xsl:accept

Description

xsl:accept appears as a child of xsl:use-package and controls which components from the used package are imported into the current package or stylesheet, and with what visibility. It mirrors xsl:expose from the producer side: where xsl:expose declares what a package offers, xsl:accept declares what a consumer is willing to receive.

You can use xsl:accept to hide components that the used package exposes publicly—for example, to prevent an internal utility function from accidentally leaking into downstream consumers. You can also use it to document intent, making it explicit which components the current stylesheet depends on. Components accepted with visibility="hidden" become completely invisible outside the current package.

When xsl:use-package has no xsl:accept children, all public and final components of the used package are automatically available. As soon as one xsl:accept is present, only the matched and accepted components are available; others are treated as if not imported.

Parameters

Return value

xsl:accept is a declaration; it produces no XDM value.

Examples

Accepting only specific functions from a utility package

Stylesheet:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="3.0"
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
  xmlns:str="com.example.strings">

  <xsl:use-package name="com.example.strings" package-version="2.*">
    <!-- Accept only the title-case function; hide all others -->
    <xsl:accept component="function" match="str:title-case#1" visibility="private"/>
  </xsl:use-package>

  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="/document">
    <output>
      <xsl:for-each select="heading">
        <heading><xsl:value-of select="str:title-case(.)"/></heading>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </output>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Input XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<document>
  <heading>introduction to xslt</heading>
  <heading>advanced techniques</heading>
</document>

Output:

<output>
  <heading>Introduction To Xslt</heading>
  <heading>Advanced Techniques</heading>
</output>

Hiding internal components while re-exporting selected ones

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:package
  name="com.example.mylib"
  package-version="1.0"
  version="3.0"
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
  xmlns:util="com.example.util">

  <xsl:use-package name="com.example.util" package-version="*">
    <!-- Re-export format-date as public in mylib -->
    <xsl:accept component="function" match="util:format-date#2" visibility="public"/>
    <!-- Keep everything else hidden from mylib's consumers -->
    <xsl:accept component="function" match="util:*" visibility="hidden"/>
  </xsl:use-package>

  <xsl:expose component="function" match="util:format-date#2" visibility="public"/>

</xsl:package>

Notes

• xsl:accept can only reduce visibility, not increase it. A component marked final by its package cannot be accepted as public (overridable).
• When multiple xsl:accept declarations match the same component, the most specific match wins, with more specific names taking priority over wildcards.
• If a used package contains abstract components that are not overridden via xsl:override, a static error is raised even if the abstract component is hidden with xsl:accept.
• Omitting xsl:accept entirely is equivalent to accepting all public and final components with their original visibility unchanged.

See also

• xsl:use-package
• xsl:expose
• xsl:override