Re: exslt node-set extension request

(not that you'll see it, given your suspiciously generic return address, but 
for the archives' sake...)

subscriptions wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> I am looking for the exslt node-set() extension.
> 
> Although it is said this should be in the download item 'common' on the
> exslt website, the file downloaded doesn't contain this (anymore). Also
> a negative on other files on the exslt website.
> 
> Can anybody provide me with this extension?
> 

As usual, the answer is that there never was one, and you're looking in the
wrong place. That's not your fault; the exslt.org web site does a terrible job
of explaining the situation to people who head straight to the Downloads page.

EXSLT is a set of specs, not implementations, for XSLT extension functions and
elements. Some of them are based on proprietary extensions in XSLT processors.
node-set() is the prime example -- very similar functions were in high demand
and were implemented in several processors before being unified as EXSLT's 
node-set() ... this was why EXSLT was started, actually.

The spec for each extension has a version number (a simple 1, 2, 3, 4, and so
on).  There's an effort underway to update some of the specs and publish the
aggregate collection of them as "EXSLT 1.0", for what it's worth.

For many (but not all) extensions, we offer a named template written in pure
XSLT. It's intended to provide functionality that's *approximately* equivalent
to that described by the extension spec, so that if a native implementation of
the extension you want isn't available, you'll have something to fall back on.
These pure-XSLT offerings are based on the earliest versions of the specs
and aren't guaranteed to be perfect. They're not reference implementations.

One of the EXSLT extensions is <func:script/>, which, if implemented, would
allow for extensions to be implemented in any language supported by the
processor. MSXML has something similar to this in its <msxsl:script/>
extension. Our downloads include some JavaScript and VB sample implementations
that rely on func:script / msxsl:script to work.

For some extensions, like node-set(), it's not possible to implement them in
pure XSLT 1.0, so no named template has ever been available. Some haven't been
implemented in anything compatible with msxsl:script either. So, those kinds
of extensions must be implemented in your processor. You might have to write 
it yourself, if your processor provides a means for you to write extensions;
check its docs.

What processor are you using? If it's the one built into Firefox, you have to
wait for Firefox 3.0, according to
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=193678

If it's MSXML, you'll probably want http://mvp-xml.sourceforge.net/exslt/
which I believe grew out of Dare Obasanjo's work at Microsoft in 2003 (see
the references on that page).

Mike