XSLT allows to convert XML into other formats. XSLT stands for Extensible Stylesheet Language for Transformations . You typically run XLST from the command line but there is also tooling available for graphical tools, like the Eclipse IDE.

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

Under Linux the xsltproc command line tool is available. If it is missing in your installation, you can install it via the following command under Ubuntu.

sudo apt-get install xsltprocs 

We start first with a simplest transformation possible; no transformation at all. Create a new directory called com.vogella.xslt.first. Create a folder files.

Create the following XML file source.xml in the files 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 transform.xsl file in the files 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> 

To run the transformation use the following command on the command line.

xsltproc --output result.xml files/transform.xsl files/sources.xml 

Review the generated result.xml file. It should be a copy of the input file.

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> 

Please help me to support this article:

Before posting questions, please see the vogella FAQ. If you have questions or find an error in this article please use the www.vogella.com Google Group. I have created a short list how to create good questions which might also help you.

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