Re: [xsl] Rescuing XSLT from Niche Status

[Jeni Tennison <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David Carlisle wrote:
> I can see it's useful if pulling bits of data out of databases etc
> (which is one main use of the ASP on the web pages here, as a matter
> of fact) Where almost the entire page is static and you just want to
> "fill in the blanks".
>
> But if you are converting a document format of any complexity down
> to HTML (for example) the template rule driven approach is far more
> natural and easier to code in XSLT as the output is driven by the
> input, you don't need to sketch out the entire format of the
> document; If you come across a list in the input, convert it to an
> HTML list, and carry on etc..

I think what's coming out here is not that it's a matter of the
document vs. data orientation of the source, but rather the match
between the source and the result.

If the result follows the structure of the source, then a push method
is more natural - the source drives the process.  If the result has a
substantially different structure from the source, then a pull method
is more natural - the result drives the process.

Documents *tend* to be transformed to documents (hence usually use
push) but you could imagine a document-analysis stylesheet with a
result structure totally different from the document - an index
perhaps. There, a pull approach is easier.

Similarly, while you *tend* to be pulling information out of
data-oriented XML for presentation, there are other times when the
result structure is very similar - a translation, perhaps. There, push
is more natural.

And of course it's not a matter of 'this stylesheet uses pull' and
'this stylesheet uses push'.  Different bits of the same stylesheet
can use a different method depending on the match between that
particular bit of the source and the result that you need from it.

Cheers,

Jeni

---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/



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