How to Write an XSL Style Sheet for XML Online

An XSL -- eXtensible Stylesheet Language -- file is a class layout file for your XML -- eXtensible Markup Language -- data stored on your website. You use the XML file to retrieve data to display online, and the XSL file formats the data in the XHTML -- eXtended HyperText Markup Language -- format that your users can view. For instance, you can transform a list of items into an XHTML table. An XSL file makes it more convenient to display XML data in an XHTML layout without manually programming the layout.

Instructions

1. Right-click the XSL file you want to edit and select "Open With." Click "Notepad" to create the layout in the Notepad editor. If you have a third-party XSL editor or another text editor you prefer, choose this program shortcut instead.

2. Add the heading for the XML data. For instance, if you have a list of customers to display, the following code sets up two headings for the first and last name:

   <table border="1">
   <tr bgcolor="#000000">
   <th>First Name</th>
   <th>Last Name</th>
   </tr>
   </table>

3. Add the XSL transformation style. The following code uses a list of customers to display in an XHTML table:

   <xsl:for-each select="customers">
   <tr>
   <td><xsl:value-of select="first"/></td>
   <td><xsl:value-of select="last"/></td>
   </tr>
   </xsl:for-each>

   In this example, the XML tags with the data are "first" and "last." Change these two values to your own XML data tags.

4. Click the "Save" button to save your file. Open the XSL file in your browser to review the data and layout.

References

• W3 Schools: XSLT Tutorial