[KLUG Members] Re: Re: XSLT Transforms

[John Holland]

On Mon, Jan 13, 2003 at 08:37:28PM -0500, Adam Williams wrote:
> Thanks, that was just the bit I needed.  This is great stuff.  With PHP
> 4.2.3's built in XML DOM object handling, and classes utilizing an ODBC
> connection to views defined in a database the logic to generate the data
> set is almost poetic.  Some of the most elegant code I've ever seen;
> immense functionality in a small amount of code and yet still very easy
> to follow and understand.  Then the XSLT turns the data into a viewable
> HTML file.  The layers of process couldn't be more clearly defined, and
> I can modify anyone of them without disturbing the layer above or
> beneath it.  This rocks!

I have not yet done anything with the XML capabilities of PHP.  This may
convince me to do so.  In general, coding against XML is wonderful - so
much better than the garbage I've had to work with in the past.
 
> If I used the XSLT to produce SGML (which unfortunately I don't know), 
> I would presumably then be able to produce HTML, Postscript, PDF,
> etc...?
> 
> Anyone want to give a presentation on SGML?

My limited understanding is that XML is a rough and less complicated subset 
of SGML.  I wouldn't want to try to write a more complicated version of
the document just so I could convert it to a PDF.  I would also vote for 
the XML + XSL:FO -> PDF solution.  FOP looks cool.  

--------------------------------------------------------------------
John Holland 
john@zoner.org
http://www.zoner.org