Using XSLT to output an empty HTML textarea element
When attempting to output an empty textarea element, the .NET XSLT processor collapses the element to its short form. Instead of this:

    <textarea id="blah" name="blah"></textarea>

I get this:

    <textarea id="blah" name="blah"/>

Which causes many web browsers (including IE and Firefox) to render the rest of the page as if it were the *contents* of the textarea. **This sucks.**

I can force the XSLT processor to output both the opening and closing textarea tags if I place something in between like a non-breaking space. But that means I have to do more parsing and validation on the client side to tell when the textarea is "truly" empty. I also have to use JavaScript to remove the extra space so that users don't begin their comments with a blank space.

Does anyone know of a way to force the XSLT processor to render both the opening and closing tags *without* having to insert dummy content?
Using XSLT to output an empty HTML textarea element
===

When attempting to output an empty textarea element, the .NET XSLT processor collapses the element to its short form. Instead of this:

    <textarea id="blah" name="blah"></textarea>

I get this:

    <textarea id="blah" name="blah"/>

Which causes many web browsers (including IE and Firefox) to render the rest of the page as if it were the *contents* of the textarea. **This sucks.**

I can force the XSLT processor to output both the opening and closing textarea tags if I place something in between like a non-breaking space. But that means I have to do more parsing and validation on the client side to tell when the textarea is "truly" empty. I also have to use JavaScript to remove the extra space so that users don't begin their comments with a blank space.

Does anyone know of a way to force the XSLT processor to render both the opening and closing tags *without* having to insert dummy content?