RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Learning XML?

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, Ross, Matt wrote:

> Is XSL what makes XML look like a document rather than a data
> file?

More precisely, an appropriate stylesheet and an XSLT (note the "T")  
processor allow you to make an XML document look like virtually
anything.  Generally you transform XML into XML, HTML, text, or, 
through use of formatted output (FO) into things like PDF.

XSLT bascially stands for "XML style language transformation".  
Unlike CSS, an XSL style sheet lets you add or subtract arbitrary
amounts of content from your XML document and generate something
that's better for your purpose.  Unlike walking the DOM tree of your
document by hand, XSLT style sheet tells the processor what to do
with any nodes that strike your fancy.  So there's an XML equivalent
to "turn all my favorite <receipt> elements into rows of that HTML 
table I just described a minute ago".  

Incredibly powerful, like a chainsaw.  But very different in style 
to what you might be used to doing with html or xml input.

jking


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