Java and XSLT (O'Reilly Java) (Paperback)

by Eric Burke (Author), Eric M. Burke (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Aimed at the Java developer who wants to learn XSLT quickly, Java and XSLT provides an in-depth guide to using XML to transform data in a variety of Web applications. With a no-nonsense presentation style and plenty of expert tips, this tutorial will let experienced developers master XSLT (and related standards) to create more flexible Web applications.

This text distinguishes itself with a fast-moving tutorial that covers XSLT from the ground up without getting bogged down in fast-changing XML standards, as is the case sometimes with other similar books. Combined with XML parsers (available in Sun's JAXP 1.1 APIs), Java is ready to go to solve real-world problems with XSLT. The author shows you how to apply XSLT to real problems, as well as integrating XSLT into your Web architecture. Early sections of the book show how XSLT can be used to separate presentation logic from business logic.

The first sections provide the basics of XSLT syntax, then the book moves on to more advanced searching and looping techniques. (Without traditional "state" or variables, XSLT requires a different way of thinking. This book does a good job of showing what's different in XSLT and techniques that can do more within real applications.)

This text's developer focus shows up early on, with a sample of XSLT used with Apache's Ant build utility. Later samples are more applicable to general Web development. A sample online discussion board built with servlets and XSLT style sheets shows off the fundamentals at work. With good coverage of Sun's JAXP 1.1 APIs for working with XML in Java, this book anchors its samples in real Java tools. A final section on wireless interfaces introduces the advantages of XSLT for transforming online content into WML for mobile devices.

Now that XSLT is a mainstream technology, more and more Java programmers will want to use it in real projects. Beyond syntax, this title shows you how to use XSLT to transform server-side data into client-side interfaces more flexibly. The practical focus of Java and XSLT is all you need to combine these two powerful technologies to create more maintainable Web applications that can reach both desktop and mobile browsers. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Introduction to XSLT; XML review; transforming data with XSLT; XPath; looping and sorting; conditional processing; formatting text and numbers; an XSLT example with the Ant build utility; review of Web architectures (including XSLT used with EJBs); compiling style sheets with JAXP 1.1; basic servlet tutorial (servlets used with XSLT); sample online discussion forum (with XSLT); advanced XSLT techniques (including session tracking without cookies, servlet filters, internationalization); tips for XSLT developers (developing, testing and debugging, performance tips); building wireless Web applications with WML and XSLT; JAXP 1.1 API reference; and XSLT quick reference.

Product Description
Java and XSLT shows how to use XSL transformations in Java programs ranging from stand-alone applications to servlets. After an introduction to XSLT, you'll learn how to apply transformations in real-world situations, such as developing a discussion forum, transforming documents from one form to another, and generating content for wireless devices. This book discusses several common XSLT processors and the TRAX API, paying special attention to performance issues. Although there's a brief tutorial introduction to the XSLT language, the primary focus of the book isn't on learning XSLT or developing stylesheets; it's on making practical use of transformations in Java code.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 1 edition (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596001436
• ISBN-13: 978-0596001438
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #809,635 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent view of an alternative enterprise architecture, December 5, 2001

By	Thomas Paul (Plainview, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The combination of Servlets and XSLT is a natural fit and a possible alternative to Servlets and JSP.

This book gives excellent coverage to using XSLT to generate dynamic web pages. The first part of the book is an introduction to XSLT. For those unfamiliar with XSLT, this part of the book will be an excellent introduction. For those using XSLT, an additional tutorial or reference will be required. The next part of the book covers how to use a Java program to transform an XML document into HTML. SAX, DOM, JDOM, and JAXP are all covered. This section includes information on how to configure your environment to correctly process XML documents. Anyone who has run into the mysterious "sealing violation" will appreciate this help. The next part of the book is a series of case studies starting with a discussion forum. The case studies demonstrate solutions to real world programming issues and help to uncover some of the issues that programmers will face if they choose to use these technologies. Performance issues are discussed with each solution.

My one complaint with this book is that the author tends to overstate the advantages of XSLT while understating the advantages of JSP. Overall, the author has done an outstanding job of putting the two technologies (Java and XSLT) together in a way that is easy to understand.

Anyone interested in using XSLT in their Java development efforts should start with this book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good overview of... Java and XSLT!, November 2, 2001

By	"shane_curcuru" (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

Indeed, this is a great book to get started with XSLT in a Java world, and to see a few specific examples of how Java and XSLT efficiently combine to build real-world applications. I'd call it a cross between a tutorial and a general-purpose book on the subject. It does include some reference information on the most commonly used Java API's for XSLT processing and XML parsing. More useful than the references are the real-life examples that show Java programmers how to effectively code the various DOM, SAX, JAXP, JDOM, and other API's to actually use XSLT stylesheets.

This book is *not* a reference or tutorial for all of XSLT; if you really want to learn XSLT you need another book - perhaps Mike Kay's "XSLT" by Wrox press. This book (Java and XSLT) shows how to write basic XSLT stylesheets and how to integrate them into effective Java programs. It can help you to decide when integrating XSLT will be efficient (easier maintenance of XSLT code than Java code; easier for some content management tasks and staffers) and when you might consider another methodology.

If you don't know what you need to know about XSLT and stylesheets, this is an excellent place to start! (And I'm not just saying that because my name is in the book 8-)

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing for an O'Reilly Publication, May 31, 2002

By A Customer

Focused too heavily on dynamically created XML being transformed to HTML.
I am interested in the power of XSL for transforming business data between disparate systems. Simple code examples from the web site often didn't work. No complex examples in the book.

I was very disappointed to find that the "XSLT Quick Reference" in Appendix C consists of syntax requirements straight from the W3C spec and single line references for where to look in the W3C spec for a "Quick Reference".

Example:

For <xsl:apply-imports>

The "Quick Reference" provides the following ...
<xsl:apply-imports>
See XSLT specification section 5.6: "Overriding Template Rules."