Definitive XSLT and XPath [Paperback]

G. Ken Holman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Definitive XML | Publication Date: December 10, 2001

Whatever your XML applications -- B2B, B2C, application integration, or content management -- you need to master XSLT and XPath, today's key tools for transforming information into new structured vocabularies and output formats. Definitive XSLT & XPath delivers concise, authoritative coverage of every key facet of the W3C recommendations. Nobody knows more about XSLT and XPath than author G. Ken Holman -- chair of OASIS' XSLT Conformance Technical Subcommittee, and long-time leader of the XML community. In this book, Holman draws upon his live training materials to help you master XSLT, XPath and related standards fast -- even the newest specifications. Coverage includes: the XPath data model and XSLT's processing model; XPath and XSLT's transformation environments; and closely associated specifications such as XSL, XPointer, XML Query, and the new XML Schema Structures and Datatypes. Holman introduces practical techniques for XSLT stylesheet management and process control; then presents advanced techniques ranging from expressions to sorting, grouping, and topic maps. For every developer or content delivery specialist working with XML technologies.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The definitive guide to XSLT and XPath—written by one of the world's leading authorities.

• Authoritative: By one of the world's leading XSLT/XPath experts
• Complete: Covers every key facet of the XSLT/XPath W3C specifications
• Proven: Based on training materials used by leading corporations
• Practical: Hundreds of examples analyzed
• Concise: Bullet-point, bite-size presentation helps you master XSLT/XPath fast!

Whatever your XML applications—e-business, application integration, Web- and paper-based publishing, or content management—you need to master XSLT and XPath, today's key tools for transforming information into new and varied structured vocabularies and output formats. Definitive XSLT & XPath delivers concise, authoritative coverage of every key facet of these W3C recommendations.

Nobody has taught more about XSLT and XPath than G. Ken Holman—chair of OASIS's XSLT/XPath Conformance Technical Subcommittee and long-time leader in the XML community. In this book, Holman draws upon live training materials to help you master the XSLT and XPath standards—fast—just as he's done for thousands of developers.

• Getting started with XSL transformations and the XML Path language: capabilities, concepts, and key techniques
• An in-depth introduction to the XPath data model
• Mastering XSLT's processing model and transformation environment
• Practical techniques for XSLT stylesheet management and process control
• Advanced techniques: XPath and XSLT expressions, sorting, grouping, and more
• XML-to-HTML transformation, basic XML-to-XSL formatting concepts, questions to ask XSLT/XPath tool vendors

When you're ready to get results, go straight to the source: G. Ken Holman's Definitive XSLT & XPath.

"The key to XML application development is transformations-converting XML data into other forms with XSLT and XPath. Ken Holman is the expert I rely on for advice on this subject. Now you can, too, with this book."

—Charles F. Goldfarb

About the Author

G. KEN HOLMAN is CTO of Crane Softwrights Ltd., a consulting firm specializing in XSLT implementations. He chairs the XSLT/Xpath Conformance Committee of OASIS, the XML industry consortium, and is past chairman of its XML Conformance Committee. As an invited expert to the W3C, Ken was a member of the group that developed XML.

About the Series Editor

Charles F. Goldfarb is the father of XML technology. He invented SGML,the Standard Generalized Markup Language on which XML and HTML arebased. You can find him on the Web at www.xmlbooks.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1st edition (December 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130651966
• ISBN-13: 978-0130651969
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,919,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just the 'how', but the 'why' of XSLT and XPath., February 25, 2002

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"primco" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Definitive XSLT and XPath (Paperback)

Contrary to what book authors want you to believe, XSLT is not easy to use. Someone said it's "not fit for human consumption". And Adam Bosworth has said "This is the paradox: XML was chosen in part because humans could read and write it, unlike the highly efficient babel of binary formats that preceded it. Yet languages encoded as XML grammars and used for manipulating XML can only really be read and written by programs (and a few very smart people)."

G Ken Holman is a very smart person. He's written a book that is a very strong investigation of the theory behind XSLT and he works very hard to try to bend the mind of the reader to a new way of looking at processing XML. Many readers will be used to procedural text preprocessing, like I was, and this book sets itself apart from the rest with this very authoritative and thorough background. Ken frequently addresses higher-level concepts like how to manage stylesheets and how they fit in context with other XML and web technologies. Dont' get stuck trying to use XSLT for something it wasn't designed for!

I looked at 5 other XSLT books and in this one the examples were more varied and re-world and explained in more detail. But a million examples will do no good if you make one modification, it breaks and you don't know why. This book's primary contribution is answering the 'why'.

I didn't have to play with xslt for long to realize that you can get stuck for a long time on a tiny little bug that isn't evident unless you have a full explanation of the standard. XSLT and XPath syntax drives me crazy and it can be very hard to 'see' what is going to happen when the transform is run. There's probably no fix for that. This book is properly focused on trying to fill in the holes in your understanding so you can code effectively.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive yet easy to access, February 2, 2002

By 

Max Dunn (Walnut Creek, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Definitive XSLT and XPath (Paperback)

Definitive XSLT and XPath covers XSLT in great detail, but without losing the reader. It has a unique outline style (many nested lists) throughout much of the book, which takes some getting used to but turnes out to be a very efficient way of presenting information. This book works both as something you read "cover to cover" and as a complete and authoritative reference.

I've found this book invaluable in my work with XSLT.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but not a text to start with, May 19, 2003

By 

rbolkey (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Definitive XSLT and XPath (Paperback)

Unfortunately, I didn't find Holman's "outline style" to aid that much in comprehension. At best, it would disjoint me a bit, and at worst, I wouldn't be able pull the different fragments of ideas together. Once I had a foothold in the material or knew the context of the language that I was looking for, the book's outline would make sense, but rarely beforehand.

If you are looking for a reference, I would say this book could come in handy and be useful, but I may consider seeing if better options are available. If you are looking for a primer, I'd steer clear of this text, or I would look for a preliminary introduction online before cracking it open.