
Calabash's cx:eval deal with this complexity by allowing to  
"multiplex" the several input/output ports to a single port on the  
eval step (read the doc for more details). I don't know how Calumet's  
implementation works.

>
> Does the list have any other ideas for how to approach the question  
> of dynamic pipelines? The use case I am envisioning is that a user  
> writes a small XML document that serves to configure a pipeline --  
> which transformations are run (from a library of choices), what are  
> their runtime parameters, etc. The format of the XML would be  
> designed so that the user did not have to think in terms of the  
> pipeline being configured, but only in terms of the processes  
> themselves -- their sequence, the inputs peculiar to them, and so  
> forth.

Interesting idea. But I am having trouble understanding how the  
suggested simplified XML document would be different for an actual  
XProc document ?

To my understanding XProc precisely allows to specify "which  
transformations are run (from a library of choices), what are their  
runtime parameters, etc"...

Can you please clarify what you mean by "pipeline being configured" vs  
"processes themselves" ?

BR,
Romain.

--
Romain Deltour, Software Developer/Architect
The DAISY Consortium
http://www.daisy.org


>
> Any ideas would be welcome, however obvious.
>
> Cheers,
> Wendell
>
>
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Received on Tuesday, 1 June 2010 19:19:52 UTC