Re: [xsl] Increment/decrement a variable in XSL

[Petr Cimprich <petr at gingerall dot cz>]

Julian Reschke wrote:

>>I would use an external variable and a set of functions (increase,
>>decrease, getValue) defined using the script element from the
>>http://www.exslt.org/functions namespace.
>>
>>I think when you want to increment/decrement a variable, you may be
>>justified to escape to a procedural language and to increment/decrement
>>a variable simply. XSLT is not designed for this task and all other ways
>>are more or less workarounds, IMHO.
>>
>>I see this is not a "pure XSLT" solution but I think it's appropriate
>>for this non-XSLT task.
>>
>
>Following this line of argument it may be better not to use XSLT at all.
>

I don't think so. It may just be better not to use XSLT for everything :)

>
>
>You *are* aware that using extension functions to change variable values not
>only ties you to a specific extension, but also to a particular
>implementation/version (execution order, variable evaluation order...)?
>

I think that EXSLT.org's primary goal is to make extensions (more) 
portable. The suggested solution should work with every processor 
supporting EXSLT's funct:script. I agree that this may be mere theory 
and I'm not sure how many processors support this extension element now.

Anyway, facing a non-XSLT problem such as this one, one should consider 
all solutions including XSLT extensions or even some other ways than 
XSLT. I'm not aware of a context of this problem, it's likely that an 
XSLT workaround is still the best solution.

-- 
Petr Cimprich
Ginger Alliance
www.gingerall.com




 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list