Debugging XSLT in Chrome

Question

I'm having trouble with an XSL translation in Chrome. I was wondering if there any tools that would allow me to step through the style sheet to see where the problem is.

Answer 1

On linux there is a tool called xsltproc which takes an XSL and XML and outputs the transform.

It also shows context around errors.

I've found this most useful when I'm developing as I can test the result of my changes without the need to have a development server up and running. It just works.

However, I've noticed that the results of the transform can differ from that of Chrome for example. I don't know why this is, whether my transform was non-conforming, if Chrome is non-conforming, or if xsltproc is non-conforming.

EDIT My comment about differences between Chrome and xsltproc rendering the transform slightly differently is likely invalid.

• I had modified the XML schema somewhat, and since then, xsltproc was generating tags (based on type name of types in the schema) correctly, but Chrome was not.
• I was doing hard reloads to avoid Chrome reusing the cache.
• I could tell Chrome was using the new xsl as there was other changes included that were being rendered.
• Only the schema related tests were not working in Chrome for some reason.
• I've since found that now it is magically working, with no changes to the xsl, just on a different day.

So I guess some part of the xsl was being cached somehow (perhaps just the schema bit - totally guessing here)... hence why some debugging in Chrome would be super nice.

Answer 2

• Use node tests to check the results of XPath queries.
• Use the document function to test file paths
• Use the JavaScript console to run XPath queries on the XML data source
• Use inline templates instead of xsl:include to eliminate path issues
• Use comments to eliminate xsl:include statements referencing buggy templates
• Use processing-instructions to comment blocks of code that have XML comments
• Use an embedded stylesheet to workaround same-origin policy restrictions
• Use input tags to print xsl:variable values.
• Use attribute value templates to print unknown values
• Use simplified stylesheets and parameterized XPath to modularize templates
• Use Opera as a cross-reference, since it shows line numbers in its XSLT error messages.