[XML4Lib] server-side XML and XSLT

[David Walker]

Hi Pierre,
 
To expand slightly on what Eric and Andy have already said:
 
>> what do I need to do that sort of work on the server-side
>> Do I have to install an XSLT processor on the server ?
 
Pretty much every web programming language / framework these days already has a built-in XML and XSLT processor, so you shouldn't need to install anything.
 
The question, then, is simply what language do you want to use? If you are running Windows Server 2003, and using IIS as your web server, as Andy said, probably the easiest solution would be to use ASP.Net, or even the older ASP.
 
I have a lot of code in both of those, and can give you simple pages to do this kind of transformation.  Just let me know off-list.
 
>> Do I need a database to store the xml files ?
 
No, you can just store the XML and XSLT files on the file system.  In your code you just tell the parser where to find the file and what stylesheet you want to use to transform it, and you're good to go.
 
--Dave

________________________________

From: xml4lib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Pierre Nault
Sent: Wed 8/16/2006 7:21 AM
To: xml4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [XML4Lib] server-side XML and XSLT


Hello,

   I'm working on a project that consist on publishing, in HTML, research guides of my colleagues librarians. The main documents are in XML : we use XSLT stylesheets to transform it in HTML. The transformations are done on the client-side... with some mitigated results : browsers are not consistent with the way they deal with XSLT-CSS-Javascript and XML. Now i'm starting to think that we should do the transformations on the server-side : that way we just serve pure html to the client.
I'm sorry for this naive question but, what do I need to do that sort of work on the server-side. A year ago I used Saxon on command-line to deal with MARCXML and FRBR but that's it : I'm a real beginner in the XML technologies... Here we have a Window 2003 server with no database for our web site. Do I need a database to store the xml files ? Do I have to install an XSLT processor on the server ?... 

Thanks
Pierre Nault



-- 
What do you call a cyclist who doesn't wear a helmet?  An organ donor.  ~David Perry