Hi all. So, I've done some work on this to update the XML / XSLT to how it looks in v199 (just for a baseline). Thing is, the Hijack playlists are more complicated now (which is good), so this requires the use of math and string functions in the XSLT.

Problem: Anyone using a browser that can only use the working draft spec of XSLT (e.g. IE 5 & 5.5) can't use these functions, as they weren't defined in the working draft spec.

Solution 1: Have Hijack put enough information in the XML so that we don't have to do any math or string functions. This would be things like making length for playlists divide by four, and making length (actually duration) for tunes do the math necessary to convert to minutes and seconds. Also, we'd need to pass the tag file fid, and the music file fid (both of them are used in the links). Yes, this seems totally lame, but I at least, can't think of a way around it with the working draft spec.

Note that right now, this math is being done in Hijack, because it gets sent down in the HTML the "right" way. So, this might not be that big a deal. I was just going on the actual data in the tag files as a baseline, so that there would be no conversions necessary in Hijack, we could do it on the client.

Solution 2: Have anyone that a) wants to use the XML / XSLT and b) wants to keep using IE 5/5.5 (and not upgrade to 6.0), at least upgrade their XML parser to MSXML 3.0. I can provide details on how to do this.

Note that this shouldn't affect Mozilla, as it only provides support for the 1.0 spec of XSLT.

I post this at the risk of "told you so's" from those that didn't think we could support it across platforms. I still believe we can (actually, I know we can), the question I put to you (including Mark), is how should we do it? Force all downlevel IE browsers to upgrade either to IE 6, or at a minimum MSXML 3.0 (keeping IE5.x), or provide the extra data in the xml, so that the math and string functions aren't necessary.

Personally, I prefer the second solution, as I think people should attempt to stay current with technology, and the first solution is a bit of a hack. But either is fine with me, I'd like to hear Mark's comments if any.

Comments appreciated. When this gets somewhat resolved, I'll post what I have for format suggestions and working XSLT.

Chris