XSLT
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £9.60
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in XSLT: Mastering XML Transformations. For Beginners and Advanced Users for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £9.60, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
Mastering XML Transformations
Product Description
After years of anticipation and delay, the W3C finally released the XSLT 2.0 standard in January 2007. The revised edition of this classic book offers practical, real-world examples that demonstrate how you can apply XSLT stylesheets to XML data using either the new specification, or the older XSLT 1.0 standard.
XSLT is a critical language for converting XML documents into other formats, such as HTML code or a PDF file. With XSLT, you get a thorough understanding of XSLT and XPath and their relationship to other web standards, along with recommendations for a honed toolkit in an open platform-neutral, standards-based environment. This book:
- Covers the XSLT basics, including simple stylesheets and methods for setting up transformation engines
- Walks you through the many parts of XSLT, particularly XSLT's template-based approach to transformations
- Applies both XSLT 1.0 and 2.0 solutions to the same problems, helping you decide which version of XSLT is more appropriate for your project
- Includes profuse examples that complement both the tutorial and the reference material
The new edition of XSLT has been updated thoroughly to explain XSLT 2.0's many dependencies, notably XML Schema and XPath 2.0. Want to find out how the 2.0 specification improves on the old? This book will explain.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book contains a lot of information however I have a few gripes with it:
1) I find the intermingling of XSLT 1.0 with XSLT 2.0 to be confusing at the best of times - far better would be to have separate sections for the two standards (or even a separate book)
2) Frequently I have had to resort to going on the internet to find out more information - not really what you want from a reference book!
3) Some things are not very well explained and the examples are quite difficult to follow and the book dismisses some things entirely with phrases such as "we've covered most of the document components you're ever likely to select" - this just irritated me, how do the author's know what I want to select and if there is more information (as this statement aludes to) why not present it or present a reference to where I can find out more?
Overall I think 3 stars is quite generous but it does contain a lot of information and is quite a large book so I am going to persevere with it. Certainly not up to the same standards that I have come to expect from O'Reilly.
1) I find the intermingling of XSLT 1.0 with XSLT 2.0 to be confusing at the best of times - far better would be to have separate sections for the two standards (or even a separate book)
2) Frequently I have had to resort to going on the internet to find out more information - not really what you want from a reference book!
3) Some things are not very well explained and the examples are quite difficult to follow and the book dismisses some things entirely with phrases such as "we've covered most of the document components you're ever likely to select" - this just irritated me, how do the author's know what I want to select and if there is more information (as this statement aludes to) why not present it or present a reference to where I can find out more?
Overall I think 3 stars is quite generous but it does contain a lot of information and is quite a large book so I am going to persevere with it. Certainly not up to the same standards that I have come to expect from O'Reilly.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
You've got a friend in the transformation business
8 Aug 2008
Format:Paperback
Doug Tidwell knows his stuff, loves his stuff, and is eager to share his stuff with you. His stuff is xml, but his authoritative and well-written new book, XSLT, Second Edition, focuses on the eXtensible Stylesheet Language for Transformations.
If you're reading this, you probably already know that transformations are the means by which xml files can be converted from one format to another and sliced, diced, sorted, ordered, linked, and/or combined with other xml files along the way. Or maybe you don't already know that but you've heard that XSLT is a mysterious force with the power to convert xml data into html or pdf or scalable vector graphic format or other formats. Either way, Tidwell's book will help you grasp and exploit the power of xml transformations.
Previous exposure to xml concepts will save you time and help you to get the most out of the book, but don't worry if you're a newbie, because Tidwell provides a concise description of xml basics near the front of the book. And don't worry if you lack specialized tools for processing XSLT files: Tidwell thoughtfully provides download links and installation instructions for four popular XSLT processors (Xalan, Saxon, Microsoft XSLT Processor, and the Altova XSLT engine).
Nearly 600 pages of the book are devoted to appendixes filled with reference materials (about which, more later), but don't be misled by that fact. Tidwell knows that reference materials are useless without orientation and understanding, and the first 300 pages of the book provide exactly that.
Tidwell also knows that your time is valuable, and so he starts you off easy but FAST. In less than 45 pages, he covers the basics and walks you through a "Hello World" example. If you're new to XML or XSLT, the scales will fall from your eyes as you breeze through these pages.
From there, Tidwell devotes the next 100 pages to the two main activities of transformation: 1) teasing precise bodies of data from source files and 2)generating output in the desired format. By the time you get that far, you realize that you're in very good hands. Tidwell builds your comfort level and your confidence as he goes along. He holds back the really gnarly stuff until last: branching and control elements, links and cross-references and, finally, sorting, grouping, and combining data.
It's a very well organized approach, and the 300+ pages of orientation are exactly what you need in order to benefit from the reference materials in the appendixes.
And what about those reference materials? More fantastic stuff: The XSLT reference covers all the elements defined in the XSLT specification; the XPath reference covers key aspects of the XPath specification; other appendixes cover XSLT, XPath, and XQuery functions, XML Schemas, regular expressions, XSLT formatting codes, and migration from XSLT 1.0 to 2.0. (But NOTE: Changes brought about by XSLT 2.0 are discussed throughout the book, not limited to a single appendix entry.)
