output method = text or html

[Derek Fountain]

Just asked a question regarding this little bit of XSL:

---
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:styleshe et version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http ://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="html"/>

<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:text>&apos ; &lt; &gt; &quot; &amp;</xsl:text>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>
---

When run I get:
[color=blue]
>xsltproc test1.xsl test1.xml[/color]
' &lt; &gt; &quot; &amp;

i.e. the &lt; etc. aren't being converted to <, etc., (although the &apos;
does).

Someone told me to change the method="html" to method="text" and that indeed
fixed the problem. My question now, is, why?

My required final output is actually HTML (not XHTML, it's going into a
legacy application which I can't re-engineer) so I need to be able to put
out things like unclosed <p>'s and the like. If I put them directly in my
XSL I get errors saying it's not a well formed document - which of course
it isn't. If I use &lt;p&gt; then they don't get converted unless I use an
output method of "text".

Can someone help me understand what's happening here - either with an
explanation or a URL I can read?

[Johannes Koch]

Re: output method = text or html

Derek Fountain wrote:[color=blue]
> My required final output is actually HTML (not XHTML, it's going into a
> legacy application which I can't re-engineer) so I need to be able to put
> out things like unclosed <p>'s and the like.[/color]

Why do you think you _need_ this? In HTML, the end tag of the p element
is _optional_ but _not forbidden_.

--
Johannes Koch
In te domine speravi; non confundar in aeternum.
(Te Deum, 4th cent.)

[Derek Fountain]

Re: output method = text or html

Johannes Koch wrote:
[color=blue]
> Derek Fountain wrote:[color=green]
>> My required final output is actually HTML (not XHTML, it's going into a
>> legacy application which I can't re-engineer) so I need to be able to put
>> out things like unclosed <p>'s and the like.[/color]
>
> Why do you think you _need_ this? In HTML, the end tag of the p element
> is _optional_ but _not forbidden_.[/color]

The output of my XSL isn't going into an HTML renderer. Someone before my
time had the bright idea to use HTML is a config file format, but only
implemented enough of a parser to do the job required. This parser has its
own ideas about what's optional and forbidden. In this case putting a
closing </p> tag in confuses it.

[Patryk Dworznik]

Re: output method = text or html

On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 18:43:26 +0800, Derek Fountain wrote:

[color=blue]
>
> <xsl:template match="/">
> <xsl:text>&apos ; &lt; &gt; &quot; &amp;</xsl:text>
> </xsl:template>
>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
> ---[/color]

Try <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"> </xsl:text>
to prevent characters from being escaped.

--
Patryk Dworznik