Beginning XSLT and XPath: Transforming XML Documents and Data: Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) is a language for transforming XML documents and data from one format to another. Answering the demand for an introductory book on XSLT processing, Ian Williams presents a clear, concise resource on XSLT concepts and methods and explains how and why XSLT relies on the XML Path language (XPath).As you gain a solid foundation in XSLT processing, you�ll learn the basic node tree structure that is used in the data model and discover how XSLT differs from the approach used in other programming languages. Example-laden chapters include both versions 1.0 and 2.0 features and demonstrate how to transform one XML data format to another. The book covers the key structural elements of an XSLT file and shows you how to use simple XPath expressions to match and select source file content. Along the way, you�ll uncover a rich set of XPath functions that will benefit you again and again as you develop your XSLT skills.

What you will learn from this book

How to define templates, the basic building blocks of XSLT
The way to construct XPath expressions and use a range of powerful XPath and XSLT functions
The role of variables and parameters in XSLT
Making use of control structures and iteration
How to generate and format numbers, dates, and times
Methods for working with multiple source and stylesheet documents
Ways to debug XSLT, validate types in XSLT, and document your stylesheets
Tips for indexing and linking items using identifiers and keys
Techniques for controlling whitespace and processing plain text

Who this book is for
This book is for web developers, authors, and designers who understand XML basics, and are interested in gaining a solid understanding of XSLT processing.

Wrox Beginning guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.

About the Author
Ian Williams is an information designer specializing in XML technologies, and a software technical writer. He worked in the U.K. publishing industry before getting involved in information technology at OWL International, developers of the one of the first commercial hypertext products. Ian was a product manager there, and later a consultant working with large corporate customers.
Since 1998 Ian has worked on technical writing and information-design projects, most recently for Nokia, Reuters, and Volantis. He is co-author with Pierre Greborio of Professional InfoPath 2003, also from Wrox Press.

Date Added: 2/25/2011 9:40:31 PM | Visits: 35160

XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 Programmer�s Reference, 4th Edition: This book is primarily a practical reference book for professional XSLT developers. It assumes no previous knowledge of the language, and many developers have used it as their first introduction to XSLT; however, it is not structured as a tutorial, and there are other books on XSLT that provide a gentler approach for beginners.The book does assume a basic knowledge of XML, HTML, and the architecture of the Web, and it is written for experienced programmers. There�s no assumption that you know any particular language such as Java or Visual Basic, just that you recognize the concepts that all programming languages have in common.


The book is suitable both for XSLT 1.0 users upgrading to XSLT 2.0, and for newcomers to XSLT. The book is also equally suitable whether you work in the Java or .NET world.

As befits a reference book, a key aim is that the coverage should be comprehensive and authoritative. It is designed to give you all the details, not just an overview of the 20 percent of the language that most people use 80 percent of the time. It�s designed so that you will keep coming back to the book whenever you encounter new and challenging programming tasks, not as a book that you skim quickly and then leave on the shelf. If you like detail, you will enjoy this book; if not, you probably won�t.

But as well as giving the detail, this book aims to explain the concepts, in some depth. It�s therefore a book for people who not only want to use the language but who also want to understand it at a deep level.

The book aims to tell you everything you need to know about the XSLT 2.0 language. It gives equal weight to the things that are new in XSLT 2.0 and the things that were already present in version 1.0. The book is about the language, not about specific products. However, there are appendices about Saxon (the author�s own implementation of XSLT 2.0), about the Altova XSLT 2.0 implementation, and about the Java and Microsoft APIs for controlling XSLT transformations, which will no doubt be upgraded to handle XSLT 2.0 as well as 1.0. A third XSLT 2.0 processor, Gestalt, was released shortly before the book went to press, too late to describe it in any detail. But the experience of XSLT 1.0 is that there has been a very high level of interoperability between different XSLT processors, and if you can use one of them, then you can use them all.

In the previous edition we split XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 into separate volumes. The idea was that some readers might be interested in XPath alone. However, many bought the XSLT 2.0 book without its XPath companion and were left confused as a result; so this time, the material is back together. The XPath reference information is in self-contained chapters, so it should still be accessible when you use XPath in contexts other than XSLT.

The book does not cover XSL Formatting Objects, a big subject in its own right. Nor does it cover XML Schemas in any detail. If you want to use these important technologies in conjunction with XSLT, there are other books that do them justice.

This book contains twenty chapters and eight appendixes (the last of which is a glossary) organized into four parts. The following section outlines what you can find in each part, chapter, and appendix.

