Tailoring Content Using XML and XSL

XML and XSLT

Let's briefly recap what XML is; XML is a meta-markup language. It is a set of rules for creating semantic tags used to describe data. While HTML is used to specify the layout of a web page, XML is used to describe data.

 

The following XML file (you'll find it in the accompanying material as books.xml) describes books in a library:

 

<?xml version="1.0" ?>

<Library>

   <Book Price="44">

      <ISBN>

         1861003129

      </ISBN>

      <Title>XSLT Programmer's Reference</Title>

      <Synopsis>

         XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) is the styling
         language to match XML. At the most basic level it allows
         the programmer to manipulate XML on a template model:
         XSL provides the template into which to fit XML data for
         display on a web page

      </Synopsis>

      <URL>

         http://www.wrox.com/Consumer/Store/Details.asp?ISBN=1861003129

      </URL>

   </Book>

   <Book Price="54">

      <ISBN>

         1861003323

      </ISBN>

      <Title>Professional Visual Basic 6 XML</Title>
      <Synopsis>

         XML is the powerful new markup language that is rapidly
         changing the way data is handled, especially on the Web.
         Visual Basic is the ideal tool for creating applications
         to query and manipulate XML data

      </Synopsis>

      <URL>

         http://www.wrox.com/Consumer/Store/Details.asp?ISBN=1861003323

      </URL>

   </Book>

</Library>

 

XSL is an XML-based language that can be used to manipulate, sort, and filter XML data. The original XSL language has been further split into three parts:

 

Ø       Transformation (XSLT)

Ø       Rendition (XSLF)

Ø       XPath

 

XSLT enables you to define templates for your output, into which your XML data can be transformed.