Thread: Adding XSLT support to PostgreSQL core?

Dear PostgreSQL hackers,

[ please CC to me as I'm not subscribed to the list ]

For my projects, I find it very handy to apply XSLT
transformations directly on database side. Unfortunately,
this is only available in contrib/xml2 with an unpleasant
interface.

The documentation of contrib/xml2 of PostgreSQL 9.1 says:

| If you find that some of the functionality of this module
| is not available in an adequate form with the newer API,
| please explain your issue to pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
| so that the deficiency can be addressed.

So this is what I'm trying to do here. :-)

While all xpath_*() functions seem to have been successfully
collapsed into a generic xpath() function, and xml_is_well_formed()
has been moved into the type check for the XML type, I wonder
what happened to the XSLT support.

What are the issues that prevent the xslt_process() function
from being polished up and moved into core? Do you need some
volunteer to put work into this?

Even with the upcoming XQuery support, XSLT still has its
place as a very useful templating language with lots of
existing stylesheets in the wild.


Greets,
Volker

-- 
Volker Grabsch
---<<(())>>---

Excerpts from Volker Grabsch's message of mar dic 06 06:34:37 -0300 2011:
> Dear PostgreSQL hackers,

>
> While all xpath_*() functions seem to have been successfully
> collapsed into a generic xpath() function, and xml_is_well_formed()
> has been moved into the type check for the XML type, I wonder
> what happened to the XSLT support.

Nothing happened because there wasn't manpower enough to do the job,
IIRC.  I remember there being discussions about the exact API we need to
provide, but that also requires manpower to research.

(XPath wasn't all that successfully collapsed; I think there have been
some complaints about the exact API we provide, but that, again,
requires more research.  And I might be misremembering.)

> Do you need some volunteer to put work into this?

Absolutely.  Feel free to study and submit a proposal.  Expect this to
take 10x more time than you initially think, just in discussions.

--
Álvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com>
The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.
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