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I am a trying to pass the value of a shell variable to an xsltproc instance. The file text.xsl contains:


<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:import href="file:/Users/robertramey/WorkingProjects/modular-boost/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl"/>
<xsl:import href="file:$BOOST_ROOT/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl"/>
</xsl:stylesheet>


#functions as expected
$echo $BOOST_ROOT
/Users/robertramey/WorkingProjects/modular-boost


#passes on first import as expected.
#but fails on the second as expect as BOOST_ROOT is not set
$xsltproc --maxdepth 6000 --xinclude --nonet test.xsl
warning: failed to load external entity
"file:$BOOST_ROOT/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl"


#passes on the first import as expected
#fails on the second - NOT expected

$xsltproc --maxdepth 6000 --stringparam BOOST_ROOT "/Users/robertramey/WorkingProjects/modular-boost" --xinclude --nonet test.xsl
warning: failed to load external entity
"file:$BOOST_ROOT/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl" compilation error: file test.xsl line 4 element import
xsl:import : unable to load file:$BOOST_ROOT/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl

Why is this? What do I have to do to make this work?

$cat bb2db.xsl

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"> <xsl:import href="https://www.boost.org/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl"/> </xsl:stylesheet>

which works. But it relies on a global URL to find the file to import. This makes my script dependent on having an internet connection which I'd prefer to avoid. I'd like to refer to a local directory:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"> <xsl:import href=file:"$BOOST_ROOT/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl"/> </xsl:stylesheet>

Since the shell variable holds the base path of the desired xml stylysheet I want to import.

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6
  • 1
    I don't think parameterizing an xsl:import is possible with XSLT 1. With XSLT 3 (like SaxonC 12 HE) you might be able to use a static parameter (<xsl:param name="BOOST_ROOT" static="yes" as="xs:string" select="'/Users/robertramey/WorkingProjects/modular-boost'"/>) and a shadow attribute (<xsl:import _href="file:{$BOOST_ROOT}/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl"/>). Commented Jul 28, 2024 at 22:53
  • Can you explain what you are trying to achieve by your attempt to parameterise the xsl:import? What is the reason why you don't just import the file directly? Commented Jul 29, 2024 at 1:22
  • I expanded the question to include this information. Thanks for helping me out with this! Commented Jul 29, 2024 at 19:15
  • 1
    I think your question could be divided into two: (1) how to pass a parameter to an XSLT stylesheet and (2) how to use the parameter in xsl:import. Since the answer to #2 is that you can't (because the href attribute of xsl:import is not an attribute value template) the first part becomes moot. Commented Jul 29, 2024 at 19:36
  • I am not a heavy xsltproc users but I would suggest to check whether using a catalog linux.die.net/man/1/xsltproc can't help you resolve a HTTPS URL like https://www.boost.org/tools/boostbook/xsl/docbook.xsl to your local file URL. Or of course consider moving to XSLT 3, both SaxonC 12 for C/C++ saxonica.com/saxon-c/index.xml or the Node.js SaxonJS/xslt3 command line tool npmjs.com/package/xslt3 should support the approach with a static parameter and a shadow attribute. Commented Jul 30, 2024 at 6:28

1 Answer 1

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Looks like I may have it!!!!: xsltproc --maxdepth 6000 --path "$BOOST_ROOT/tools/boostbook/xsl" --xinclude --nonet test.xsl

test.xsl contains:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"> <xsl:import href="xsl/docbook.xsl"/> </xsl:stylesheet>

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