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To: xalan-j-users@xml.apache.org
Subject: RE: Conditional assignment of tree frag to variable doesn't work.
Message-ID: <OF922964FE.7558A951-ON85256D20.00686C24@lotus.com>
From: david_marston@us.ibm.com
Date: Thu, 8 May 2003 15:20:44 -0400
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The construct
<xsl:variable name="foo">
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="whatever">
      <xsl:text>We have a whatever at this point.</xsl:text>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
      <xsl:text>We don't have a whatever at this point.</xsl:text>
    </xsl:otherwise>
  </xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
is part of our test suite, and it should work in all 2.x versions. Since
it creates an RTF, the variable is always "set", so a test for set-ness,
<xsl:when test="$foo != ''">
should always pass.

On the other hand, variables don't seem to pop out of xsl:choose as in
<xsl:template match="/">
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="whatever">
      <xsl:variable name="foo" select="'have-whatever'">
etc.
due to the visibility rule (following siblings and descendants) in part
11.5 of the XSLT spec. Sorry about that.

I think Keith's problem might be about critical values being buried in
the RTF he created. My suggestion is to have a variable that is set to a
simple boolean (not RTF) that will be directly usable in later xsl:when
elements. <xsl:when test="$have-whatever">
.................David Marston