The XslTransform class is an XSLT Processor implementing the XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0 recommendation. The Load method locates and reads style sheets, and the Transform method transforms the given source document. Any store that implements the IXPathNavigable interface can be used as the source document for the XslTransform. The .NET Framework currently implements the IXPathNavigable interface on the XmlDocument, the XmlDataDocument, and the XPathDocument, so all of these can be used as the input source document to a transform.

The match attribute on the <xsl:template> element contains a pattern expression. The syntax is the same as that used to select nodes with <xsl:for-each>, <xsl:value-of>, and <xsl:apply-templates> elements. However, the pattern is used in quite a different way.

One of the benefits of using XML is the ability to model irregular data hierarchies, including data with the following characteristics.

An XSL Transformations (XSLT) style sheet can generate two types of errors: parse errors and run-time errors. There are ways to check for these errors and report them.

XSL Transformations (XSLT) can be performed at the server. XSLT can be used in your server-side logic to filter or customize XML or to change its schema. You can also deploy content in XML and transform it to HTML on demand for clients.

Data islands provide a convenient way to access XML data from an HTML page. Because XSL Transformations (XSLT) is an XML grammar itself, data islands also provide a convenient way to load style sheets. The following example uses two data islands to load both the source XML data and the XSLT style sheet. The transformNode method is used on these two data islands to generate HTML that can then be inserted into the page.

The XSL Transformations (XSLT) style sheets used for browsing XML files have more strict requirements than those used for general transformation. For more information about authoring an XSLT style sheet, see XSLT Fundamentals. When authoring a style sheet for use in direct browsing, be aware of the following limitations.

XSL Transformations (XSLT) provides mechanisms for accessing attributes in the source document, and for generating attributes in the result tree. XSLT attempts to be agnostic about whether data should be encoded as attribute values or child elements, and strives to process either with equal ease.

Well-formed HTML simply means HTML that conforms to the rules of XML. This means that the same HTML tags are available, but the stricter XML syntax is required. An XSL Transformations (XSLT) style sheet is itself XML and any HTML within it must be well-formed.

You can use XSL Transformations (XSLT) to merge simple regular XML data with an HTML template for display. Consider the following example.

An XSL Transformations (XSLT) transformation results in the creation of a new XML tree. This clear separation between the source document and the result trees fulfills the goal of XML to separate content from presentation by allowing both the grammar and structure of the XML source to be independent of the presentation language and structure.

The Microsoft® XML Parser (MSXML) fully supports the XSL Transformations (XSLT) and XPath version 1.0 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendations. In addition, MSXML maintains backward compatibility with the MSXML 2.0 and 2.5 implementations of Section 2 of the December 1998 XSL Working Draft of Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). There is no support for XSL formatting objects.

Server-side transformation of XML using Active Server Pages (ASP) is a viable solution for feeding HTML to downstream browsers. Because different versions of the Microsoft® Windows® operating system are released with different versions of the Microsoft Parser (MSXML), it may be necessary to code to version-dependent progIDs or run MSXML 3.0 in Replace mode on the server. For information about installing MSXML 3.0 in Replace mode, see Install MSXML 3.0 in Replace Mode. For a list of MSXML versions released with the Windows operating system, see GUID and ProgID Information.

Although XSL Transformations (XSLT) solutions can be created for browsers on the intranet, XSLT style sheets can also be used in C++ and Microsoft® Visual Basic® applications running on the user's desktop, for example, a parts inventory or a Human Resources application. Because different versions of the Microsoft Windows® operating system are released with different versions of the Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML), it may be necessary to code to version-dependent progIDs or run MSXML 3.0 in Replace mode. For information about installing MSXML 3.0 in Replace mode, see Install MSXML 3.0 in Replace Mode. For a list of MSXML versions released with the Windows operating system, see GUID and ProgID Information.

This section explores the considerations and solutions for deploying XSL Transformations (XSLT) with Microsoft® Internet Explorer. Because Internet Explorer 5.0 was released with earlier versions of the Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) that do not support XSLT, you have the following options.

This section discusses the system requirements for running XSL Transformations (XSLT) and offers recommendations for the setting up your development environment.

This pdf is an introduction and overview about XSLT.

This pdf is an introduction to customize the HIP user interface by way of the XSLT Stylesheets.

This page describes some XSLT engines.

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