Critical for converting XML documents, and extremely versatile, the XSLT language nevertheless has complexities that can be daunting. The XSLT Cookbook is a collection of hundreds of solutions to problems that Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) developers regularly face. The recipes range from simple string-manipulation and mathematical processing to more complex topics like extending XSLT, testing and debugging XSLT stylesheets, and graphics creation with SVG. Recipes can be run directly or tweaked to fit your particular application's needs more precisely. Each recipe walks through a problem and a solution, with explanations of the choices made and techniques used in creating that solution, and many recipes include alternate solutions and explore issues like convenience and performance. Topics covered include:

• String manipulation

• Mathematical processing

• Date and time handling

• Interactions between calendar systems

• Selecting content in source documents

• Efficient tree-manipulation

• Conversions from XML to plain text

• Tweaking XML documents with stylesheets

• Using XSLT to query XML documents

• Generating HTML with XSLT

• Creating charts and graphs with SVG and XSLT

• Generating C and XSLT code using XSLT

• Processing Visio documents in XSLT

• Working with XML Topic Maps (XTM)

• Using XSLT to create SOAP documentation from WSDL

• Extending XSLT with additional functions

• Embedding XSLT in other processing

• Testing and debugging XSLT stylesheets

• Creating generic XSLT processors which work on many XML vocabularies

The XSLT Cookbook provides an ideal companion both for developers still figuring out XSLT's template-based approach who want to learn by example, and for developers who know XSLT and want a collection of quickly reusable recipes. XSLT frequently offers a number of ways to perform a transformation, and the best solution may not always be the most straightforward. The recipes in this Cookbook demonstrate and explain XSLT's template-based logic, a frequent stumbling block for developers new to XSLT. Among the variety of XSLT books now available, none has the explicit solution-oriented approach of this Cookbook.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 29 Ratings

Don't make the same mistake as I did! - 2007-03-04
Reviewer Rating:
This is a great book with a collection of XSLT solutions to difficult and non-trivial XSLT problems. It covers XSLT 2.0 and shows to you how elegant 2.0 solution can be comparable to ugly and monstrous 1.0 listing.

But don't make the same mistake as I did! It is not a learning book! It is a book for programmers that already know XSLT at least a bit and want to improve their skills in this language. If you don't know XSLT at all, it would be better to you to purchase another book together with this one.

For Experienced XLST users, as a reference and to get ideas. - 2007-11-15
Reviewer Rating:
This book is for the experienced XSLT developer. It will provide many, many code samples right from the beginning. I purchased this book thinking I can learn XSLT but, this book is not for the beginner. With that, I am not saying you should not purchase it. What I am saying is that I found a very good companion book: XSLT FOR DUMMIES. Believe it or not, this was my first for dummies book. Don't let the title fool you, this is a great first book to understand XSLT. I think the cookbook will start you where the dummies book ends but with a very different approach: To give you ideas. From the dummies book, you will understand what XPath and other key topics which you will already need to understand for the cookbook. For example, the cookbook goes right to covering XPATH in chapter one but assumes you know what and how it works. I hope this review will help everyone understand what this book will do for you and the correct approach in using it.

XSLT Cookbook by Sal Mangano - 2008-07-13
Reviewer Rating:
This book is a real eye-opener about what and how can be done with XSLT. It is a great Cookbook with a huge variety of extremely useful solutions for various problems.
Viktor Melekhine

Useful XSLT Recipes - 2007-03-28
Reviewer Rating:
This book was very helpful in getting my first XSLT transform up and running in just a few days. Its Problem -- Solution -- Discussion format provides ready-made solutions for a range of transformation problems, from the simple to the more complex. In my case, I quickly found clear and straightforward illustrations of how to produce multiple text output files from an XML input file.

This book is not an XSLT language reference. But it is a good supplement to, for instance, Michael Kay's XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 programmer's references.

What a time saver! - 2007-03-24
Reviewer Rating:
I've just completed a job where one of my primary functions was editing, teaching, and solving problems with XSLT. I started that job as an experienced programmer with little experience in XSLT. I frequently referred to this book whenever I thought, "I bet XSLT can do this, but how?" For example, if you are already familiar with common scripting languages and programming libraries, one of the first things you will notice about XSLT is a lack of regular expression functionality. I referred to the "search and replace" function in this book several times. This book is a real problem solver.

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