Hi Daniel,

> in template match if | is or then how do you do and? also, can you nest
> and/or logic w/ some sort of paranthesis or something?

'|' is the union operator - it isn't strictly logical-or... only in match
patterns can you imagine the '|' union operator to be synonymous with the a
logical-or (actually described in the specs as 'alternatives').  In XPath
syntax logical-or is represented by the token 'or' - and so, logically ;),
logical-and is represented by the token 'and'.

However, bear in mind that although match patterns share much the same
syntax as XPath expressions - they are not exactly the same thing.  (It is a
happy, by design coincidence that match patterns use a similar syntax to
XPath - see http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt#patterns where they specifically refer
to match patterns as having their own specific grammar).  So, while it is
true that any match pattern will be a valid XPath expression - it is not
true that any valid XPath expression is a valid match pattern.

e.g., while...
  <xsl:value-of select="a or b"/>
is perfectly valid - the match pattern...
  <xsl:template match="a or b">
is invalid.
Also, while...
  <xsl:value-of select="(a) | (b)"/>
is perfectly valid - the match pattern...
  <xsl:template match="(a) | (b)">
is invalid.
(Oh, and seeing as this is a MS ng - pls don't test the second example using
MSXML3 and tell me it is valid after all... it isn't... it's just that
MSXML3 allows some sloppy stuff).


So if you do wish to imagine match patterns as XPath expressions (which
really isn't advisable) - then you need to consider them as expressions that
must evaluate to a node set (or even just a node).
Therefore, a few notable differences between XPath expressions and match
patterns that are relevant to your question...
* boolean operators ('and', 'or' and 'not') may only be used within
predicates [] in a match pattern;
* grouping/order precedence parenthesis () can also only be used within
predicates [] in a match pattern
(there's a few more too!)

But then, i'd have to ask why anyone would want to use logical-and in a
match pattern (outside of a predicate)?  For example, if it were valid
(which it isn't) - what would...
  <xsl:template match="a and b">
mean?  would it mean that the node pushed out and to be caught by this
template must be both an <a> and a <b> element at the same time - which it
couldn't be?  Perhaps the answer to your question depends on what you are
actually trying to accomplish with your match pattern.

Cheers
Marrow
http://www.marrowsoft.com - home of Xselerator (XSLT IDE and debugger)
http://www.topxml.com/Xselerator


"Daniel" <softwareengineer98037@y...> wrote in message
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