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XSLT allows to convert XML to other format. XSLT stands for XSL Transformations. The Eclipse XSL Project allows to edit XSLT files and perform interactive XSL transformations in Eclipse.

For an introduction to XML please see Java and XML Tutorial .

Install the "Eclipse XSL Developer Tools" via the the Eclipse update manager.

We start first with a simplest transformation possible; no transformation at all.

Create a new Java project "de.vogella.xslt.first". Create a folder "files".

Create the following XML file "source.xml" in this folder.

			
<?xml version="1.0"?>
	<!-- This is a comment -->
<people>
	<address type="personal">
		<name>Lars </name>
		<street> Test </street>
		<telephon number="0123" />
	</address>
	<address type="personal">
		<name>Joe </name>
		<street> Test2 </street>
		<telephon number="1234" />
	</address>
	<address type="business">
		<name>Jim</name>
		<street> Test3 </street>
		<telephon number="2345" />
	</address>
</people>
		

Create the following XLS file "transform.xsl" in this folder.

			
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
	version="1.0">

	<xsl:output method="xml" />

	<xsl:template match="*">
		<xsl:copy>
			<xsl:copy-of select="@*" />
			<xsl:apply-templates />
		</xsl:copy>
	</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

		

Select your xsl file and run it as XSL application.

Select "Open Files..." and select "source.xml". Press ok to run it.

Review the result "source.out.xml"

Now we want to do a real transformation. Create the following "transform2.xsl" and run it with the same input file

			
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
	version="1.0">

	<xsl:output method="xml" />

	<!-- Copy everything -->
	<xsl:template match="*">
		<xsl:copy>
			<xsl:copy-of select="@*" />
			<xsl:apply-templates />
		</xsl:copy>
	</xsl:template>

	<!-- Do some adjustments for the address -->
	<xsl:template match="address">
		<xsl:element name="place-where-person-live">
			<xsl:apply-templates />
		</xsl:element>
	</xsl:template>

	<!-- Put the name in a <hubba> tag -->
	<xsl:template match="name">
		<xsl:element name="name">
			<hubba>
				<xsl:apply-templates />
			</hubba>
		</xsl:element>
	</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

		

The result should look like the following.

			
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><people>
	<place-where-person-live>
		<name><hubba>Lars </hubba></name>
		<street> Test </street>
		<telephon number="0123"/>
	</place-where-person-live>
	<place-where-person-live>
		<name><hubba>Joe </hubba></name>
		<street> Test2 </street>
		<telephon number="1234"/>
	</place-where-person-live>
	<place-where-person-live>
		<name><hubba>Jim</hubba></name>
		<street> Test3 </street>
		<telephon number="2345"/>
	</place-where-person-live>
</people>
		

Thank you for practicing with this tutorial.

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For questions and discussion around this article please use the www.vogella.de Google Group. Also if you note an error in this article please post the error and if possible the correction to the Group.

I believe the following is a very good guideline for asking questions in general and also for the Google group How To Ask Questions The Smart Way.

http://wiki.eclipse.org/XSLT_Project Eclipse XSL Wiki

http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/sect2/sect21.html XSLT FAQ

http://www.zvon.org/xxl/XSLTutorial/Books/Book1/index.html XSLT Tutorial