How to put tags inside an html attribute?

Question

Using xslt i want to create an attribute:

<span class="tooltip">
            <xsl:attribute name="onmouseover">
                <xsl:text>javascript:function(</xsl:text>
                <span class="label">Aggiunta</span> 
                <xsl:apply-tempaltes/>
                <xsl:text>)</xsl:text>
            </xsl:attribute>

The problem is that only the pure text is putted inside the attribute, like

<span class="tooltip" onmouseover="javascript:function(Aggiunta ...)">

whithout the span tags or the tags that may come from apply-templates.

So how can I put html code into an attribute?

Answer 1

If you're trying to produce correct xhtml, you really shouldn't do this at all, but make your attribute value reference a simpler javascript not containing these characters.

The rules defining well-formed XML explicitly forbid attribute values from containing the '<' character. See the W3C Recommendation .

Answer 2

You should bind event to HTML elements not writing directly as attribute. This sample is based on jQuery.

$( ".tooltip" ).bind( "mouseover", function() {
  // some code goes here 
});

and HTML should look similar like so:

<span class="tooltip">Some text</span>

Answer 3

the best option would be using an external JavaScript file. an immediate fix would include the use of CDATA tags.

<xsl:text><![CDATA[myfunction("<span class='label'>Aggiunta</span>]]></xsl:text>

note that inline JavaScript accepts variables only under certain circumstances.

what the XML Specs say about Character Data (eg attribute values)

The ampersand character (&) and the left angle bracket (<) MUST NOT appear in their literal form, except when used as markup delimiters, or within a comment, a processing instruction, or a CDATA section. If they are needed elsewhere, they MUST be escaped using either numeric character references or the strings " &amp; " and " &lt; " respectively. The right angle bracket (>) may be represented using the string " &gt; ", and MUST, for compatibility, be escaped using either " &gt; " or a character reference when it appears in the string " ]]> " in content, when that string is not marking the end of a CDATA section.