Re: [xsl] XSLT & SQL

[Jeff Kenton <jkenton at datapower dot com>]

On Thu, 11 Jul 2002, E L wrote:

..Someone told me that he can do *any* XSLT transformation in SQL. Here's the
..premise: any input XML document can be represented by one or more tables;
..likewise for the output XML document. The XSLT can be replaced with an SQL
..insert statement, selecting from the input and inserting to the output
..(e.q., any XPath expression can be expressed by a similar WHERE clause in a
..SELECT statement).
..
..I can see it's possible for simple document. Are there instances where this
..would not be possible?
..


There are two parts to the answer:

First, even when it's possible, which is the best tool for the job? You 
can do most things with a Turing machine, but nobody does.

Second, there are lots of cases where it's not possible.  Arbitrary text 
output is one.  I bet some of the xsl:number formatting options would be 
tough to do in SQL (format A or I come to mind).  You're welcome to go 
through the spec(s) and find your own examples.

It's a lot easier to make blanket claims than to back them up when it 
comes down to the details.



-- 

Jeff Kenton
DataPower Technology, Inc.
 *** Wire Speed XSLT ***

http://www.datapower.com/products.shtml



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