System.Xml.XslCompiledTransform Problem - prevent self-closing tags

[mikepmyers]

I've done some research online and turned up with results that did not sit well with me. I’m using the System.Xml.XslCompiledTransform class as recommended by MS; however, it’s creating self-closing tags that I don’t want, example:

* My XSLT has: [HTML]<script language="javascript" src="client_scripts/VehInInv.js"></script> [/HTML]
* Using the XslCompiledTransform class I get: [HTML]<script language="javascript" src="client_scripts/VehInInv.js"/>[/HTML] -- notice the missing[HTML] </script> [/HTML] tag

This is not well formed HTML and results in a blank looking page even though a view source of the page I can the rest of the HTML. Is there a way around this through the Transformer MS is telling me to use? Some solutions on the web are to go through each XSLT and replace with empty space in my stylesheet, example:


[HTML]<script language="javascript" src="client_scripts/VehInInv.js"><xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&amp;nbsp;</xsl:text></script>[/HTML]


However, with 60+ stylesheets and the understanding that I could still run into other issues (i.e. using <div></div> or some other empty tag that maybe I’m placing out there to be later manipulated through javascript) I don’t like the idea of this. The transformation function I wrote is below:

Public Function fnTransformXML_new() As String

Dim log As clsLog4Net = Nothing
Dim oParm As clsTransformerParms = Nothing
Dim xslt As XslCompiledTransform
Dim xsltArgList As XsltArgumentList
Dim xDoc As XPathDocument
Dim writer As XmlWriter
Dim reader As XmlReader
Dim stWrite As StringWriter

log = New clsLog4Net

oParm = New clsTransformerParms

xslt = New XslCompiledTransform

xsltArgList = New XsltArgumentList

stWrite = New StringWriter

Dim xsltsettings As XsltSettings = New XsltSettings

xslt.Load(XSL_Path, xsltsettings, New XmlUrlResolver())

Dim xmlsettings As XmlReaderSettings = New XmlReaderSettings
xmlsettings.ConformanceLevel = ConformanceLevel.Fragment
xmlsettings.IgnoreWhitespace = True

reader = XmlReader.Create(New StringReader(XML_String), xmlsettings)

For Each oParm In mCol

If Not IsNothing(oParm) Then
If IsNothing(oParm.ParmValue) Then
xsltArgList.AddParam(oParm.ParmName.ToString, "", "")
Else
xsltArgList.AddParam(oParm.ParmName.ToString, "", oParm.ParmValue.ToString)
End If
End If
Next oParm

writer = New XmlTextWriter(stWrite)

xslt.Transform(reader, xsltArgList, writer)

fnTransformXML_new = stWrite.ToString

End Function

Is there a property of the transformer class that I can turn off/on? Please help.

[emeriqus]

this is a small class i use to solve the problem


Public Class XHTMLWriter : Inherits XmlTextWriter

Public EmptyElements() As String = New String() {"area", "base", "basefont", "br", "col", "frame", "hr", "img", "input", _
"isindex", "link", "meta", "param"}

Private ElementStack As New System.Collections.Stack


Public Sub New(ByVal w As System.IO.Stream, ByVal encoding As System.Text.Encoding)

MyBase.New(w, encoding)


End Sub

Public Overloads Overrides Sub WriteEndElement()

Dim localName As String = CStr(ElementStack.Pop)

If System.Array.IndexOf(EmptyElements, localName) <> -1 Then

MyBase.WriteEndElement()

Else

MyBase.WriteFullEndElement()

End If

End Sub


Public Overloads Overrides Sub WriteStartElement(ByVal prefix As String, ByVal localName As String, ByVal ns As String)

Me.ElementStack.Push(localName)
MyBase.WriteStartElement(prefix, localName, ns)

End Sub

End Class


usage:

Public Shared Function myTransform(ByVal xslPath As String, ByVal xDoc As IXPathNavigable, ByRef output As Stream) As Boolean

Dim xslt As XslCompiledTransform = Nothing

With HttpContext.Current

xslPath = .Server.MapPath(xslPath)

If .Cache.Item(xslPath) Is Nothing Then

xslt = New XslCompiledTransform()
xslt.Load(xslPath)

' if the file xslPath is modified the cache will be expired
' warning ! if any include template is modified, the cached object won't be changed
.Cache.Insert(xslPath, xslt, New CacheDependency(xslPath))
Else
xslt = .Cache(xslPath)
End If

End With


Dim ws As XmlWriterSettings = xslt.OutputSettings.Clone()

Dim xw As New XHTMLWriter(output, ws.Encoding)
xw.Formatting = Formatting.Indented

xslt.Transform(xDoc, xw)

Return True
End Function

problems:
- <xsl: output ... has no effect
- you must inlude manually doctype in template

<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[ <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/Strict.dtd"> ]]></xsl:text>