XML::XSLT Homepage

XSLT

You wrote some XML, and have a XSL Template. You want to use this on your website, but want to use Perl with your webserver. No Problem!

Remember that this project is Work in Progress! Rome wasn't build in one day! Any comment is welcome! Any programming effort as well! This modules *is* great stuff, but it isn't finished yet! However, if you need a xsl command urgently, please email us your request and place it in our high priority to-do list.

Egon

XML::XSLT will convert the XML doc on basis of the template. It is written in Perl and works. Not all xsl commands are implemented yet. Nor is it fast. But meanwhile it works: watch it in action. At this moment we need a lot of input. So try this script and give us your comment on it. Missing/needed xsl elements, bugs, anything...

This document gives some explanation on this project. Other Stuff to read is the Specification of XSLT and the XSL(T)-by-example page (see links). Below, given is a list of XSLT-command's that are supported.

Supported XSLT commands

command supported comment

xsl:apply-templates limited attribute select is supported as far as xsl:value-of supports path selections

xsl:call-template yes takes attribute name which selects xsl:template by name

xsl:choose limited tests sequentially all xsl:whens until one succeeds or until an xsl:otherwise is found.

xsl:copy experimental in v0.16 takes no attributes, ignores content

xsl:copy-of experimental in v0.16 takes attribute select, which selects likewise apply-templates select

xsl:for-each experimental in v0.16 most requested since 0.15

xsl:include yes takes attribute href, which can be relative-local absolute-local as well as an URL (preceded by identifier http:)

xsl:otherwise yes

xsl:output no will be added if anyone needs it

xsl:processing-instruction yes

xsl:stylesheet limited Just has to be present

xsl:sub-template depricated! this used to implement nesting of template instead of the use of apply-templates

xsl:template limited attributes match and name are supported to some extend

xsl:value-of limited attribute selection, element values.
Examples:
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
<xsl:value-of select="/root-elem"/>
<xsl:value-of select="elem"/>
<xsl:value-of select="//elem"/>
<xsl:value-of select="elem[n]"/>
<xsl:value-of select="//elem[n]"/>
<xsl:value-of select="@attr"/>
and combinations of these;

xsl:when limited Only inside xsl:choose
Examples:
<xsl:when test="@attr='value'">
<xsl:when test="elem='value'">
<xsl:when test="path/[@attr='value']">
<xsl:when test="path/[elem='value']">
<xsl:when test="path/elem">
<xsl:when test="path/@attr">

xsl:if limited See xsl:when, except for the required xsl:choose context

xsl:text very limited Text is inserted as is, except for the entities < and > which are translated to < and >

Action!

Oke, let's see it work. The script takes a project name <project>. The files <project>.xml and <project>.xsl are read and converted to an internal object tree with XML::DOM. Then the XSL template is parsed against the XML tree, which results in a new doc that is redirected to STDOUT. That's all.

Ofcourse, it need not be HTML. With XSLT you can convert any XML document with any XSL doc you like.

NB! These are the updated examples. They only work with version 0.13 or higher.

This is the CML project:

This project makes old CML files of the Dictionary on Organic Chemistry conform the newest CML DTD.
91-22-5.cml (old cml file)
cml2cml.xsl (for cml to cml conversion)
resulting 91-22-5.xml
Please note that is you use IE 5.0 to view the result you it gets parsed by the IE XSL parser for a XML2HTML conversion due to the xsl stylesheet below. If so, use right mouse button and view source to see the underlying xml file when viewing the xml file with the stylesheet.
cml.xsl
The rest of the new CML files are served at the Dictionary on Organic Chemistry project as Physical Properties (example) and at xmltree.com.

The Agenda project:

Script options

The script can be used as an CGI script, but also as a command-line utility. Also accepts a XSL Template other than <project>.xsl. These behaviours are selected with some options. Run xslt-parser without options or parameters at the commandline to view its syntax.

the -n option
When a script is to be used with a web-server, its output must be preceeded with a Content-type line. The xslt-parser script does this by default. It can be turned off with the -n(oweb) option.

the -s option
By default the script uses the <project>.xsl XSLT template. With the -s(tylesheet) <template.xsl> option other templates can be used.

Download

The latest release is v0.18 which has experimental support for xsl:for-each, which needs testing. Download version 0.15 of the script here. Both require the modules XML::Parser (version 2.23 or higher) and XML::DOM (version 1.25 or higher) which can be obtained from CPAN. Our module also depends on the module LWP::UserAgent as was pointed out by a user. This module can also be downloaded from CPAN.

A changelog is also available. Older version can be downloaded from this page.

Bugs

xsl:template matches only /fullpath/elem, /fullpath/@attr, elem, @attr, * and @*
xsl:value-of selects only any sequence of elem and elem[n] seperated and/or preceded by a slash '/' and/or followed by @attr
xsl:apply-templates and xsl:for-each select-attribute do not support the selection of children of a node-set, instead fragment the selection path into multiple (auxiliary-)templates.

Bugs can be submitted here.

What's Next?

To do:

first implementation of xsl:param/xsl:variable/xsl:with-param
mode attribute support for xsl:template and xsl:apply-templates
POD-documentation and SVC file
debugging ofcourse
integration of the new XPath module (?)
implementation of advanced template matches (better pattern matches and support of | [or])
implementation of advanced value selections
and at the end full support of XSL-T

Links

XSL-T

Other