Can I specify a default namespace in my XSL stylesheet for each element created?

Question

I am using .NET to transform XML from a DataSet to the sitemap format. Here is where I am at right now. As you can see, I create the root element with the correct namespace. I noticed that if I created child nodes, they all got an empty xmls-attribute (<url xmlns="">...</url>), unless I specified the namespace when I create the element in the template.

It's not very DRY. is there a way to define the namespace of alle elements that are created?

<xsl:template match="/">
    <!-- Root element has a namespace -->
    <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"&gt;
        <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </urlset>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="Document">
    <!-- Do it this way to prevent empty xmlns attribute on element -->
    <xsl:element name="url" namespace="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"&gt;
        <!-- This element will get the empty xmlns attribute, unless I create it like the url element -->
        <location>
            <xsl:value-of select="Path" />
        </location>
        <!-- There are more elements to create here, do I have to specify the namespace each time? -->
    </xsl:element>
</xsl:template>

Thanks!

Answer 1

Specify the default namespace on the root of the stylesheet.

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt;

Or, in my opinion a preferred solution, define a prefix on the root and use it later for your elements:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:sm="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt;
    <xsl:template match="/">
        <sm:urlset>
            <xsl:apply-templates/>
        </sm:urlset>
    </xsl:template>