Even if you're a Jedi Master of XSLT, you'll be glad to have this book on your shelf for ready reference to the appendixes. If you rate yourself at an intermediate level of mastery, the chapters on advanced XSLT concepts will carry you to the next level. And if you're just beginning, you'll recognize Tidwell as a true friend in the transformation business. He will get you going in no time. The book is well organized, well written, and extremely well focused on its stated subject.
If you're reading this, you probably already know that transformations are the means by which xml files can be converted from one format to another and sliced, diced, sorted, ordered, linked, and/or combined with other xml files along the way. Or maybe you don't already know that but you've heard that XSLT is a mysterious force with the power to convert xml data into html or pdf or scalable vector graphic format or other formats. Either way, Tidwell's book will help you grasp and exploit the power of xml transformations.
Previous exposure to xml concepts will save you time and help you to get the most out of the book, but don't worry if you're a newbie, because Tidwell provides a concise description of xml basics near the front of the book. And don't worry if you lack specialized tools for processing XSLT files: Tidwell thoughtfully provides download links and installation instructions for four popular XSLT processors (Xalan, Saxon, Microsoft XSLT Processor, and the Altova XSLT engine).
Nearly 600 pages of the book are devoted to appendixes filled with reference materials (about which, more later), but don't be misled by that fact. Tidwell knows that reference materials are useless without orientation and understanding, and the first 300 pages of the book provide exactly that.
Tidwell also knows that your time is valuable, and so he starts you off easy but FAST. In less than 45 pages, he covers the basics and walks you through a "Hello World" example. If you're new to XML or XSLT, the scales will fall from your eyes as you breeze through these pages.
From there, Tidwell devotes the next 100 pages to the two main activities of transformation: 1) teasing precise bodies of data from source files and 2)generating output in the desired format. By the time you get that far, you realize that you're in very good hands. Tidwell builds your comfort level and your confidence as he goes along. He holds back the really gnarly stuff until last: branching and control elements, links and cross-references and, finally, sorting, grouping, and combining data.
It's a very well organized approach, and the 300+ pages of orientation are exactly what you need in order to benefit from the reference materials in the appendixes.
And what about those reference materials? More fantastic stuff: The XSLT reference covers all the elements defined in the XSLT specification; the XPath reference covers key aspects of the XPath specification; other appendixes cover XSLT, XPath, and XQuery functions, XML Schemas, regular expressions, XSLT formatting codes, and migration from XSLT 1.0 to 2.0. (But NOTE: Changes brought about by XSLT 2.0 are discussed throughout the book, not limited to a single appendix entry.)
Even if you're a Jedi Master of XSLT, you'll be glad to have this book on your shelf for ready reference to the appendixes. If you rate yourself at an intermediate level of mastery, the chapters on advanced XSLT concepts will carry you to the next level. And if you're just beginning, you'll recognize Tidwell as a true friend in the transformation business. He will get you going in no time. The book is well organized, well written, and extremely well focused on its stated subject.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Is It Possible For A Book To Be Too Big?
3 Oct 2008
Format:Paperback
Perhaps.
With XSLT 2nd Edition, this behemoth of a book tops out at over 950+ page, 600 of them a reference on XSLT itself. The 9 chapters earlier do plenty to discuss what XSLT is, how it's used, and how to use it.
If you need to use XSLT at your job or just want to learn more about it, you have come to the right place, just don't expect a quick read, this one will take a while to get through but it's worth the journey.
***** RECOMMENDED
With XSLT 2nd Edition, this behemoth of a book tops out at over 950+ page, 600 of them a reference on XSLT itself. The 9 chapters earlier do plenty to discuss what XSLT is, how it's used, and how to use it.
If you need to use XSLT at your job or just want to learn more about it, you have come to the right place, just don't expect a quick read, this one will take a while to get through but it's worth the journey.
***** RECOMMENDED
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
It's only for beginners
2 Feb 2010
Format:Paperback
I bought this book last week for a specific problem I need to solve at work. I mostly need this book to understand the syntax. Even though it provides the basic reference to get you started, it leaves out much of the details needed to understand the capabilities and limitations of XSLT. Needless to say that I still did not get the answer to my question from this book. It's the "Hello World" version. The examples given in this book are hard to read since they don't highlight/bold the code that they're discussing.
I am using this book in combination with O'Rielly's XSLT Cookbook.
Buy this book if you just need basic reference book on your shelf otherwise look for something more advanced.
I am using this book in combination with O'Rielly's XSLT Cookbook.
Buy this book if you just need basic reference book on your shelf otherwise look for something more advanced.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Computing & Internet > Digital Lifestyle > Online Shopping > Amazon
- Books > Computing & Internet > Programming > Languages > HTML & XHTML
- Books > Computing & Internet > Programming > Languages > XML > XSL & XSLT
- Books > Computing & Internet > Software & Graphics
- Books > Computing & Internet > Web Development > Web Scripting & Programming
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