Part I: Foundations: The first part of the book covers essential concepts. You should read these before you start coding. If you ignore this advice, as most people do, then you read them when you get to that trough of despair when you find it impossible to make the language do anything but the most trivial tasks. XSLT is different from other languages, and to make it work for you, you need to understand how it was designed to be used.

Chapter 1: XSLT in Context: This chapter explains how XSLT fits into the big picture: how the language came into being and how it sits alongside other technologies. It also has a few simple coding examples to keep you alert.

Chapter 2: The XSLT Processing Model: This is about the architecture of an XSLT processor: the inputs, the outputs, and the data model. Understanding the data model is perhaps the most important thing that distinguishes an XSLT expert from an amateur; it may seem like information that you can�t use immediately, but it�s knowledge that will stop you making a lot of stupid mistakes.

Chapter 3: Stylesheet Structure: XSLT development is about writing stylesheets, and this chapter takes a bird�s eye view of what stylesheets look like. It explains the key concepts of rule-based programming using templates, and explains how to undertake programming-in-the-large by structuring your application using modules and pipelines.

Chapter 4: Stylesheets and Schemas: A key innovation in XSLT 2.0 is that stylesheets can take advantage of knowledge about the structure of your input and output documents, provided in the form of an XML Schema. This chapter provides a quick overview of XML Schema to describe its impact on XSLT development. Not everyone uses schemas, and you can skip this chapter if you fall into that category.

Chapter 5: The Type System: XPath 2.0 and XSLT 2.0 offer strong typing as an alternative to the weak typing approach of the 1.0 languages. This means that you can declare the types of your variables, functions, and parameters, and use this information to get early warning of programming errors. This chapter explains the data types available and the mechanisms for creating user-defined types.

Part II: XSLT and XPath Reference: This section of the book contains reference material, organized in the hope that you can easily find what you need when you need it. It�s not designed for sequential reading, though you might well want to leaf through the pages to discover what�s there.

Chapter 6: XSLT Elements: This monster chapter lists all the XSLT elements you can use in a stylesheet, in alphabetical order, giving detailed rules for the syntax and semantics of each element, advice on usage, and examples. This is probably the part of the book you will use most frequently as you become an expert XSLT user. It�s a �no stone unturned� approach, based on the belief that as a professional developer you need to know what happens when the going gets tough, not just when the wind is in your direction.

Chapter 7: XPath Fundamentals: This chapter explains the basics of XPath: the low-level constructs such as literals, variables, and function calls. It also explains the context rules, which describe how the evaluation of XPath expressions depends on the XSLT processing context in which they appear.

Chapter 8: XPath: Operators on Items: XPath offers the usual range of operators for performing arithmetic, boolean comparison, and the like. However, these don�t always behave exactly as you would expect, so it�s worth reading this chapter to see what�s available and how it differs from the last language that you used.

Chapter 9: XPath: Path Expressions: Path expressions are what make XPath special; they enable you to navigate around the structure of an XML document. This chapter explains the syntax of path expressions, the 13 axes that you can use to locate the nodes that you need, and associated operators such as union, intersection, and difference.

Chapter 10: XPath: Sequence Expressions: Unlike XPath 1.0, in version 2.0 all values are sequences (singletons are just a special case). Some of the most important operators in XPath 2.0 are those that manipulate sequences, notably the for expression, which translates one sequence into another by applying a mapping.

Chapter 11: XPath: Type Expressions: The type system was explained in Chapter 5; this chapter explains the operations that you can use to take advantage of types. This includes the cast operation which is used to convert values from one type to another.A big part of this chapter is devoted to the detailed rules for how these conversions are done.

Chapter 12: XSLT Patterns: This chapter returns from XPath to a subject that�s specific to XSLT. Patterns are used to define template rules, the essence of XSLT�s rule-based programming approach. The reason for explaining them now is that the syntax and semantics of patterns depends strongly on the corresponding rules for XPath expressions.

Chapter 13: The Function Library: XPath 2.0 includes a library of functions that can be called from any XPath expression; XSLT 2.0 extends this with some additional functions that are available only when XPath is used within XSLT. The library has grown immensely since XPath 1.0. This chapter provides a single alphabetical reference for all these functions.

Chapter 14: Regular Expressions: Processing of text is an area where XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 are much more powerful than version 1.0, and this is largely through the use of constructs that exploit regular expressions. If you�re familiar with regexes from languages such as Perl, this chapter tells you how XPath regular expressions differ. If you�re new to the subject, it explains it from first principles.

Chapter 15: Serialization: Serialization in XSLT means the ability to generate a textual XML document from the tree structure that�s manipulated by a stylesheet. This isn�t part of XSLT processing proper, so (following W3C�s lead) it�s separated it into its own chapter. You can control serialization from the stylesheet using an declaration, but many products also allow you to control it directly via an API.

