This presentation is a brief introduction to XSLT language. It is a language that converts xml documents to other formats.

1. Rajiv Poplai

2. Agenda
 Introduction to XSLT
 Examples
 Implementations
 XSLT processor

3. Warming up…
 What does XML stand for ?
 eXtensible Markup Language
 Extensible means that there is no fixed
tag set (like in HTML)

4. Overview
 Stands for “eXtensible Stylesheet
Language Transformations”
 Language for transforming an input xml
document into output document.
 Navigation of input XML document is
through XPath
 Output document may be XML or any other
text format.

5. XSLT processor

6. Language
 Syntax defined by W3C
 XSLT stylesheet file is an XML file
 XSLT is based on the programming
paradigm of pattern matching.
 XSLT is based on concepts of functional
programming as a stylesheet is made up of
templates, which are essentially pure
functions.
<xsl:stylesheet version=“1.0”
xmlns:xsl=“http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform”>

7. Simple Example
 Sample xml File
 Sample Output required in csv format
<?xml version=“1.0”?>
<ContactInfo>
<Person>
<Name>Rajiv Poplai</Name>
<Mobile>9810766277</Mobile>
</Person>
</ContactInfo>
Rajiv Poplai, 9810766277

8.  XSLT file to accomplish the
transformation
<?xml version=“1.0”?>
<xsl:stylesheet version=“1.0”
xmlns:xsl=“http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform”>
<xsl:output method=“text”>
<xsl:template match=“Person”>
<xsl:value-of select=“Name”/>
<xsl:text>,</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select=“Mobile”/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

9. <xsl:template> Element
 An xsl:template element essentially tells the
XSLT processor, “as you go through the
source tree, when you find a node of that tree
whose name matches the value of my match
attribute, add my contents to the result tree.”

10. <?xml version="1.0"?>
<ListOfStudents>
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Students>
<Person id="12998800">
<FirstName>Peter</FirstName>
<LastName>Kováč</LastName>
<BirthDate>1980-10-25</BirthDate>
<Study>
<Program id="1.MAT"></Program>
<Faculty id="1070">FMFI UK</Faculty>
</Study>
<Study>
<Program id="1.AE"></Program>
<Faculty id="1050">FiF UK</Faculty>
</Study>
</Person>
<Person id="88332212">
<FirstName>Karol</FirstName>
<LastName>Nový</LastName>
<BirthDate>1982-11-16</BirthDate>
<Study>
<Program id="1.INF"></Program>
<Faculty id="1070">FMFI UK</Faculty>
</Study>
</Person>
</Students>
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version=“1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999
/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<ListOfStudents>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</ListOfStudents>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="Person">
<Student>
<xsl:value-of
select="FirstName"/>,
<xsl:value-of
select="LastName"/>,
<xsl:value-of
select="Study[1]/Faculty"/>
(<xsl:value-of
select="Study[1]/Faculty/@id"/>)
</Student>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ListOfStudents>
<Student>Peter, Kováč, FMFI UK (1070)</Student>
<Student>Karol, Nový, FMFI UK (1070)</Student>
</ListOfStudents>

11. Test your knowledge
 What would an XSLT processor do with a stylesheet that contained
no template rules?
 For example what would be the output if the stylesheet below:
 is applied to the XML file below

12. Answer
 XSLT has several built-in default templates that tell
the XSLT processor to output the text content of the
elements, leaving out the attributes and markup.

13. Other constructs
Tasks Construct (Instructions)
Creating new nodes <xsl:document>, <xsl:element>,
<xsl:attribute>, <xsl:text>, <xsl:value-of>
Iteration (process all nodes of a given
node set)
<xsl:for-each>
Conditional <xsl:if>, <xsl:choose>
Numbering <xsl:number>
Combining Stylesheets <xsl:include>, <xsl:import>
Sorting (sort a nodeset based on some
criteria)
<xsl:sort>
Variables <xsl:variable>, <xsl:param>
Invoking templates <xsl:apply-templates> (find a template
for each node in the input sequence)
<xsl:call-template>

14. Browser Support
Browser Minimum Version
Mozilla Firefox 3
Internet Explorer 6
Google Chrome 1
Opera 9
Apple Safari 3

15. Anatomy of XSLT processor