XSLT

XSLT (eXtensible Style Language Transformations) is the W3C standard for transforming XML documents into several formats, such as HTML, plain text and XML itself. XSLT is a rather 'unusual' programming language: it has traces from procedural programming and pattern matching, but is mainly based on functional programming, which merits an appropriate introduction.

At the end of this course participants will have gained enough knowledge to develop several types of XML document transformations.

Schedule

No public sessions are currently scheduled. We will be pleased to set up an on-site course or to schedule an extra public session (in case of a sufficient number of candidates). Interested? Please let us know.

Intended for

This course is intended for those who are going to transform XML documents by means of XSL e.g. developers of web sites and web services, document & content management systems, and EAI and ESB solutions.

Background

Participants should be familiar with XML. This means that:

  • they are able to interpret the structure of an XML document;
  • they understand schemas and the use of namespaces.
  • they have a thorough knowledge of XPath (being able to write XPath expressions independently);
  • they understand the basic concepts of XSLT

These objectives can be achieved in the XML fundamentals course. Having a basic HTML knowledge is an advantage, but not necessary (cf. HTML and CSS).

Main topics

  • Positioning: XSLT, XSL, XPath, XQuery en XSL-FO
  • XSLT 1.0 vs. XSLT 2.0
  • XPath (short recall)
  • The XSLT PUSH and PULL technique (short recall)
  • Transformation to:
  • HTML
  • XML
  • Text
  • Programming techniques:

How to use variables, parameters and conditions

  • Special techniques:
  • Sort
  • Numbering
  • Include and import
  • Calling for templates
  • Functions
  • XSLT and namespaces

Training method

Classroom instruction with exercises.

Duration

2 days.

Course leader

Sandy Schillebeeckx.


SESSION INFO AND ENROLMENT