XSLT 1.0 Pocket Reference: A Quick Guide to XML Transformations

by Evan Lenz

Book Overview

XSLT is an essential tool for converting XML into other kinds of documents: HTML, PDF file, and many others. It's a critical technology for XML-based platforms such as Microsoft .NET, Sun Microsystems' Sun One, as well as for most web browsers and authoring tools. As useful as XSLT is, however, most people have a difficult time getting used to its peculiar characteristics. The ability to use advanced techniques depends on a clear and exact understanding...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0596100086
• ISBN13: 9780596100087
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.5" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

The perfect pocket reference book for XSLT 1.0

This is one of the best pocket programming reference books I've come across. By the time I started to read this little gem, I had already spent some time learning XSLT 1.0 and XPath and had started to implement some simple XML transformations. However, this book was amazingly useful in expanding my understanding of this occasionally challenging language. Using it as a reference book, I was soon able to implement some fairly sophisticated XML transformations. Evan Lenz's XSLT 1.0 Pocket Reference is well-structured, first covering some basics on XPath, then some details on how XSLT transforms XML, followed by detailed explanations on the elements and functions that constitute XSLT 1.0 and finally, a section on XSLT Extensions, containing additional elements and functions specific to a range of both free and commercial XSLT processors. The main strength of this book is in its clear and concise explanation of elements and functions. Where appropriate, useful snippets of example code are provided to assist the in explanation of specific concepts. This book also contains useful tips with explanations on additional XSLT 2.0 elements and functions which, I presume, evolved from those in XSLT 1.0. Hence, this is also a useful book for those wishing to move from XSLT 1.0 to 2.0. In summary, this is the perfect portable reference book for XSLT 1.0. I wouldn't recommend using it to learn XSLT from scratch, but then that's not the purpose of this book. An understanding of the basics of XSLT or XML is all that's required to make this book a fantastic resource for the XSLT developer.

A perfect distillation of XPath and XSL into a pocket-size book

This book represents an amazing feat of distilling all you really need to know about XSL into 170 pocket-sized pages. What's more amazing is that an experienced developer with little prior XML/XSL experience can actually learn enough from this little gem to write competent XSL. A reference manual AND quality tutorial in 1/20th the space (and dead trees) of most tech books these days. I've recommended this to several of my colleagues who had to get up to speed on XSL for a new project, and the reaction from them is the same as mine.... This was EXACTLY what I needed.

If you need a quick reference, this one works well...

XSLT is one of those technologies that takes awhile to get the hang of. Once you've learned the basics, you'll end up needing to refer back to reference material often. One way to make that process a bit quicker would be to have a copy of Even Lenz's XSLT 1.0 Pocket Reference on hand... Contents: Data Model; The XPath Language; How XSLT Works; Elements; Functions; Extending XSLT; XPath 1.0 Grammar; XSLT Pattern Grammar; Index Looking at the back cover, the impression is such that you could use this book to get "up to speed quickly" on XSLT. Perhaps you could, but if this was your first and only exposure to XSLT and it works out that way, you're a far better IT professional than I am. The information is concise and correct, to be sure. But it's not going to walk you through the subject in a tutorial fashion. Conversely, if you understand the basics and need a quick visual reference on how to use a feature, say like , this book shines. You don't have to wade through a dozen pages of conversation to find out the format and syntax. Two pages total in this book, and you have all the details. And that's what an O'Reilly's Pocket Reference title is for... If you're working with XSLT already and need that "cheat sheet" material, I'd recommend this book. You'll get a lot of value from it. If you're looking to learn XSLT, you'll probably want to start with something more tutorial in nature first. Once you've got that down, head over here for ongoing reference...

Handy for XSLT, not great on XPath

This is a handy little pocket book that covers the essentials of XSLT. It's far better than the stuff you will find on the W3C site, and it won't break your back like Michael Kay's excellent, but hefty, work. I have to ding it a little for lack of a complete reference on XPath. There is certainly information about the functions, but I would have like to have seen more depth on it. And the XPath appendix wasn't helpful. A language definition is definitely not what I was looking for there. Some common examples of XPath usage would be great.