XSLT on Client

In the previous chapter we have explained how XSLT can be used to transform a document from XML to XHTML. We did this by adding an XSL style sheet to the XML file and let the browser do the transformations.
Even if this works fine, it is not always desirable to include a style sheet reference in an XML file

A more versatile solution would be to use a JavaScript to do the transformations.

By using a JavaScript, we can:

do the browser-specific testing
use different style sheets according to the browser and user needs
That is the beauty of XSLT! One of the design goals for the XSLT was to make it possible to transform data from one format to another, supporting different browsers and different user needs.

XSLT transformation on the client side is bound to be a major part of the browsers work task in the future, as we will see a growth in the specialized browser market (Braille, aural browsers, Web printers, handheld devices, etc.)

XML File and XSL File

Look at the XML document that you have seen in the previous chapter:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<catalog>
<store>
<book>XSLT</book>
<price>$15</price>
<country>USA</country>
<company>wrox</company>
<year>2001</year>
</store>
.
.
.
</catalog>

XSL style sheet:

<?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="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>Book Collection</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th align="left">Book</th>
<th align="left">Price</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="catalog/store">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="Book" /></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="Price" /></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template></xsl:stylesheet>

Note The XML file does not have the reference to the XSL file.

The above example indicate that an XML file could be transformed using many different XSL style sheets.

Transformation of XML to XHTML

Here is the source code needed to transforms the XML file to XHTML on the client:

<html>
<body><script type="text/javascript">// Load XML
var xml = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xml.async = false
xml.load("cdcatalog.xml")// Load XSL
var xsl = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xsl.async = false
xsl.load("cdcatalog.xsl")// Transform
document.write(xml.transformNode(xsl))</script></body>
</html>

The first part of code create an instance of the Microsoft XML parser (XMLDOM), and loads the XML file into memory. The second part of code create another instance of the parser and loads the XSL file into memory. The last line of code transform the XML document using the XSL document, and displays the result as XHTML in your browser. Nice!

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