What is XSL?
- XSL comprises a
transformation language (XSLT) and a formatting
language (XSLFO):
- XSLT is currently a
W3C Recommendation.
- XSL-FO, the formatting language:
- Similar to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), but uses XML syntax
- Applies formatting rules to the elements in the result tree
- Can generate output in any format
- Uses the fo (formatting object) namespace
- Described in the W3C XSL Working Draft
- Example:
- Example:
<![CDATA[
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:simple-page-master master-name="my-page">
<fo:region-body margin="1in"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>
</fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:page-sequence master-name="my-page">
<fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">
<fo:block font-family="Times" font-size="14pt">
<fo:inline font-weight="bold">Hello</fo:inline>, world!
</fo:block>
</fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>
]]>
- XSLT is XSL's major difference from CSS
and its greatest strength.
It enables, on either the client or the server side,
the reorganization of the content of the source document.
It can add content, delete content,
modify the order of elements, etc.
- This course concentrates on XSLT, the
transformation language of XSL. We use it to convert
XML documents into well-formed HTML for rendering by
browsers.
Here is a complete list of the
elements comprising XSLT.
- We also see how
different XSL style sheets can create radically
different HTML documents from the same XML source.
- Soon, browsers such as IE5 will process XSL directly as they render XML.
It will no longer be necessary to use tools such as XSL:P.
