Subject: RE: [xsl] Help: Reasons to use XML/XSL ? From: "Karl J. Stubsjoen" <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 08:11:34 -0700 |
XML and XSLT have completely changed the way I approach internet applications. In fact, to the degree that I have avoided much of the .NET development only because my intrigue with these two technologies was overwhelming! Server-side processing language gives you much flexibility in terms of applying logic upfront. XSLT takes this to a whole nother level. Before XSLT (for me) HTML was a dead horse, and if I wanted to get crafty with it, I had to intertwine the HTML code with my server-side code. This gets messy messy messy, and further complicates the server-side code. XSLT allows for full separation of presentation and server-side processing. Not just that, but XSLT allows you to *program* (I call it that) at the presentation level. Some scenarios: - If value "A" is greater than value "B" -- make the cell background red - If time "B" is earlier than time "A" -- reverse the output of my row set, show time "B" data first - Use XSLT/XPATH as a means of looking up header data for any given field or value in database Like all the state in US... values stored in DB might be "AZ","CA", etc... an XML source could contain the long values of these state abbreviations and XSLT could look them up as your are writing the presentation. - 3 columns, 4 columns, 5 columns, xx columns? XSLT easily handles the logic behind such dynamic display of tables. I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of what XSLT / XML can do for your web applications. And these are all of a simple nature... I can't imagine what others are doing with this technology. Simply, IT ROCKS!!!! Karl -----Original Message----- From: Jarrell Dunson [mailto:Jarrell_Dunson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2004 6:16 AM To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [xsl] Help: Reasons to use XML/XSL ? Hey, Thanks ahead of time to each of you for reading this. I'm an XSD, XML, XSLT Newbie....and am trying to learn the process. However, I really need some input - not from a programming perspective, but from a philosophy and usage perspective. For instance, I'm a current user and programmer of Perl...using SQL, CGI, and Perl DBI for pulling information from an Informix Relational Database. I'm able to pull data out of a database quite easily...via Perl DBI/SQL...and format it with Perl into quality HTML pages. ..and the process is rather efficient. For HTML, I can build the pages via wriing the code myself, or using Perl script, etc, I can also, at times, use a text editor (or text editor assistant / html formatter) to build basic html and modify it as needed. [Instead of coding a table by hand, for example, I'll use an editor assistant (such as Dreamweaver, or Notetab) to create all the code for a 3x4 table...and then modify and/or populate the HTML as needed]. So for this process, I'm going from database ...via Perl script...to HTML. In learning XSD, XML, XSLT, however, I just don't see the advantage of it? What more does XSD, XML, XSLT give me as a programmer? For me to do the same steps....to go from a database to web page, it seems to me that I have to take three [or four] more major steps...each involving a more complicated process. From my beginner perspective, I have to build a XSD...and then a matching XML - based upon the XSD (validating, etc.). For output, I have build the output leg, XSLT (transforming the XML, etc)....to get the same results. I just don't see the advantage. In my current programming, I'm using one scripting process DATABASE --> [1] Perl/DBI (using SQL) --> To HTML/Web Page In using XML, I need three (or four) processes: [1] Build XSD first. Then: DATABASE --> [2] Perl/DBI (using SQL) --> To XML. Then, [3] Build an XSLT --> [4] Transform the XML via XSLT --> HTML/Web page Isn't this far more complicated? Granted, I could see advantages if I were outputting my data in different ways...say, one of my outputs was for the Internet, another for a PDA, another for an RSS feed....etc. OR, I could possibly see advantages [per the claims I've heard from big corporations] if I were a great business enterprise...and all my data needed to be standard...and I needed to use my own mark-up language - though I'm not fully convinced of this. But for simple processes....from database to web, I just don't get it It seems far more complicated, and [other than buiiding my resume skills] raises the question if it's worth... So, for an uneducated newbie, can you help? I've learned XSD...and XML...and am working on the XSLT, but I haven't seen enough to "buy into it". What's the real benefit of learning and using XSD, XML, AND XSLT? - especially over a simple process like Perl/DBI....and why ? THANK YOU ahead of time, Jarrell Jarrell R. Dunson, III Asbury Theological Seminary Administrative Computing Coordinator Jarrell_Dunson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (859) 858-2379 (direct) (859) 858-2330 (fax)
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