Reverse Order

Sometimes you want to display a list of items in the reverse order than they appear in the document. http://www.biglist.com/lists/xsl-list/archives/200105/msg00236.html shows how:

    <xsl:apply-templates select="item">
      <xsl:sort select="position()" data-type="number" order="descending" />
    </xsl:apply-templates>

Non-breaking Space

Short answer: use   instead of  

Long answer: http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/sect2/nbsp.html

Passthrough

        <xsl:template match="@*|node()">
                <xsl:copy>
                        <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
                </xsl:copy>
        </xsl:template>

Links

http://www.jenitennison.com/xslt/ - lots of good XSLT tips
http://www.jenitennison.com/xslt/grouping/index.xml - how to group items in XSLT (can be used to emulate sql's "select distinct" functionality)

Translets vs. Templates

I wanted to see if pre-compiled translets were any faster than Templates so I found some code to compile and run them, and did some micro-benchmarks. Bottom line: translets didn't transform XML faster than Templates, maybe even a little slower. The big win was in initialization but I don't really care about that. Given that translets require Xalan and Templates are built in to Sun's Java I think I'll stick with Templates. While I was at it I tried Java .15 and 1.6 and Saxon 8. I was surprised that Saxon didn't kick the shit out of Xalan - it sure did back in 2003, but now they're in the same ballpark.

using Xalan's "birds" example files, running 5000 times:

first: Templates t = tf.newTemplates(new StreamSource(URI));
second: Transformer transformer = t.newTransformer();
third: transformer = tf.newTransformer(new StreamSource(URI));
fourth: transformer.transform(document, result);

using XSL as input, generating Templates:
before newTemplates: 1189707648447
 after newTemplates: 1189707667564
before newTransformer: 1189707667564
 after newTransformer: 1189707667665
before newTransformer: 1189707667665
 after newTransformer: 1189707689644
before transform: 1189707689645
 after transform: 1189707693274

before newTemplates: 1189707738107
 after newTemplates: 1189707757511
before newTransformer: 1189707757511
 after newTransformer: 1189707757623
before newTransformer: 1189707757624
 after newTransformer: 1189707779782
before transform: 1189707779783
 after transform: 1189707783361

before newTemplates: 1189707955318
 after newTemplates: 1189707974624
before newTransformer: 1189707974624
 after newTransformer: 1189707974747
before newTransformer: 1189707974747
 after newTransformer: 1189707996928
before transform: 1189707996929
 after transform: 1189708000522


using pre-compiled translets:
before newTemplates: 1189707581547
 after newTemplates: 1189707581633
before newTransformer: 1189707581634
 after newTransformer: 1189707581770
before newTransformer: 1189707581770
 after newTransformer: 1189707581905
before transform: 1189707581906
 after transform: 1189707585838

 before newTemplates: 1189707596774
 after newTemplates: 1189707596867
before newTransformer: 1189707596867
 after newTransformer: 1189707597004
before newTransformer: 1189707597004
 after newTransformer: 1189707597131
before transform: 1189707597132
 after transform: 1189707601164

before newTemplates: 1189707611967
 after newTemplates: 1189707612056
before newTransformer: 1189707612056
 after newTransformer: 1189707612193
before newTransformer: 1189707612193
 after newTransformer: 1189707612330
before transform: 1189707612331
 after transform: 1189707616274


using Java 1.5 Templates:

before newTemplates: 1189709259413
 after newTemplates: 1189709266558
before newTransformer: 1189709266559
 after newTransformer: 1189709267926
before newTransformer: 1189709267926
 after newTransformer: 1189709274038
before transform: 1189709274039
 after transform: 1189709280763

before newTemplates: 1189709331211
 after newTemplates: 1189709338562
before newTransformer: 1189709338562
 after newTransformer: 1189709339942
before newTransformer: 1189709339942
 after newTransformer: 1189709346095
before transform: 1189709346096
 after transform: 1189709352755

before newTemplates: 1189709372059
 after newTemplates: 1189709379414
before newTransformer: 1189709379414
 after newTransformer: 1189709380865
before newTransformer: 1189709380865
 after newTransformer: 1189709386942
before transform: 1189709386942
 after transform: 1189709393634


using Java 1.6 Templates:

before newTemplates: 1189709444012
 after newTemplates: 1189709450754
before newTransformer: 1189709450754
 after newTransformer: 1189709452169
before newTransformer: 1189709452170
 after newTransformer: 1189709457757
before transform: 1189709457758
 after transform: 1189709464277

before newTemplates: 1189709482416
 after newTemplates: 1189709489179
before newTransformer: 1189709489179
 after newTransformer: 1189709490581
before newTransformer: 1189709490581
 after newTransformer: 1189709496125
before transform: 1189709496125
 after transform: 1189709502463

before newTemplates: 1189709517385
 after newTemplates: 1189709524028
before newTransformer: 1189709524028
 after newTransformer: 1189709525440
before newTransformer: 1189709525440
 after newTransformer: 1189709531095
before transform: 1189709531095
 after transform: 1189709537325


using saxonb8-j9:

before newTemplates: 1189710098766
 after newTemplates: 1189710103040
before newTransformer: 1189710103040
 after newTransformer: 1189710103055
before newTransformer: 1189710103055
 after newTransformer: 1189710105376
before transform: 1189710105376
 after transform: 1189710111238

before newTemplates: 1189710194556
 after newTemplates: 1189710198665
before newTransformer: 1189710198665
 after newTransformer: 1189710198677
before newTransformer: 1189710198677
 after newTransformer: 1189710201122
before transform: 1189710201122
 after transform: 1189710206944

before newTemplates: 1189710247241
 after newTemplates: 1189710251380
before newTransformer: 1189710251380
 after newTransformer: 1189710251393
before newTransformer: 1189710251393
 after newTransformer: 1189710253711
before transform: 1189710253712
 after transform: 1189710259665