Introduction to XSLT

By Ed Rosenthal And Dave Pion

Brief Primer on XML

What is XSLT?

How Does XSLT Relate to XML?

• XSLT is well formed XML.– Only need to learn new syntax to learn XSLT

(if you know XML)

• Transforms XML documents– From one DTD to another

• DTD – document type definition– To learn how to write DTD’s you had to learn

new structures.

• Uses XPath to match patterns in XML

History of XSLT

•XSLT is part of XSL specification

•Expanded into separate specification

•Relies on XPath for some of its functionality

Why Use XSLT?

• W3C Standard

• Open Source

• Can add functionality to program without recompiling

• Rapid development & ease of code reuse

• XSLT is XML

Alternatives to XSLT

• XML Libraries such as SAX used in conjunction with general purpose programming language such as Java

• Custom programming solution

• Tighter integration with business partners, e.g., work with common DTD / Schema

Example XSLT Stylesheet

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

<xsl:template match="type"><brew>

<xsl:apply-templates/></brew>

</xsl:template><xsl:template match="price"/><!-- All other elements --><xsl:template match="*|@*|text()">

<xsl:copy><xsl:apply-templates select="*|@*|

text()"/></xsl:copy>

</xsl:template></xsl:stylesheet>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><beer color="dark">

<product>Sam Adams</product><type>ale</type><price>6.99</price>

</beer>

Input File

Output File

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?><beer color="dark">

<product>Sam Adams</product><brew>ale</brew>

</beer>

XSLT File

Demonstration