10.2. XPath in the Style Sheet

Even though the XSLT elements in the three style sheets shown earlier are unfamiliar, they illustrate that XPath is an indispensable part of the style sheet. The recursive style sheet particularly shows this dependence upon XPath because of the heavy use of template and apply-templates elements for pattern matching, and the if elements for flow control. But because you read the previous chapter on XPath, all this XPath stuff is already old hat. You did read it, didn't you? Skipping ahead to the good parts, eh? For shame, no soup for you!

Before continuing, I'd like to take a moment to explain something to one of my former co-workers who might be reading this (Yeah, right! Like that would ever happenthe last technical book he read was Curious George Builds a Web Page) before continuing. First, there is no difference in XPath, regardless of where it is being used. The XPath in Europe is the same as the XPath in Asia, which is the same as the XPath in North America, and if something on the Mars Rovers use XPath, then that is also the same. It is called a standard, which means that it is standard throughout the solar system. Sorry to those of you who understand the concept of standards; I just needed to exercise (exorcise) that particular demon for personal reasons. Besides, it was getting a little pudgy, and who wants a pudgy demon anyway?