RE: [xml-dev] Re: I can XInclude where I [expletive deleted] want to

> Consider this XML document. Call it
> document A.
>
> <p>
> <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
> href="somefile.xml" />
> </p>
>
> Now consider this XSLT stylesheet (Call it stylesheet B):
>
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" ...
>
> When I apply the above stylesheet to the above XML document, I know
> what I expect. The XSLT specification leaves no room for doubt.
>

Not true. XSLT 1.0 section 1: "A transformation expressed in XSLT describes
rules for transforming a source tree into a result tree." There is
(deliberately) nothing in XSLT or XPath that constrains the process used to
construct the source tree.

I would expect a useful XSLT processor to give an option to process a source
document without expanding XInclude, but it wouldn't be non-conformant with
XSLT if it didn't. In fact, it wouldn't be non-conformant even if it
required you to construct the source tree by hand.

Michael Kay
Software AG
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