XSLT Part 9: XSLT and Namespaces

As described in the September 2003 issue of CPU - Computer Power User magazine.

Examples and Bonus Materials

A) Downloadable ZIP File

• Why not download the whole lot as a ZIP file -- sep03.zip -- and install them on your own machine?

B) The Raw Data

• test.xml -- The simple example XML data document used in the article -- this contains the raw data that is transformed into HTML. A plain text listing is available at: test.txt. Note that the test.xml file contains a processing instruction to reference the external stylesheet transform.xsl (see below). Mozilla and/or Netscape 7 load this stylesheet and displays the results of the transformation. Internet Explorer 5 adn greater also load this external stylesheet, but with unpredictable results.
• test-attrs.xml -- The simple example XML data document used in the article -- this is equivalent to test.xml above, but contains a processing instruction referencing a different external stylesheet transform-attr.xsl (see below). This stylesheet examines attribute data, while the previous example looks at elements. A plain text listing is available at: test-attrs.txt.

C) The XSLT Stylesheets

• transform.xsl -- The example XSLT, described in the text of the article. A plain text version is available at transform.txt.
• transform-attrs.xsl -- The example XSLT, described in the text of the article. A plain text version is available at transform-attrs.txt.

D) Martin Honnen's Mozilla/Netscape Serialization Viewer

The file show-serialization.txt contains a single-line JavaScript listing that opens a second browser window and pastes into that window a serialized listing of the results produced by the XSLT transform (basically it produces a listing of the underlying markup behind whatever is displayed in the browser window). This is invoked from a browser bookmark. To add this functionality to your browser, simply do the following. Starting from the browser window:

1. Select Bookmarks --> Manage Bookmarks
2. From the Bookmark manager, select File --> New --> Bookmark. This produces a "File Bookmark" tool.
3. Enter a useful name for the bookmark (e.g. "Show Serialized Results") into the Name field
4. Enter the JavaScript function into the Location window - go to show-serialization.txt, select and copy the text, return to the "File Bookmark" tool, and paste the string into the Location field.
5. Select OK. The bookmark is now added to the bottom of the bookmark list.

To use this bookmark, simply load the desired XML data file into the browser. Then select the "Show Serialized Results" bookmark. The browser will pop open another window (pushed behind the main window), and will display the results inside it.

Tutorials, Books, References, and Tools

• See the Web site from last November's article, and also from last February 2003 (at the bottom of the page!)