Hi

I need in my xml output file something like:


<Tag1 atr1="&abc;def"/>

I tried in my XSL file to use " atr1="&amp;abc;def" " but in the output I get exactly the same thing: ... atr1="&amp;abc;def". I have almost the same problem with " ", since I try to include them in the output file also (like shown above), but I just can't, since the XSL file treats it like a ordinary comment (which makes sense).

I am using XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0, and I think the latest version of Saxon.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Michael

To generate a comment in the result tree, use the xsl:comment instruction.

Generating entity references is more difficult, because entity references do not appear as such in the tree data model: this means they can only be produced at serialization time. Generally it's not a good idea to attempt it: ask yourself carefully WHY you want to do this. If you have a really good reason, then you can achieve it using character maps:

<xsl:character-map name="amp">
  <xsl:output-character character="#" string="&amp;"/>
</xsl:character>

<xsl:output use-character-maps="amp"/>

then

<xsl:attribute nmae="atr1">#abc;def</xsl:attribute>

Of course you can use any character in place of #, it doesn't have to be ASCII.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
Author, XSLT Programmer's Reference and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference

Thank you Michael for your constant help!

Sincerely,
Michael