LutzMIRSL@a... wrote:
> Peter:
>> Just at a conceptual level, I'm interested to know what influenced you
>> towards this perception...books, articles, discussions, etc?
> 
> Actually, it is my experience with javascript and php and the fact
> that xml is supposed to be "supported" in Browsers for quite some
> years. 

Don't believe all you read :-)

> Reading a parameter is quite simple using php or javascript.
> Everybody is talking about the great possibilities with xml and that
> xml is the future yada yada. I do have some experience with xsl and so
> I really thought that reading a parameter would be the easiest part of
> it.

So it is...if you use an implementation designed for the task.
Unfortunately those who implemented XSLT in browsers chose not to 
provide for the passing of the query or fragment portion of the URI into 
the program.

> Then I read about the param and that it is supposed to work for this
> but just not in web-browsers. After all those years. Why?

You'd have to ask those who implemented it.

> Peter:
>> Do it server side. Browsers simply don't provide this level of XML
>> support yet (after 10 years they *still* don't grok it...<sigh/>)
> 
> I don't have any experience with that. What are the requirements for
> that. I can't change any thing at the server. PHP 4.4.4 is installed.

XML servers like Cocoon can pass the query portion of the URI as 
parameters to the processor. I don't use PHP very much, but there is 
probably a method for doing that in their XML libraries.

> Bj�rn:
>> This would depend on the query string, not how or by whom the document
>> is being accessed. The XSLT would then retrieve the parameter and act
>> on it accordingly.
> 
> I am now thinking about using php to generate the xml and adding the
> parameter to the xml-data so the xsl can get it from there.

I gave up any attempt to use in-browser XML+XSLT a long while back 
except for very trivial uses. Virtually all my HTML documents come via 
Cocoon or are generated statically via an XML-based CMS.

///Peter
-- 
XML FAQ: http://xml.silmaril.ie/