RE: [xsl] plain text output

["Michael Kay" <michael dot h dot kay at ntlworld dot com>]

> 1. Preventing initial first lines.
> 
> This template will print a blank first line.
> 
> <xsl:template>
> PDS_VERSION_ID          = PDS3
> RECORD_TYPE             = FIXED_LENGTH
> </xsl:template>
> 
> Something like this will not.
> 
> <xsl:template>
> <xsl:text/>PDS_VERSION_ID          = PDS3
> RECORD_TYPE             = FIXED_LENGTH
> </xsl:template>
> 
> But this breaks one of the features of xsl that I like, that 
> it can look 
> like the document it is mean to output.

Well, when I look at your first example, I see a newline before the
text.
> 
> 2. Inserting a carriage return.
> 
> Simarly, putting in a bunch of
> <xsl:text>&#13;</xsl:text>
> elements disrupts the stylesheet.
> 
> Is there any easier way to do it? 
> 
Not really. Producing formatted text output is definitely a little
tricky. I make a rule to always include literal text in <xsl:text>
elements. Or sometimes I write

<xsl:text/>Here is a line of <xsl:value-of select="xxxx"/>
text.&_#xa;<xsl:text/>

I generally output newlines using an &_#xa; character reference, rather
than relying on copying a newline from the stylesheet. So each line
appears in an <xsl:text> element and ends with an &_#xa;. (Underscores
inserted to bypass "clever" mail software)

Michael Kay
Software AG
home: Michael.H.Kay@ntlworld.com
work: Michael.Kay@softwareag.com 


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