This topic is intended to give an overview of XSLT, how it can be used in conjunction with 3B2 and the advantages it can provide. XSLT is used to transform XML documents from XML to text or another form of mark-up.
XSLT, the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations, is an official recommendation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It provides a flexible language for transforming XML documents into something else. That something else can be an HTML document, another XML document, or a markup of your choice. An XSLT stylesheet is a well formed document used to define the rules which an XSLT processor can use to transform a number of XML instances.
XSLT is a tree structured hierarchy transformation language that uses XPath to select elements and text which are to be output from the XML.
XSLT is one of the X-tools developed to work in conjunction with XML, alongside XPath, XPointer, Xlink etc.
XSLT has many benefits over other transformation languages and/or search and replace scripts/programs:
XSLT transformations can be performed within 3B2 simply by choosing the XML input, the output stream and the stylesheet to perform the transformation operation. Multiple transformations can be simultaneously applied to the one XML stream to generate multiple output streams with different formats. XSLT can be used for a many tasks only limited by your imagination in creating your stylesheet.
For example, transformed data can be saved as a separate text file, such as HTML to your web server), rendered within the same document and published to the output(s) of your choice.
The primary benefit of XML and XSLT is the separation between data and format. This means that the same XML data can be transformed and re-used in a variety of formats and contexts.
In order to implement this conversion process, 3B2 and XSLT combine to make a flexible system for handling XML data and presentation. As a developing standard XSLT looks set to grow over time as it increases document portability and transference across hardware and software.
With the forthcoming implementation of XSLFO (the display language of XSL), the X-tools combine with 3B2's existing toolset to increase further the power of the 3B2 publishing engine.
You can find out more about XSLT by visiting:
XSLT.com:
XML.com:
The World Wide Web Consortium:
See also