RE: [xsl] Rendering XML Server Side without using ASP

Subject: RE: [xsl] Rendering XML Server Side without using ASP
From: "Chris Bayes" <chris@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 14:46:29 -0000
Andrew,
> 
> I suspect that in this case the data would originally be held 
> in a database,
> then converted to xml and sent to the client.  So the 
> processing is really
> performed serverside anyway.

Well I meant database in the loosest way. It could be an xml database, a
collection of individual files sent in a doctype wrapper, a soap service
or any number of other things.
> 
> If the data is already held in xml, it would seem a waste to 
> search the xml,
> produce more xml, then send that and the stylesheet to the client.

I think that bandwidth should be high on a list of priorities along with
reducing server side processing. If your data doesn't change often then
in the long run it might be better to ship the whole database to the
client and then avoid round tripping to the server. Or if it does change
often then producing a subset of some xml by whatever means might be
quicker than producing the whole html. Also your client might be capable
of doing more than just formatting and displaying html. It might be
another service or might be able to use another stylesheet to format the
results.
> 
> Of course, if you want to offload processing from the server 
> to the client
> then it is an option, but how much processing difference is 
> there between
> producing xml output and sending two files and producing html 
> output and
> sending one (bigger) file?

Well it depends on the application but in general I would say it is
always better to offload as much processing to the client as possible.
Let them use their electricity if they want to view your data. Not to
mention all of those extra bytes using all those electrons as they pass
through al of those routers and fibres. Which is why sometime not so
long ago we decided to give xslt a green sticker.
If your transform is complex then the execution time might be
considerable so doing a simple transform on the server
<xsl:apply-templates select="b[contains(@name, 'joe bloggs']" /> and
then leaving the complex stuff to the client will save you money.
I think that it is better to ship as much as possible and give people a
choice rather than reducing everything to the lowest common denominator
of html which doesn't give people many options.

Ciao Chris

XML/XSL Portal
http://www.bayes.co.uk/xml


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