Report format templates

APAS/Wizard makes use of XSLT to transform a report template into a report. XSLT is a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents.

XSLT Transformations

XSLT is the most important part of the XSL Standards. It is the part of XSL that is used to transform an XML document into another XML document, or another type of document that is recognized by a browser, like HTML and XHTML. Normally XSLT does this by transforming each XML element into an (X)HTML element.

XSLT can also add new elements into the output file, or remove elements. It can rearrange and sort elements, and test and make decisions about which elements to display, and a lot more. A common way to describe the transformation process is to say that XSLT transforms an XML source tree into an XML result tree.

XSLT Uses XPath

XSLT uses XPath to define the matching patterns for transformations. XPath is a set of syntax rules for defining parts of an XML document.

• XPath is a syntax for defining parts of an XML document
• XPath uses paths to define XML elements
• XPath defines a library of standard functions
• XPath is a major element in XSLT
• XPath is not written in XML
• XPath is a W3C Standard

How does it Work?

In the transformation process, XSLT uses XPath to define parts of the source document that match one or more predefined templates. When a match is found, XSLT will transform the matching part of the source document into the result document. The parts of the source document that do not match a template will end up unmodified in the result document.

XSLT is a Web Standard

XSLT became a W3C Recommendation 16. November 1999.

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