Re: [xml-dev] Do you need DTD Entities if you have XSLT? (Was: nextml)

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

On 09/12/2010 17:05, Pete Cordell wrote:
> My XSLT isn't great, so I'm wondering, can you use XSLT to do the 
> equivalent of DTD entity substitution?
>
> That way power users could get the benefit of entities, without 
> burdening us simple types with the DTD complexity.
>
> For example, instead of doing:
>
>    ...
> <!ENTITY author "Pete Cordell">
>    ...
> <name>&author;</name>
>
> You could do something like:
>
> <name>^author;</name>
>
> and allow XSLT to do it.
>

Yes, you can certainly do this. I often do.

If I want to do it without disturbing the schema for the document, and 
without inventing private microsyntax, I use processing instructions:

<?glossary?>

as an instruction to the XSLT processor to insert the glossary at this 
point.

Usually (as in this example) the expansion is not literal text, but 
something generated by an earlier step in the processing pipeline.

Michael Kay
Saxonica