Beginning XML, 4th Edition

Appendix C. XSLT Reference

This appendix provides a reference to the elements and functions that are part of XSLT 1.0. A reference to XPath 1.0 constructs, including functions that can also be used with XSLT, is in Appendix C.

The XSLT 1.0 specification became a W3C Recommendation on November 16, 1999. As this book goes to press, XSLT 2.0 has just been awarded W3C Recommendation status. XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 go hand-in-hand, are inseparable, and have to be studied together. The development pace for both will be the same. In addition, be aware that XSLT, XPath, and XQuery are so dependent upon one another that you need to have all three skill sets or you will have serious problems. The good news is that they are becoming increasingly similar, meaning that once you master one you can master them all quickly.

XSLT 1.0 processors may or may not come with a description of the conformance to the XSLT 1.0 specification. However, most XSLT processors can be assumed to be close to 100 percent conformant to the W3C XSLT 1.0 specification. Some experimental XSLT processors, such as recent versions of Saxon, include a conformant XSLT 1.0 implementation, which was used in Chapter 8, and an experimental XSLT 2.0 processor. This new emerging XSLT 2.0 processor only works with XPath 2.0. You cannot mix XSLT 2.0 and XPath 1.0, nor the other way around. This is not to say that XSLT 1.0 features are obsolete, but that XSLT 2.0 will be different in philosophy, syntax, and construct.

Both the attributes ...