[xsl] Treat any template as a function

[Brian Smith <blsmith at blue dot weeg dot uiowa dot edu>]

I am using the EXSLT Function module a lot. But, I'm wondering why it is 
necessary. Why can't XSLT processors allow users to call templates using 
normal function notation. Is this something that is planned for XSLT 
2.0? Personally, I don't see any obvious value in distinguishing between 
functions and templates (a template is just a function that returns an 
RTF, and an RTF is just a special type of node-set).

For example, the following two stylesheet fragments should, IMO, be 
equivilent, given a template like this:
    ...
    <xsl:template name='bls:my-template'>
       <xsl:param name='param1'/>
       <xsl:param name='param2'/>
    </xsl:template>
    ...

(1)
    ...
    <xsl:variable name='var'>
      <xsl:call-template name='bls:my-template'>
        <xsl:with-param name='param1' select='...'/>
        <xsl:with-param name='param2' select='...'/>
      </xsl:call-template>
    </xsl:variable>
    <xsl:value-of select='$var/*'/>
    ...
(2):
    ...
    <xsl:value-of select='bls:my-template(param1, param2)'/>
    ...

Along similar lines, has anybody written a stylesheet that can do these 
transformations on a stylesheet:
    1. Transform all named templates (without match patterns)
       into EXSLT functions?
    2. Transform all <call-template> elements that call these
       functions into <xsl:value-of> elements that cal them?

Thanks,
Brian


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