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Re: XPath 2.0: Collection-Valued Expressions (Was: Re: XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators Version 1.0)


Hi Mike,

> As for the division between XPath and XSLT, I think the best way of
> rationalising the split is that XPath is for selecting information
> from the source document, XSLT is for constructing the result
> document. It should never be necessary to use multiple instructions
> at the XSLT level in order to extract a single piece of information
> from the source document.

I'm beginning to understand that part of that separation is also
between simple types (strings, decimals, dates etc.) and complex types
(XML). For example, even in XPath/XSLT 1.0, you can construct a string
from within XPath with the concat() and format-number() functions. So
FLWR expressions in XPath 2.0 would be used for generate sequences of
simple values whereas xsl:for-each constructs in XSLT 2.0 would be
used to generate complex values.

... but then what are the functions like xf:copy() and xf:shallow()
doing in XPath? They seem to be about constructing the result
document. Aren't they?

>> Can you (or someone) reassure me that there will still be automatic
>> conversions between value types such that we won't have to be
>> casting/constructing specific data types all over the place?
>
> This is a matter of intense debate. I wish I could give you such an
> assurance but you'll have to wait and see what gets published.

OK Mike, I'll trust you to fight the good fight.

Cheers,

Jeni

---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/


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