XSL Transformation with Perl (Page 1 of 5 )
Perl may not be as well known as some of the other languages, but it boasts a powerful library of packages and modules that everyone can use to work with XML. In this article, Harish Kamath explains how to get started with the "XML::XSLT" package that allows you to transform XML documents by using XSLT style sheets using Perl.
Introduction
Talk about XML and its off springs, and the words "state-of-the-art", "top-of-the-grade", and "latest technology" are commonly mentioned. As to the technologies likely to be recommended by the "powers-that-be": many may vote for the .NET platform, others will root for J2EE and a few open source fans should recommend PHP!
But Perl? It's not likely to find a mention at all -- sorry, Perl fanatics!
However, this lack of popular support does not mean that the language, which started as an effort to overcome the limitations of shell scripting languages, is left behind in the race. Powered by the efforts of Perl enthusiasts, CPAN -- the resourceful Perl repository of re-usable modules and packages -- boasts a powerful library of packages and modules that everyone (including you and me) can leverage to work with XML in their favorite scripting language. This includes XSL Transformations, the topic of our current discussion.
For the benefit of the novices, XSL Transformations is a handy XML off-shoot technology that allows one to "transform" an XML file. In simple words, it converts the document into another format by means of easy-to-understand instructions.
While you can learn more about XSL Transformations on the official website of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - http://www.w3c.org - as well as by reading the numerous tutorials on this topic, I will concentrate on how to use Perl to transform XML documents using XSL Transformations.
On that note, I’ll assume that you are "now" familiar with XSL Transformations; if not, I have listed some URLs, later in this article, to get you started.
Time to flip the page!
Next: Getting started >>
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