December 18, 2001 - Great Ways to Use XSLT

December 18, 2001
Great Ways to Use XSLT

Tips: December 2001

Yehuda Shiran, Ph.D.
Doc JavaScript

By combining XML data with an XSL Transformations (XSLT) style sheet, you have a powerful way to dynamically transform and present information. Just as cascading style sheets (CSS) enhance static HTML pages, XSLT style sheets make XML data presentation much more attractive to the viewer. Moreover, XSLT goes beyond pretty printing, and offers the ability to transform XML data into completely new data tailored specifically to a particular user, media, or client. You can use XSLT to transform generic data into application-specific. XSLT provides a mechanism for packaging, exchanging, and presenting XML data. Here are typical usages of XSLT:

Transform XML schema to another schema. A food retailer may represent an order based on one schema while the manufacturer may represent it with another. With XSLT, a customer order taken by the retailer can be transformed into an order that matches the manufacturer's requirements.
Transform XML documents into HTML. New Internet devices may not understand XML, but almost always will support HTML. XSLT transformations transform XML to HTML for devices such as handheld PCs, mobile phones, and TV set-top boxes.
Transform XML documents into PDF. Printers do not understand HTML, but almost always accept the Package Definition Format (PDF).
Filter information. Suppose you have an XML-based catalog for a certain food manufacturer. You can use one style sheet to present one set of information to retail customers, while using another XSLT file to present information to wholesale customers.

December 18, 2001 - Great Ways to Use XSLT

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