Howdy!
I've just released the first version of Role::LibXSLT::Extender to CPAN.
What is it?
Role::LibXSLT::Extender is a simple Moose Role that instantiates an
XML::LibXSLT processor and registers the subroutines and methods in the
class that consumes that Role as extension functions that can be called
from within your XSLT stylesheets.
Why the $#&% would I want this?
XSLT is great for recursively transforming nested XML documents but
operating on the text in those documents can be time consuming and
error-prone. Perl is great for all sort of things, but transforming
nested XML documents programmatically is the source of much unnecessary
pain and consternation. This module seeks to bridge the gap by letting
you use XSLT for what it is best at while using the power of Perl for
everything else.
Alright, but how do I use it?
Here's the SYNOPSIS:
# your extension class
package My::Special::XSLTProcessor
use Moose;
with 'MooseX::LibXSLT::Extender';
sub set_extension_namespace {
return 'http:/fake.tld/my/app/namespace/v1'
}
sub special_text_munger {
my $self = shift;
my $text = shift;
# magic happens here
return $text;
}
-------------------
# in your XSLT stylesheet
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";
xmlns:myapp="http:/fake.tld/my/app/namespace/v1">
<xsl:template match="/some/xpath">
<!-- pass the current text node to special_text_munger()
in your extension class. -->
<foo><xsl:value-of select="myapp:special_text_munger(.)"/></foo>
</xsl:template>
-------------------
# in your application or script
my $extended = My::Special::XSLTProcessor->new();
# load the XML and XSLT files
my $style_dom = XML::LibXML->load_xml( location=> $xsl_file );
my $input_dom = XML::LibXML->load_xml( location=> $xml_file );
my $stylesheet = $extended->parse_stylesheet($style_dom);
# your custom extensions are called here
my $transformed_dom = $stylesheet->transform( $input_dom );
# dump the result to STDOUT
print $stylesheet->output_as_bytes($transformed_dom);
But wait, there's more!
Unlike the vanilla XML::LibXSLT extension mechanism, functions
registered via MooseX::LibXSLT::Extender are *methods* not just
subroutines. Each function gets an instance of the class (you know,
$self) so you have full access to all the other attributes, methods,
etc. in that class without having to resort to global variables and so on.
As usual, comments, suggestions, flames, and patches are all welcome.
Cheers,
-kip
