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Re: XML apparently cannot be used for general text markup: whitespace gripe
- From: "Winchel 'Todd' Vincent III" <winchel at mindspring dot com>
- To: <xsl-list at lists dot mulberrytech dot com>
- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 05:59:16 -0500
- Subject: Re: [xsl] XML apparently cannot be used for general text markup: whitespace gripe
- References: <008e01c1cf4f$463e7970$04220b3d@fatlap>
- Reply-to: xsl-list at lists dot mulberrytech dot com
Chad:
This is a nasty problem, but it is really not a problem with XML (or even
HTML), but simply highlights a very important difference between the two.
HTML collapses multiple white space in element content to a single white
space. XML preserves white space inside element content.
So, if you want this XML fragment:
<Paragraph>This is my name: <FirstName>John</FirstName>
<LastName>Doe</LastName>.</Paragraph>
to become this HTML fragment:
<p>This is my name: John Doe.</p>
you can't do the above, you have to do this:
<p>This is my name:
John Doe.</p>
It is not impossible, but, yes, its not very much fun and occurs so often
that it is really, really not fun.
I hope this helps,
Todd
=========================================
Winchel "Todd" Vincent III
Attorney and Technical Consultant
Project Director, E-CT-Filing Project
Georgia State University College of Law
US Phone: 404.651.4297
US Cell: 404.822.4668
US Voice Mail: 770.216.1633
US Fax: 770.216.1633
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Email: winchel@mindspring.com
Web: http://e-ct-file.gsu.edu/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chad Jones" <chad@avatarsoft.com>
To: <XSL-List@lists.mulberrytech.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 9:06 AM
Subject: [xsl] XML apparently cannot be used for general text markup:
whitespace gripe
> Hi there,
>
> I've noticed a lot of xml-derived web pages out there have screwed up
> whitespace (words crammed together or an incorrect space before ending
> punctuation).
>
> My conclusion is that blocks straight text (such as paragraphs) cannot be
> further marked up with XML without screwing up spacing.
>
> For example, can anyone get this simple document into HTML without either
> removing required spaces or adding inappropriate spaces?
>
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <book>
> <par>
> Is his name really <first>John</first> <last>Doe</last>?
> </par>
> </book>
>
> Either you will end up with:
> "Is his name really JohnDoe?"
> which is wrong, or:
> "Is his name really John Doe ?"
> which is also wrong.
>
> Of course, this is a very simple example. In real-life situations bad
> whitespace causes really nasty problems. Of course, I'm pretty new to XSL
> so maybe I just can't read the directions. Here's my XSL example:
>
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
> <xsl:transform xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";
> version="1.0">
> <xsl:output method="html"/>
> <xsl:preserve-space elements="*"/>
> <xsl:template match="/">
> <html><xsl:apply-templates/></html>
> </xsl:template>
> </xsl:transform>
>
> Does anyone know of a work-around for this common problem?
>
> TIA
> Chad Jones
>
>
> XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
>
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