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Using XML and XSLT

XML Stylesheet Transformation(XSLT) is defined as a language for converting XML documents to other document formats.

XSLT processors parse the input XML document, as well as the XSLT stylesheet, and then process the instructions found in the XSLT stylesheet, using the elements from an input XML document. During the processing of the XSLT instructions, a structured XML output is created.

We are going to perform the transformation using classes of the .NET Framework. The classes we are going to use are XmlUrlResolver and XslTransform.

The XslTransform class is found in the System.Xml.Xsl namespace is the XSLT processor that implements the XSLT version 1.0 recommendation.

In order to perform a transformation using XslTransform, first create an XslTransform object and load it with the desired XSLT document (by calling Load). The Load method of the XslTransform class loads the XSL Stylesheet from the disk called xsltDoc. Finally, the transform is executed by calling the Transform method of the XslTransform class object.

Let us look at this with an example.

Products.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Products>
    <product>
        <name>Cereal Milk</name>
        <cost>R.S 100</cost>
    </product>
    <product>
        <name>Badam Pista</name>
        <cost>R.S 230</cost>
    </product>
</Products>

We are now going to frame an XSLT document for the above XML.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
    <xsl:template match="/">
        <table border="1">
            <tr>
                <th>Name</th>
                <th>Price</th>
            </tr>
            <xsl:for-each select="Products/product">
                <tr>
                    <td>
                        <br><xsl:value-of select="name"/></br>
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <br><xsl:value-of select="cost"/></br>
                    </td>
                </tr>
            </xsl:for-each>
        </table>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Now let us look at the transformation part.

We are using the XmlUrlResolver and XslTransform class to perform the transformation.

XmlUrlResolver class is used to resolve external XML resources such as entities, document type definitions (DTDs), or schemas. It is also used to process include and import elements found in Extensible StyleSheet Language (XSL) stylesheets or XML Schema Definition language (XSD) schemas.

XslTransform Class Methods.

  • Load(): Loads an XSLT document. This method can accept an XmlReader, a document URL, or a variety of other objects.
  • Transform(): The Transform() method is overloaded and can therefore accept a variety of parameters.

The most common form of the method that you'll likely use in your ASP.NET applications is shown next (check the .NET SDK for the other overloaded versions of the method).

Now let us look at our code.

XmlUrlResolver resolver = new XmlUrlResolver();
resolver.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

XslTransform xsltrans = new XslTransform();
xsltrans.Load(XsltFile, resolver);
xsltrans.Transform(XmlFile, OutputFile, resolver);

When u look at the output.

Name Price
Cereal Milk R.S 100
Badam Pista R.S 230

So now having the knowledge of creating an XSLT document and performing the transformation, you can even create a webpage using an XML file.


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