Yes, it's all described in the DFDL spec. Set external='yes' on dfdl:defineVariable. Not yet supported by IBM DFDL though for user-defined variables, only for the 4 pre-defined variables. Regards Steve Hanson Architect, IBM Data Format Description Language (DFDL) Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh@uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848 From: "Garriss Jr., James P." <jgarriss@mitre.org> To: "dfdl-wg@ogf.org" <dfdl-wg@ogf.org>, Date: 29/04/2013 06:23 Subject: [DFDL-WG] passing parameters to DFDL? Sent by: dfdl-wg-bounces@ogf.org XSLT has an ability to pass an external value to a parameter within the stylesheet, using <xsl:param>. Does DFDL have a similar capability? Does dfdl:defineVariable allow this? TIA-- dfdl-wg mailing list dfdl-wg@ogf.org https://www.ogf.org/mailman/listinfo/dfdl-wg Unless stated otherwise above: IBM United Kingdom Limited - Registered in England and Wales with number 741598. Registered office: PO Box 41, North Harbour, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3AU