Part III: Exploitation: The final section of the book is advice and guidance on how to take advantage of XSLT to write real applications. It�s intended to make you not just a competent XSLT coder, but a competent designer too. The best way of learning is by studying the work of ot�

From the Back Cover
Combining coverage of XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 into one book, this authoritative reference provides equal weight to the powerful new features of XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 and the established capabilities of the 1.0 versions. Author Michael Kay has created his own implementation of XSLT 2.0 (Saxon), and he puts his unique knowledge to work in this detailed reference to the elements of the XSLT 2.0 language and the fundamentals of XPath, complete with syntax, practical usage advice, and examples.

The book begins by teaching the essential concepts behind the language, knowledge you need if you are going to write good code rather than just working code. You will discover how XSLT and XPath differ from other languages, and how you use them to create effective web-based applications. The central chapters provide meticulous coverage of the language features of XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0. You will return to this reference whenever you encounter new programming challenges. You finish with detailed case studies highlighting real applications to give you insights you would otherwise gain only from months of practical experience.

What you will learn from this book

All the XSLT elements you can use in a stylesheet and the detailed rules for the syntax and semantics of each
How Path expressions enable you to navigate around the structure of an XML document
How you can improve your stylesheets by taking advantage of the XML Schema definitions of input and output documents
How to take advantage of vendor extensions without losing portability
Techniques for taking advantage of XSLT to write real applications
Who this book is for
This book is for experienced programmers who are looking to become proficient with XSLT 2.0. Previous experience with XSLT or XPath is not necessary. However, a working knowledge of XML, HTML, and web architecture is beneficial.

Date Added: 2/25/2011 9:39:43 PM | Visits: 34591

Learning XSLT: �I think this book is very well put together and succeeds in making what could be a very tedious subject relatively interesting. I am sure that anyone starting to work with XSLT will find it most helpful but you will need to get Xalan going as well as downloads the examples.� � John Collins, news@UK, March

Book Description
Learning XSLT moves smoothly from the simple to complex, illustrating all aspects of XSLT 1.0 through step-by-step examples that you�ll practice as you work through the book. Thorough in its coverage of the language, the book makes few assumptions about what you may already know. You�ll learn about XSLT�s template-based syntax, how XSLT templates work with each other, and gain an understanding of XSLT variables.

Learning XSLT also explains how the XML Path Language (XPath) is used by XSLT and provides a glimpse of what the future holds for XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0. The ability to transform one XML vocabulary to another is fundamental to exploiting the power of XML. Learning XSLT is a carefully paced, example-rich introduction to XSLT that will have you understanding and using XSLT on your own in no time.

Date Added: 2/25/2011 9:39:04 PM | Visits: 33887

XSLT 2.0 Web Development: This is a practical book describing the entire process of planning, implementing, and maintaining a Web site as an XML-based information system. It covers all stages of an XML Web site project, including: -developing a domain-specific schema, -preparing and validating source documents (both authoring in XML and converting from other formats are covered), -setting up XSLT transformations for automatic generation of HTML, graphics, and other components of the site, -testing and maintenance of the system. Ideal for working Web developers new to XML but eager to learn and leverage its benefits. Web developers understand the power of XML but often are hesitant to deploy it for fear of a steep learning curve. Kirsanov simplifies XML and XSLT and boils it down to just those elements they need to become immediately effective. The main technologies covered in the book are: XML, XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0, Schematron, and Cocoon. The book uses many examples of code and markup; also, a full-scale sample site is described throughout the book, with complete listings for page sources, stylesheet, and schema.

Date Added: 2/25/2011 9:35:37 PM | Visits: 34179

Xslt Mastering Xml Transformations: Publisher Name : O'Reilly books
Author : Doug Tidwell
Type : pdf

Date Added: 10/8/2010 10:31:58 PM | Visits: 33379

XSLT 2.0 Editor/Debugger: Edit and Debug your XSLT 2.0 files Transform XML using XSLT 2.0 & FOP

Date Added: 5/15/2009 | Visits: 34940

XSLT 2.0 Programmer's Reference : XSLT 2.0Programmer's Reference, 3rd Edition,is the authoritative reference guide to the language.

Date Added: 5/15/2009 | Visits: 35152

XSLT: XML is an elegant and straightforward way to define data-cen...

Date Added: 5/15/2009 | Visits: 38849

XSLT 1.0 Pocket Reference: XSLT is an essential tool for converting XML into other kinds of documents

Date Added: 5/15/2009 | Visits: 34151

XSLT and XPath On The Edge: Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations, along with the XSLT Path Language

Date Added: 5/15/2009 | Visits: 35631