Extensible Markup Language

Home

» XML BASICS HOME » XML Introduction » XML How to Use » XML Syntax » XML Attributes » XML Validation » XML in your Browser » XML Viewing » XML Display

» DTD HOME » DTD Introduction » DTD Elements » DTD Attributes » DTD Entities » DTD Validation » DTD Examples

» DOM HOME » DOM Introduction » DOM Parsing » DOM ParseError » DOM Access

» XSL HOME » XSL Introduction » XSL Transformation » XSL on the Client » XSL on the Server » XSL Sorting » XSL Filtering » XSL If..Then » XSL Choose

XML RSS XHTML XML Examples

» XML Links HOME » W3C Links » Microsoft » Netscape » Interesting Reading » XML Books

XML Forum ASP Information Technology Jobs

Search XML Files:

DEVELOPER CHANNEL
FlashKit.com
JavaScript.com
JavaScriptSource
Developer Jobs
ScriptSearch
StreamingMediaWorld
Web Developer's Journal
Web Developer's Virtual Library
WebDeveloper.com
Webreference
Web Hosts
XMLfiles.com

Be a Commerce Partner

IT
Developer
Internet News
Small Business
Personal Technology
International

Search internet.com
Advertise
Corporate Info
Newsletters
Tech Jobs
E-mail Offers

XSL - On the Server

by Jan Egil Refsnes

A Cross Browser Solution

In the previous chapter I explained how XSL can be used to transform a document from XML to HTML in the browser. The trick was to let the JavaScript use an XML parser to do the transformation.

This solution will not work with a browser that don't support an XML parser.

To make our XML data available to all kinds of browsers, we have to transform the XML document on the SERVER and send it as pure HTML to the BROWSER.

That's another the beauty of XSL. One of the design goals for XSL was to make it possible to transform data from one format to another on a server, returning readable data to all kinds of future browsers.

XSL transformation on the server is bound to be a major part of the Internet Information Server work tasks in the future, as we will se a growth in the specialized browser marked (think: Braille, Speaking Web, Web Printers, Handheld PCs, Mobile Phones .....).

The XML file and the XSL file

Take a new look at the XML document that you saw in the previous chapter (or open it with IE5):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO8859-1" ?>
<CATALOG>
  <CD>
    <TITLE>Empire Burlesque</TITLE>
    <ARTIST>Bob Dylan</ARTIST>
    <COUNTRY>USA</COUNTRY>
    <COMPANY>Columbia</COMPANY>
    <PRICE>10.90</PRICE>
    <YEAR>1985</YEAR>
  </CD>
.
.
.

And at the companying XSL stylesheet (or open it with IE5):

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl">
<xsl:template match="/">
  <html>
  <body>
    <table border="2" bgcolor="yellow">
      <tr>
        <th>Title</th>
        <th>Artist</th>
      </tr>
      <xsl:for-each select="CATALOG/CD">
      <tr>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="TITLE"/></td>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="ARTIST"/></td>
      </tr>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </table>
  </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

The syntax of the above XSL document was explained in the previous chapter, so it will not be explained here. But be sure to notice that the XML file does not have a reference to the XSL file, and the XSL file does not have a reference to the XML file.

IMPORTANT: The above sentence indicates that an XML file on the server could be transformed using many different XSL files.

Transforming XML to HTML on the Server

Here is the simple source code needed transform the XML file to HTML on the server (View it in your browser):

<%
'Load the XML
set xml = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xml.async = false
xml.load(Server.MapPath("cd_catalog.xml"))

'Load the XSL
set xsl = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xsl.async = false
xsl.load(Server.MapPath("cd_catalog.xsl"))

Response.Write(xml.transformNode(xsl))
%>

(The example is an ASP file, and the code is a VBScript. If you don't know ASP or VBScript you should take a trip to ASP School.)

The first block of code creates an instance of the Microsoft XML parser (XMLDOM), and loads the XML file into memory. The second block of code creates another instance of the parser and loads the XSL document into memory. The last line of code transforms the XML document using the XSL document, and returns the result to the browser.

Nice and simple.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

New at Developer.com/Voice/

- Designing an Interactive Voice Response System Using VoiceXML and CCXML
- Nominations for Developer.com Product of the Year Begin October 15
- Speech Authentication Strategies, Risk Mitigation, and Business Metrics
- Implementing Extension Methods in VB.NET

DevX XML Content

- Processing Linked Web Data with XSLT
- Using StAX to Clone an XML Document
- Ten Pitfalls of Enterprise Ontology Management
- WPF Meets the iPhone
- The Easiest and Most Efficient Way to Modify XML Documents

Jump to : Top Of Page or HOME