-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 2
Commit
This commit does not belong to any branch on this repository, and may belong to a fork outside of the repository.
Merge pull request #16 from ndw/saxon3b1
SaxonJS 3.0.0-beta1 announced
- Loading branch information
Showing
1 changed file
with
160 additions
and
0 deletions.
There are no files selected for viewing
This file contains bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| Original file line number | Diff line number | Diff line change |
|---|---|---|
| @@ -0,0 +1,160 @@ | ||
| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> | ||
| <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> | ||
| <head> | ||
| <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> | ||
| <title>Announcing SaxonJS-HE 3.0.0-beta1</title> | ||
| <meta name="author" content="Norm Tovey-Walsh" /> | ||
| <meta name="pubdate" content="2024-12-18T16:30:00" /> | ||
| </head> | ||
| <body> | ||
| <h1>Announcing SaxonJS-HE 3.0.0-beta1!</h1> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>SaxonJS 3.0 is a major update to the SaxonJS product. In December 2024, it is | ||
| being published as a preview release, version 3.0.0-beta1. This is a preview | ||
| release of the SaxonJS 3.0 HE (Home Edition) product. An EE (Enterprise Edition) | ||
| product is in the works. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h2>New features in the beta1 release</h2> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>This release includes a number of new features, with several more planned | ||
| before the final 3.0 release. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h3>Promises</h3> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>SaxonJS 3 introduces new mechanisms for enabling asynchronous processing | ||
| using promises. A new instruction <code>ixsl:promise</code> is introduced which | ||
| can be used as a replacement for the existing <code>ixsl:schedule-action</code> | ||
| instruction. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <ul> | ||
| <li>The new instruction can now call any asychronous function to fetch any kind of | ||
| resource. Adding new kinds of resource is just a question of implementing new | ||
| functions (which can be user-written functions as well as system-supplied | ||
| functions). So if you want to fetch data from a SQL database, for example, you | ||
| can easily write a function to do that.</li> | ||
| <li>The machinery for handling asynchronous requests is now closely aligned with | ||
| JavaScript promises, both in terms of the conceptual design, and the | ||
| implementation. This makes it much easier to understand for users familiar | ||
| with the JavaScript processing model.</li> | ||
| <li>The mechanism takes advantage of XDM higher-order functions. (Note, however, | ||
| that it still “bends” the pure declarative approach of XPath by introducing | ||
| mutability. A promise, for example, is a mutable object, so you need to | ||
| exercise care for example if you bind it to a variable.)</li> | ||
| </ul> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>Note that for Node.js, run time use of ixsl:promise is an EE feature. So XSLT | ||
| stylesheets using <code>ixsl:promise</code> can be compiled to SEF with the XX | ||
| compiler in SaxonJS without a JS-EE license, and then run in the browser; but to | ||
| run such a stylesheet on Node.js requires SaxonJS-EE and a valid JS-EE license. | ||
| </p> | ||
| </div> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h3>JavaScript extension functions</h3> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>JavaScript developers have easy access to a huge variety of tools and | ||
| libraries distributed as JavaScript packages through <code>npm</code> and other | ||
| mechanisms. We want to make those libraries easily accessible for SaxonJS | ||
| developers too. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>In SaxonJS 3, you can define extension functions in JavaScript and call them | ||
| directly from XPath, both from <code>SaxonJS.XPath.evaluate</code> and from | ||
| within XSLT stylesheets running on SaxonJS in the browser or on Node.js. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>This opens up whole new horizons for SaxonJS developers. | ||
| </p> | ||
| </div> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h3>Smaller changes and improvements</h3> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>While a lot of our focus has been on larger improvements, a few less dramatic | ||
| features are also debuting in beta1. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <ul> | ||
| <li>Support XPath expressions (other than “.”) after ? in <code>xsl:result-document</code></li> | ||
| <li>New methods on <code>xsl:result-document</code>: <code>ixsl:replace-element</code>, <code>ixsl:insert-before</code>, and | ||
| <code>ixsl:insert-after</code></li> | ||
| <li>Improved support for following HTTP redirects</li> | ||
| <li>Improved support for accessing JavaScript objects with <code>ixsl:set-property</code>, <code>ixsl:json-parse</code>, | ||
| <code>ixsl:new</code>, <code>ixsl:apply</code>, <code>ixsl:call</code>, <code>ixsl:eval</code>, and <code>ixsl:get</code></li> | ||
| <li>Support the <code>escape-solidus</code> option when generating JSON.</li> | ||
| </ul> | ||
| </div> | ||
| </div> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h2>New features coming soon</h2> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>Eager to publish a release, at this stage, we’ve opted only to publish the HE | ||
| version of SaxonJS 3.0 as beta1. More work is planned before the general | ||
| release, including SaxonJS 3.0 EE. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h3>SaxonJS-EE</h3> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>SaxonJS-HE will remain a free product, but in 2025 we will also be introducing a | ||
| licensed version of SaxonJS, SaxonJS-EE. The licensed version will provide additional | ||
| features on Node.js (such as built-in EXPath and Saxon extension functions). | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>The promises API run time will be a licensed feature on Node.js. | ||
| </p> | ||
| </div> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h3>Calling XSLT functions from JavaScript</h3> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>Many transformations, on XML and JSON, are easier to define in XSLT than in | ||
| JavaScript. XSLT has a rich vocabulary of instructions for describing, constructing, | ||
| and transforming data in a clear, descriptive, and functional way. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>We anticipate making those features more accessible to JavaScript developers by | ||
| allowing JavaScript to call functions defined in XSLT. | ||
| </p> | ||
| </div> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h3>Adding a SaxonJS.compile API</h3> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>The ability to construct an XSLT stylesheet and then compile it directly for | ||
| use in the current transformation is a powerful feature. A new API for doing this, | ||
| <code>SaxonJS.compile</code>, will be added in the general release. | ||
| </p> | ||
| </div> | ||
|
|
||
| <div> | ||
| <h2>Getting started</h2> | ||
| </div> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>You can try out SaxonJS-HE 3.0 today, the packages have been uploaded to | ||
| <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/">npmjs.com</a>: | ||
| <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/saxonjs-he">saxonjs-he</a> | ||
| and | ||
| <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/xslt3-he">xslt3-he</a>. You can also | ||
| download them <a href="https://downloads.saxonica.com/SaxonJS/3/index.html">our website</a>.</p> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>Our <a href="https://www.saxonica.com/saxonjs/documentation3/index.html">documentation | ||
| pages</a> have been updated and a repository of short examples has been | ||
| published: <a href="https://github.com/Saxonica/SaxonJS3-demo">SaxonJS3 | ||
| demo</a>.</p> | ||
|
|
||
| <p>We hope you’re as excited as we are and we look forward to your feedback. Please | ||
| report any issues that you encounter on | ||
| <a href="https://saxonica.plan.io/projects/saxon-js/issues">our issue tracker</a>. | ||
| </p> | ||
|
|
||
| </div> | ||
| </body> | ||
| </html> | ||
|
|