XSLT renders &gt; and &lt; for >< how to do I get around this?

Question

I have some code wrapped in a CDATA tag in an xslt file:

 <span>
   <xsl:text><![CDATA[<asp:LinkButton ID ="]]></xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="ID"/>
   <xsl:text><![CDATA[" onclick="LinkClicked">]]></xsl:text >

   <xsl:value-of select="."/>
   <xsl:text><![CDATA[</asp:LinkButton>]]></xsl:text>
 </span> 

When it renders in the page it is > and <, how do I get around this?

Now I know a work around as I can do a replace within the string after this is rendered, but this doesn't seem like the best approach.

Answer 1

This doesn't answer your question, but there is another way to include .net tags.

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" xmlns:asp="remove">

Note the xmlns:asp="remove"

No need to wrap your control tag in xsl:text or in a cdata section.

Answer 2

Why are you wrapping a tag in a CDATA? The behavior you're describing is exactly what you'd expect, which is why people use CDATA for content, which they want to be escaped.

Answer 3

You need to change your XSLT code:

<span>
  <asp:LinkButton ID="{ID}" onclick="LinkClicked">
    <xsl:value-of select="."/>
  </asp:LinkButton>
</span> 

All this CDATA juggling is not only bad for everybody's eyes, but also the wrong approach no matter how you look at it.

Declare the asp namespace in XSLT and use actual ASP.NET code, not text that looks like code.