The XSLT/XPath extension for VSCode provides comprehensive language support for XSLT 3.0 and XPath 3.1. This ReadMe is a quick start guide, see the XSLT/XPath User Guide for more comprehensive help.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| XSLT 3.0/XPath 3.1 | See W3C specifications for XSLT 3.0 and XPath 3.1 |
| Syntax Highlighting | Fast and precise - using Semantic Highlighting exclusively |
| Code Formatting | XSLT instruction elements, attributes and multi-line XPath expressions |
| Code Diagnostics* | For XPath Syntax, XSLT Instructions, variable/param references, all XPath symbols |
| XSLT/XPath Processing | VS Code Task Support for Saxon (Java) and Saxon-JS (NodeJS) |
| Auto-Completion | XSLT instructions, XPath functions/axis, XPath variables, XPath symbol names, Node names etc. |
| Color Theme Support | Tested with most popular color themes (Semantic Highlighting must be enabled in settings) |
| Inferred xsl:import | When navigating from parent stylesheet to non-standalone stylesheet modules with missing xsl:import |
| Code Folding | Either uses indentation or region XML processing-instructions |
| Snippets | Set of snippets accessed via auto-completion |
| Symbol Outline | Tree-view of XSLT instructions and symbols (named templates, modes, variables, functions, accumulators etc.) |
| Symbol Breadcrumbs | Shows location within the code hierarchy |
| Goto Symbol | Quick access via filterable list of code symbols |
| Goto Definition | For all symbol references like variables, parameters, functions, modes, accumulators etc. |
| Peek Definition | View symbol declarations inline with corresponding references |
| VS Code Tasks | Configurable task templates for Saxon and Saxon-JS Prcoessors |
| Bracket Matching | For (), {}, and [] |
| Follow Links | For xsl:import, xsl:include and xsl:use-package |
| Hover assistance | Shows tooltips. Providing signatures and descriptions for all built-in XSLT and XPath functions |
| Variable watcher | xsl:message instruction for local XSLT/XPath parameters/variables generated on auto-completion |
* Problem-reporting currently depends on the VSCode symbol-provider. To ensure problems are always reported in VSCode, use the following VSCode setting: "breadcrumbs.enabled": true
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Well-formedness checking | Checks XML syntax and checks prefixes against in-scope namespace declarations |
| XML Formatting | Indents XML elements, attributes and multi-line attribute-values |
| XML Tree-view | Outline of XML elements and attributes in document |
| XML Breadcrumbs | Shows ancestors of current XML node |
| Auto Tag-Close | Pressing </ results in the auto-completion for the close tag of the current element |
| Tag Rename | When start-tag is modified, corresponding end-tag is also updated |
| Tag Self-Close | Convert start-tag to self-closed tag by inserting / before > (end-tag is removed) |
| Comment Command | keyboard shortcut: ⌘/ - convert lines to an XML comment |
| XML Snippets | For XML elements, attributes, processing-instrucitons and comments |
| Command | Details |
|---|---|
| XML: Goto XPath | Initially shows current XPath at the text prompt |
| XML: Select current element | Includes start/end tags |
| XML: Select preceding element | |
| XML: Select following element | |
| XML: Select parent element | |
For lexical analysis, this extension processes code character-by-character. This analysis is exploited for all features including all syntax highlighting. Avoiding the much more common use of regular expressions on a line-by-line basis brings significant benefits. These benefits include improved responsiveness, lower CPU load, improved code maintainability and full integrity for syntax highlighting.
Auto-completion is available for XSLT and XPath, this includes contex-aware completion items for all code symbol names. XSLT and XPATH function signatures and descriptions are shown in the description alongside function completion items.
This extension performs a comprehensive set of checks on the code, before any XSLT compilation. Thsese checks ensure that any code symbols within XSLT or XPath with problems are accurately identified at the symbol-level. Asynchronous processing for xsl:include/xsl:import dependencies allows checking of references to symbol definitions regardless of the location of the definition.
XSLT transforms are configured and run as special VSCode Tasks. For more detail, see Running XSLT
The project changelog is maintained on the project wiki. See Release Notes.
See: VSCode Settings
To use the task-provider for the Java Saxon XSLT Processor, the following setting is required (alter path to suit actual jar location):
"XSLT.tasks.saxonJar": "/path/to/folder/SaxonHE10-0J/saxon-he-10.0.jar"
The Saxon XSLT-Java and XSLT-JS TaskProviders are enabled by default. These can be enabled/disable using the following settings properties:
"XSLT.tasks.java.enabled": true
"XSLT.tasks.js.enabled": true
If your XSLT contains xsl:use-package instructions, XSLT package names are resolved to lookup symbols to support the following features:
- Goto Definition
- Symbol Diagnostics
- Symbol Auto-Completion
To allow XSLT package names to be resolved to file paths, package details should be added to the setting:
XSLT.resources.xsltPackages
An example of XSLT package name settings:
"XSLT.resources.xsltPackages": [
{ "name": "example.com.package1", "version": "2.0", "path": "included1.xsl"},
{ "name": "example.com.package2", "version": "2.0", "path": "features/included2.xsl"},
{ "name": "example.com.package3", "version": "2.0", "path": "features/not-exists.xsl"}
]If file paths are relative they are resolved from the first Visual Studio Code Workspace folder
Note: Currently, XSLT Package versions are not used in package-name lookup
- On Windows -
Shift + Alt + F. - On Mac -
Shift + Option + F. - On Ubuntu -
Ctrl + Shift + I.
Syntax highlighting is currently only enabled by default in VSCode's built-in themes. This is because some extension themes may not yet have specific language support for VSCode's 'Semantic Highlighting' as used by this extension.
To enable syntax highighting for a custom theme you need to change User Settings. For example, to enable syntax highlighting for XSLT in the City Lights theme use:
{
"editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations":{
"[Monokai +Lights]": {"enabled": true}
},
}Or, to enable syntax highlighting for all themes:
{
"editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations":{
"enabled": true
},
}{
"[xslt]": {
"editor.defaultFormatter": "deltaxml.xslt-xpath",
"editor.formatOnSaveMode": "modifications",
"editor.formatOnSave": true,
"editor.formatOnPaste": true,
"editor.formatOnType": true
}
}For word selection/navigation, by default, names like $two-parts are treated as two words for selection purposes and $ is also excluded from the name. This behaviour can be altered using the VSCode setting:
editor.wordSeparators
See: VSCode Documentation on Settings
Code-folding currently works by indentation indicating the nesting level. So, if code-folding does not work as expected, try reformatting using (for MacOS) - Shift-⌥-F.
Region code-folding is also supported. This can be useful, for example, for blocks of templates for a specific mode. To set a region code-folding block, surround it with <?region?> and <?endregion?> processing instructions. You may optionally include a label for the processing instructions, for example:
<?region reconstruct?>
...
<?endregion reconstruct?>
The XSLT/XPath User Guide provides an introduction to features supported by this extension for XSLT and XPath developers:
In addition to XSLT, other XML-based languages/vocabularies with embedded XPath will be supported in future in this extension. Currently, DeltaXML's Document Comparison Pipeline (DCP) format is supported, acting as a pilot for other languages.
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