how to use xsl:param value in the xsl:attribute name="width"

Question

It sounds easy, but none of my "easy" syntax worked:

<xsl:param name="length"/>
<xsl:attribute name="width">$length</xsl:attribute>
not
<xsl:attribute name="width"><xsl:value-of-select="$length"></xsl:attribute>

any suggestions?

thanks

Answer 1

<xsl:attribute name="width">$length</xsl:attribute>

This will create an attribute with value the string $length. But you want the value of the xsl:param named $length.

<xsl:attribute name="width"><xsl:value-of-select="$length"></xsl:attribute>

Here the <xsl:value-of> element is not closed -- this makes the XSLT code not well-formed xml.

Solution:

Use one of the following:

1. <xsl:attribute name="width"><xsl:value-of select="$length"/></xsl:attribute>

or

1. <someElement width="{$length}"/>

For readability and compactness prefer to use 2. above, whenever possible.

Answer 2

You probably don't even need xsl:attribute here; the simplest way to do this is something like:

<someElement width="{$length}" ... >...</someElement>

Answer 3

Your first alternative fails because variables are not expanded in text nodes. Your second alternative fails because you attempt to call <xsl:value-of-select="...">, while the proper syntax is <xsl:value-of select="..."/>, as described in the section Generating Text with xsl:value-of in the standard. You can fix your code by using

<xsl:attribute name="width"><xsl:value-of select="$length"/></xsl:attribute>

or, as others have noted, you can use attribute value templates:

<someElement width="{$length}" ... >...</someElement>