DO NOT REPLY [Bug 15361] New: - Using default namespaces in XML file will not currently work with XALAN

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http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=15361

Using default namespaces in XML file will not currently work with XALAN

           Summary: Using default namespaces in XML file will not currently
                    work with XALAN
           Product: XalanJ2
           Version: 2.2.x
          Platform: All
        OS/Version: Windows NT/2K
            Status: NEW
          Severity: Major
          Priority: Other
         Component: Xalan
        AssignedTo: xalan-dev@xml.apache.org
        ReportedBy: vendor_bugs@list.atg.com
                CC: vendor_bugs@list.atg.com


I have a customer that has the following in an xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<a xmlns='http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40'>
  <b>Frobnostication</b>
</a>

XALAN will not process this when validating against an XSL file. I tried 
running this against an XSL stylesheet using XALAN-j_2_2_D14.jar and XALAN-
j_2_4_0.jar (the most current version of XALAN). Neither of them worked if you 
used a default namespace. 

I have heard that you cannot use default namespaces with XML files- only within 
XSL stylesheets. Is this true? However, my customer is getting these XML files 
from Microsoft, and they claim that you *can* use default namespaces with XML 
files:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-
us/cpguide/html/cpcondefaultnamespaces.asp

I'm not sure if Microsoft is simply not adhering to XML spec, or if this is a 
XALAN bug. 

Just to let you know, there is a workaround. The first would be: Don't use  
default namespaces in XML files. Take them out if they are there.

Another possible workaround would rely on the customer being able to modify the 
xsl file. If they get in an xml file (that they cannot edit) that has a default 
namespace, they can 'trick' the xsl file into validating all of the element 
tags in the XML file against the default namespace. The way to do this is by 
declaring a namespace in the xsl file. So, simply declare:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" 
xmlns:foo="<default_namespace_url_in_xml_file>" exclude-result-prefixes="foo">

in the xsl file. Then, give all of your elements in the XSL file the 
prefix "foo:". One other thing you may notice is the

exclude-result-prefixes="foo"

in the above declaration. This is included so that the resulting html will not 
include bogus lines such as:

<br xmlns:foo="http://www.unisys.com/WebServices/">

These lines are not needed, and the exclude-result-prefixes 
statement removes them.