Re: [xsl] Advocate for C# .NET + 100% XSLT Processing

["M. David Peterson" <m.david@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Cool!  Look forward to hearing/seeing the result :)

Karl Stubsjoen wrote:

> Yep, for at least 3 years my approach has been ASP + 100% XSLT.  Hmmm,
> I honestly can't remember that last time I looped through a recordset.
> It is just recent my move to .NET and C#, which is probably a leap of
> appx. 100 times the language and environment that classic ASP ever
> was.  It is fantastic! Well except for, and let me rerant (if that is
> a word, and if it isn't it oughta be):  The XML you get from an
> ADO.NET dataset is retarded!
>
> I plan to follow your links, and dig into the broader technologies
> available.  I have, and will continue to dabble in things like AJAX
> and ClientSide transformations.  I will most definitely be avoiding
> "ATLAS".. why?  and I've never even looked at it? Because I'm sure
> there is a huge hook, and the hook is the microsoft way, and the hook
> is probably a designer UI, and on and on... besides, how complicated
> really is AJAX (rhetorical question)?
>
> I'll be in touch, this weekend I am creating a web service (my own)
> and am fairly deep.
>
> Karl..
>
> On 3/11/06, M. David Peterson <m.david@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>  
>
> > Hey Karl,
> >
> > I'm glad to see you have come to your conclusions.  This is EXCELLENT!
> > I find it weird when people link back to posts I made.  Its cool!  Just
> > weird.
> >
> > All weirdness set aside, that post was made almost three years ago.  A
> > lot has changed since then speaking in terms of available technologies.
> > But the general notion of using XSLT as the primary driver for your
> > web-based applications is still the same.  Its just been spread out
> > across a broader surface area by passing the data to the client for
> > transformation. [see:
> > http://www.xsltblog.com/archives/2005/12/finally_someone_1.html]
> >
> > Take a look at http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/7704. While I have kept
> > things EXTREMELY low key since, a ton of work has been done in  this
> > area since.  The mentioned project, WWULF (pronounced wolf) which stands
> > for WorldWide Ubiquarian Lingua Franca (maybe I shouldn't tell people
> > what it stands for... I think it kind of scares folks a little.. :)) has
> > continued to be refined, developed, and integrated with other
> > technologies I am working on, again very lowkey.  The follow-up post to
> > the post linked above is here > http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/7855.
> > While that particular series of posts isn't finished, a lot of the
> > background work necessary to make all of this a reality has continued.
> > Russ and I both have a tendency to fill our schedules to their maximum,
> > and I have a tendency to push things even further than that.  We will be
> > picking that series up again when we have a few more pieces complete.
> >
> > In the mean time, if you want to contact me offline, I would be happy to
> > share with you some of the things we're working on that will fit quite
> > nicely into your drive to push away from the complexities of the .NET UI
> > and into something MUCH more simple yet MUCH more powerful.
> >
> > Enjoy your day!
> >
> > Karl Stubsjoen wrote:
> >
> >    
> >
> > > Yes, the IHttpHandler approach is an excellent approach and indeed
> > > *ditches* the presentational aspect of ASP.NET nicely ; )
> > > You can achieve similar by Killing the HTML code on an ASPX page and
> > > then just knocking out the Page_Load event and othter auto-generated
> > > code.  Infact, I've devised my own event driven model based on the
> > > idea that every web project will probably flow through a MAIN
> > > processing template then stub out to PAGE level processing.  Keeping
> > > this "on-topic" I have also created generic XSL stylesheets that are
> > > automatically included at the base level application code, but then is
> > > replaced by more specific page level XSL stylesheets.  These
> > > stylesheet inherit from a base stylesheet, well actually inherit from
> > > a site stylesheet and then the base stylesheet.  Simple, yet genius.
> > >
> > > Karl..
> > >
> > > On 3/10/06, Nick Fitzsimons <nick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >      
> > >
> > > > Karl Stubsjoen wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >        
> > > >
> > > > > I am an XSLT junky.. I get it.
> > > > > I also get C# and .NET, and I too was a EXTREMELY heavy ASP developer
> > > > > ( Ref:  http://www.biglist.com/lists/xsl-list/archives/200309/msg00227.html )
> > > > >
> > > > > This is mostly a shout out, and feel free to shout back.
> > > > >
> > > > > Is there such sites dedicated to this approach?  Oh, I should mention
> > > > > that, to qualify as a C# + 100% XSLT Processing member, you must vow
> > > > > to never NEVER use the .NET design UI.  Strip it out!  Lose the page
> > > > > wrapped in a FORM tag!  Say goodbye to the calendar control!  Besides
> > > > > you can write a better one with XSLT!
> > > > >
> > > > > Karl..
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >          
> > > > At a previous job I got a good way through converting our existing CMS
> > > > (ASP + XSLT) to this approach, but wasn't able to get it to a deployable
> > > > state before business dried up and I was made redundant.
> > > >
> > > > The approach I eventually settled on was to extend
> > > > System.Web.IHttpHandler, thus ditching all presentational aspects of
> > > > ASP.NET. It was a neat system and, if I get back into .NET stuff, I'll
> > > > do the same again.
> > > >
> > > > FWIW, the clients I'm curently working with are taking the same
> > > > approach, but powered by the Java Servlet API. The architectural
> > > > similarities to my system are interesting, given that their version 1
> > > > system (we're live with version 2 in a week) was created about 5 years
> > > > ago. I suppose good ideas never go out of fashion.
> > > >
> > > > Cheers,
> > > >
> > > > Nick.
> > > > --
> > > > Nick Fitzsimons
> > > > http://www.nickfitz.co.uk/