XML Transformation Example

The following example transforms an XML file to a different format, by using an XSLT (transformation-stylesheet).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
 
  <xsl:template match="/">
    <!--Use apply-templates to create a loop...-->
    <website>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="manuals/manual"/>
    </website>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="manuals/manual">
    <article>
      <title>
        <!--id, title-->
        <xsl:value-of select="concat(id,' - ',title)"/>
      </title>
      <writer>
        <!--written_by-->
        <xsl:value-of select="written_by"/>
      </writer>
      <category>
        <!--category-->
        <xsl:choose>
          <xsl:when test="category='GNU/Linux'">GNU</xsl:when>
          <xsl:when test="category='MS Windows Server'">MSOS</xsl:when>
          <xsl:when test="category='MSSQL Server'">MSSQL</xsl:when>
          <xsl:when test="category='MySQL Server'">MYSQL</xsl:when>
          <xsl:when test="category='Netwerk'">NET</xsl:when>
          <xsl:when test="category='PowerShell Scripting'">MSPSH</xsl:when>
          <xsl:when test="category='VisualBasic Scripting'">MSWSH</xsl:when>
          <xsl:when test="category='XML'">XML</xsl:when>
          <xsl:otherwise>Category unknown</xsl:otherwise>
        </xsl:choose>
      </category>
    </article>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

An example of an input and output file based on above XSLT transformation.

INPUT:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manuals xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <manual>
    <title>PowerShell Unzip Function</title>
    <written_by>Tim van Kooten Niekerk</written_by>
    <category>PowerShell Scripting</category>
    <id>78</id>
    <year>2013</year>
  </manual>
</manuals>

OUTPUT:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<website>
  <article>
    <title>78 - PowerShell Unzip Function</title>
    <writer>Tim van Kooten Niekerk</writer>
    <category>MSPSH</category>
  </article>
</website>