<xsl:message> Element

The <xsl:message> element sends a text message to either the message buffer or a message dialog box, depending on the environment in which the element call is made. It also raises a system-level error message that can be trapped through normal error-handling mechanisms.

<xsl:message
  terminate = "yes" | "no" >
</xsl:message>

Attributes

terminate: Specifies whether the transformation should terminate upon executing this instruction. This attribute can have one of two string values: "yes" or "no". When the terminate attribute is set to "yes", the content of the element is displayed as the part of the system-level error message, and the transformation terminates. When it is set to "no", the transformation proceeds, ignoring the error message. The default value is "no".

Element Information

Number of occurrences	Unlimited
Parent elements	xsl:attribute, xsl:comment, xsl:copy, xsl:element, xsl:fallback, xsl:for-each, xsl:if, xsl:message, xsl:otherwise, xsl:param, xsl:processing-instruction, xsl:template, xsl:variable, xsl:when, xsl:with-param, output elements
Child elements	xsl:apply-templates, xsl:attribute, xsl:call-template, xsl:choose, xsl:comment, xsl:copy, xsl:copy-of, xsl:element, xsl:for-each, xsl:if, xsl:processing-instruction, xsl:text, xsl:value-of, xsl:variable, output elements

Remarks

The <xsl:message> element provides a mechanism to debug XSLT style sheets in progress. Whenever an <xsl:message> element is encountered, if the terminate flag is set to "yes", the XSLT processor quits, and sends a system-level error message. Expressions contained within the <xsl:message> element evaluate relative to the current context, making <xsl:message> a good way to watch individual elements.

Example

The following topic provides an example of the <xsl:message> element.

Example of <xsl:message>