XSLT

eXtensible Stylesheet Language: Transformation
XSLT documents are instructions that describe how to transform one XML document into another type of XML document.
Example uses:
- Converting the XML for an order into HTML that displays the order to the user.
- Converting an XML invoice from a vendor's system into XML that your internal system understands.

This sample shows how to transform the sandwich XML from the previous section into HTML.

Input XML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sandwich price="2.00">
  <meat>Pastrami</meat>
  <bread>Rye</bread>
  <cheese slices="1">Swiss</cheese>
</sandwich>

XSLT:
<!-- XSLT is itself XML -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/sandwich">
  <!-- the HTML tags are embedded directly in the template -->
  <html>
  <head><title>My Sandwich</title></head>
    <body>
    <!-- when executed, the value-of element is replaced 
         with the actual value -->
    <b>Meat:</b> <xsl:value-of select="meat" /><br />
    <b>Bread:</b> <xsl:value-of select="bread" /><br />
    <b>Cheese:</b> <xsl:value-of select="cheese/@slices" /> 
        slice(s) of <xsl:value-of select="cheese" />
    <br /><br />
    <b>Cost:<xsl:value-of select="@price" /></b>
    </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Output:
<html>
<head>
  <title>My Sandwich</title>
</head>
<body>
  <b>Meat:</b>Pastrami<br />
  <b>Bread:</b>Rye<br />
  <b>Cheese:</b>1 slice(s) of Swiss
  <br /><br />
  <b>Cost: 2.00</b>
 </body>
</html>

The JAXP defines the API for executing XSLT transformations.

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