Access C# methods in xslt

Question

Can I access methods in a dll, already in the GAC, without having to declare them inside a CDATA section within the msxsl:script element?

Here's one example of what i don't want:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" exclude-       result-prefixes="xsl in lang user"     xmlns:in="http://www.composite.net/ns/transformation/input/1.0" xmlns:lang="http://www.composite.net/ns/localization/1.0" xmlns:f="http://www.composite.net/ns/function/1.0" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" xmlns:user="urn:my-scripts"> 
 <msxsl:script language="C#" implements-prefix="user"> 
    <msxsl:assembly name="System.Web" /> 
    <msxsl:using namespace="System.Web" />
<![CDATA[public string GetDate(string DateFormat){return DateTime.Now.ToString(DateFormat);}]]></msxsl:script> 
  <xsl:template match="/">  
      <sometag> 
          <xsl:value-of select="user:GetDate('dddd, dd MMMM yyyy')" /> 
      </sometag> 
  </xsl:template> 
</xsl:stylesheet>

I dont want to have to put my function inside a CDATA, can't i reference the dll and call my function inside the template tag like in the example above?

Answer 1

It all depends on the XSLT processor you use and its API. Microsoft's XslCompiledTransform allows you to pass in extension objects, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/tf741884.aspx and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.xsl.xsltargumentlist.addextensionobject.aspx. So you don't have to use the msxsl:script element but you need to define a namespace and make sure you pass in your object as an extension object bound to that namespace.