For a list of Xalan-Java commits, see xalan-cvs@xml.apache.org in the Apache mailing list archive index.

Fix to Xalan-Java 2.3.0. Beginning with release 2.3.0, regexp.jar is required to compile translets and use the XSLTC API (see Setting the system classpath for XSLTC). For release 2.3.0, we posted regexp.jar to the Apache CVS repository, but we failed to update the Ant build process to include regexp.jar in the distribution files. As soon as a user alerted us to this error, we fixed build.xml to include regexp.jar in the distribution files. Accordingly, regexp.jar is in the 2.3.x binary and source distribution files.

XSLTC does not yet support the following features of the XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0:

• The case-order option to the sort element is not supported, because XSLTC relies on the underlying Java sorting classes (bugzilla 1396).

XSLTC supports a number of features that are not required by the XSLT 1.0 specification, but which are supported by a number of other XSLT processors:

• Calling external Java functions from a Translet.
  Constructors, static, and nonstatic functions are supported. You may use either the <http://xml.apache.org/xslt/java or the <http://xml.apache.org/xalan/xsltc/java namespace to call your external function. The class can be specified as part of the namespace URI or as part of the function call as shown in the following example:
  

  	<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:java="http://xml.apache.org/xslt/java" xmlns:java-system="http://xml.apache.org/xslt/java/java.lang.System"> <xsl:template match="/"> <xsl:value-of select="java:java.lang.System.currentTimeMillis()"/> <xsl:value-of select="java-system:currentTimeMillis()"/> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>

  
  The following example shows you how to call constructors, static, and nonstatic functions
  

  	<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:java="http://xml.apache.org/xslt/java" exclude-result-prefixes="java"> <!-- * test: construction of Date object using a parameter calculated * by a static call to the java.lang.Math object. Then call * a non-static method (getTime()) on the newly created Date * object. Demonstrates calling constructors, static functions * (Math.max) and non-static functions (getTime()). * * Output: * <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> * Date of object: Sat Nov 30 17:32:41 EST 2002 * Time of object: 1038695561000 * --> <xsl:template match="/"> <!-- create Date object with calculated parameter --> <xsl:variable name="dateObject" select="java:java.util.Date.new( java:java.lang.Math.max(1027695561000,1038695561000) )"/> Date of object: <xsl:value-of select="$dateObject"/> Time of object: <xsl:value-of select="java:getTime($dateObject)"/> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>

  
  
• Result Tree Fragments as Node Sets
  Result Tree Fragments (RTFs) can be captured as the template content of a variable or parameter and then the variable can be passed to a for-each or an apply-templates as a node set.
  
  
• nodeset() Function
  XSLTC also supports the nodeset() function for transforming an RTF (result tree fragment) into a node set. It can be used as an xsltc-extension function or as a standard XPATH function as shown in the following example:
  

  	<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:xsltc-extension="http://xml.apache.org/xalan/xsltc" xmlns:some-extension="http://some-extension" version="1.0"> <xsl:template match="/"> <xsl:variable name="rtf"> <docelem> <elem1>elem1</elem1> <elem2>elem2</elem2> </docelem> </xsl:variable> <!-- Use nodeset as XSLTC extension --> <xsl:value-of select="xsltc-extension:nodeset($rtf)/docelem/elem1"/> <!-- Use nodeset as standard function --> <xsl:value-of select="nodeset($rtf)/docelem/elem1"/> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>

  
  
• Output Redirection
  Output can be redirected to one or more files, using code like the following:
  

  	<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:xsltc="http://xml.apache.org/xalan/xsltc" xsl:version="1.0"> <xsl:template match="/"> <xsl:text>This goes to standard output</xsl:text> <xsltc:output file="blob.xml"> <xsl:text>This ends up in the file 'blob.xml'</xsl:text> </xsltc:output> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>

  
  

• The strip space element does not work with copy-of. For example, with <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>, if you do an identity transform by matching on the root node (/) and then do a copy-of select=".", the whitespace-only nodes are not stripped out. xsl:strip-space works when you do not do a copy-of.
  
  
• The default for template inlining has been changed. Previously, by default, inlining (putting all the templates into one big method) was on and the "-n" option to the compile command line disabled inlining. With inlining on, XSLTC can generate methods that are too long (> 64K length) to run, or contain jump offsets that are too large for the JVM to handle. Now the default is not to inline templates. Instead, compilation creates separate methods for each template. Inlining was thought to improve performance, but with recent hotspot technology in the Java 1.4.x JVM, performance is better with inlining off. From the command line, you would use "-n" to turn on inlining, or with TrAX set the "enable-inlining" attribute to the TransformerFactory. For example,

  	TransformerFactory tfac = new TransformerFactory(); tfac.setAttribute("enable-inlining", Boolean.TRUE)

  
  
• XSLTC tries to determine the order in which global variables are initialized by tracking the dependencies between them. In some cases, the value of a variable may depend on a template, e.g., if xsl:call-template is used to initialized a variable whose type is RTF. If this happens, a NPE may be thrown at runtime when the translet attempts to access a variable that has not been properly initialized. In most cases, this problem can be avoided by reordering the variable declarations.
  

To check on the open bugs in the current Apache xml-xalan/java repository, follow the instructions below:

1. Go to http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla.
2. Select Query Existing Bug Reports.
3. Choose:
   Program: XalanJ2
   Component: org.apache.xalan.xsltc (and) Xalan-Xsltc
4. Submit the query.

As part of the TrAX API, a "Smart Transformer Switch" enables automatic switching between Xalan and XSLTC processors within your application. It uses Xalan to create your Transformer objects, and uses XSLTC to create your Templates objects.

To use the switch, you set the TrAX system property, javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory, to org.apache.xalan.xsltc.trax.SmartTransformerFactoryImpl. For one-time transformations or transformations that require extensions supported by Xalan, and not XSLTC, you would use Transformer objects. For a repeated transformation where performance is critical, you would use Templates objects.