XSLT: How Do We Use It?

1
XSLT How Do We Use It?

• Nancy Hallberg
• Nikki Massaro Kauffman

2
XSLT Agenda

• Introduction Terminology
• XSLT Walkthrough
• Client-Side XSLT/XHTML
• Server-Side XSLT/XHTML
• More Creative Server-Side XSLT

3
XSLT Terminology

• CSS
• HTML v. XHTML
• XML
• XPath
• XSL
• XSLT

4
XSLT Alphabet Soup

• CSS HTML
• XML - Extensible Markup Language
• XSL - Extensible Stylesheet Language
• XHTML

5
XSLT XPath

• XPath is a language for finding information in an
  XML document.
• XPath is used to navigate through elements and
  attributes in an XML document.
• Location paths can be Relative or Absolute.

6
XSLT XPath

• Parents
• Children
• Ancestors
• Descendents
• Siblings
• Attributes

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XSLT XPath

• Expanded Syntax
• /childcontacts/childcontact/childlastname
• Abbreviated Syntax
• /contacts/contact/lastname

XPath Abbreviated Syntax XPath Abbreviated Syntax XPath Abbreviated Syntax XPath Abbreviated Syntax XPath Abbreviated Syntax XPath Abbreviated Syntax XPath Abbreviated Syntax
/ // . .. _at_
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XSLT Xpath Examples

• What do the following indicate?
• /
• iddCourseModel/courseTitleShort
• courseContent/lesson/page
• ../lesson_at_directory ! lessonshare
• /contacts//phone

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XSLT What is XSLT?

• Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation
• Transforms XML documents into other documents
• Another XML doc
• HTML doc
• PDF file
• And more.

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XSLT How Do We Use XSLT?

• Often used as client-side to cache formatting so
  only data is downloaded.
• Can transform into PDF, EDI, or other formats.
• We use it for XHTML page navigation, CSS, DWT,
  .htaccess, and more

XSL
XML
Data
XHTML
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XSLT Template Elements

• apply-templates
• call-template
• choose / when / otherwise
• comment
• for-each
• if
• import
• include

• key
• output
• param
• sort
• stylesheet
• template
• value-of
• variable

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XSLT ltxslstylesheetgt

• Defines the root element of a stylesheet.
• ltxslstylesheetgt or ltxsltransformgt

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XSLT ltxsloutputgt

• Defines the format of the output document.
• It must be a top-level element.
• Method attributes are xml, html, text
• ltxsloutput method"html encoding"ISO-8859-1"/gt

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XSLT ltxsltemplategt

• An XSLT stylesheet consists of one or more set of
  rules that are called templates.
• Each template contains rules to apply when a
  specified node is matched.
• The value of the match attribute is an XPath
  expression.
• ltxsltemplate match"/"gt

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XSLT ltxsltextgt

• Exactly what it sounds like - writes text to the
  output.
• Attribute of disable-output-escaping
• ltxsltext disable-output-escaping"yes"gtlt!CDATAlt
  a name"top" id"top"gtlt/agtgtlt/xsltextgt

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XSLT ltxslvariablegt

• Declares a variable
• The variable is global if it's declared as a
  top-level element, and local if it's declared
  within a template.
• Once you have set a variable's value, you cannot
  change or modify that value!
• ltxslvariable name"titleofpage"gtCourse
  Syllabuslt/xslvariablegt

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XSLT ltxslvalue-ofgt

• Extracts the value of an XML element and adds it
  to the output stream of the transformation.
• The value of the select attribute is an XPath
  expression.
• ltxslvalue-of select"iddCourseModel/CourseTitleLo
  ng /gt

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XSLT ltxslifgt

• Yea! Conditionals.
• Test is a required attribute. It contains the
  expression to be evaluated.
• ltxslif test"iddCourseModel/gencourPhil"gtlt/xslif
  gt
• ltxslif test"mi ! ''"gtlt/xslifgt

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XSLT ltxslfor-eachgt

• Selects every element in a specified node set.
• ltxslfor-each select"iddCourseModel/gencourPhil"gt

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XSLT ltxslsortgt

• Sorts the output
• The select attribute indicates what XML element
  to sort on.
• ltxslsort select"_at_orderNumber"
  data-type"number" order "ascending"/gt

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XSLT ltxslchoosegt

• Multiple conditionals
• Instead of If Then Else or switch case
• Choose When - Otherwise
• ltxslchoosegt
• ltxslwhen test"objectiveStem"gt
• ltpgtltxslvalue-of select"objectiveStem
  /gtlt/pgt lt/xslwhengt
• ltxslotherwisegt
• ltpgtUpon completion of this course you
  willlt/pgt
• lt/xslotherwisegt
• lt/xslchoosegt

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XSLT ltxslapply-templatesgt

• The ltxslapply-templatesgt element applies a
  template to the current element or to the current
  element's child nodes.
• Adding a select attribute to the
  ltxslapply-templatesgt element makes it process
  only the child element that matches the value of
  the attribute.
• Using the select attribute can also specify the
  order in which the child nodes are processed.

23
XSLT ltxslcall-templategt

• Templates can be called by name.
• Calls can be recursive.
• Be careful of the difference between
  apply-templates call-template.

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XSLT ltxslparamgt

• Declares a parameter
• The parameter is global if it's declared as a
  top-level element, and local if it's declared
  within a template.
• To pass a parameter to it from another template,
  use ltxslwith-paramgt.
• ltxslparam name"theme"/gt
• ltxslwith-param name"theme"gtltxslvalue-of
  select"theme"/gtlt/xslwith-paramgt

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XSLT ltxslimportgt

• Imports the contents of one style sheet into
  another.
• An imported style sheet has lower precedence than
  the importing style sheet.
• This element must appear as the first child node
  of ltxslstylesheetgt or ltxsltransformgt.

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XSLT ltxslincludegt

• The ltxslincludegt element is a top-level element
  that includes the contents of one style sheet
  into another.
• An included stylesheet has the same precedence as
  the including style sheet.
• This element must appear as a child node of
  ltxslstylesheetgt or ltxsltransformgt.

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XSLT ltxslkeygt

• a top-level element which declares a named key
  that can be used in the style sheet with the
  key() function.
• ltxslkey name"themes" match"theme"
  use"_at_name"/gt
• ltxslfor-each select"key('themes',
  theme)"gtltxslvariable name"dark"gtltxslvalue-of
  select"_at_dark"/gtlt/xslvariablegtlt/xslfor-eachgt

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XSLT Help
Feel free to contact us with questions Nancy
Hallberg, ndw1_at_psu.edu Nikki Massaro Kauffman,
lnm105_at_psu.edu Additional resources are
available at http//www.personal.psu.edu/lnm105