The Extensible Stylesheet Language Family (XSL)
XSL is a family of recommendations for defining XML document transformation and presentation. It consists of three parts:
- XSL Transformations (XSLT)
- a language for transforming XML;
- The XML Path Language (XPath)
- an expression language used by XSLT (and many other languages) to access or refer to parts of an XML document;
- XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO)
- an XML vocabulary for specifying formatting semantics.
An XSLT stylesheet specifies the presentation of a class of XML documents by describing how an instance of the class is transformed into an XML document that uses a formatting vocabulary, such as (X)HTML or XSL-FO. For a more detailed explanation of how XSL works, see the What Is XSL page.
XSLT is developed by the W3C XSLT Working Group (members only) whose charter is to develop the next version of XSLT. XSLT is part of W3C's XML Activity, whose work is described in the XML Activity Statement.
XPath is developed jointly by the XQuery and XSLT Working Groups.
The XSL-FO work at W3C was taken over by the XML Print and Page Layout Working Group which has now been closed.
- XSLT 3.0
- XSLT 2.0
- XSLT 1.0
- XPath 3.1
- XPath 3.0
- XPath 2.0
- XPath 1.0
- XQuery 3.1 and XPath 3.1 Data Model (XDM)
- XQuery 3.0 and XPath 3.0 Data Model (XDM)
- XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Data Model (XDM)
- XSL-FO 2.0 working draft
- XSL 2.0 requirements
- XSL 1.1 (XSL-FO 1.1)
- XSL 1.0 (XSL-FO 1.0, 2001)
- XQuery 3.1 and XPath 3.1 Functions and Operators
- XQuery 3.0 and XPath 3.0 Functions and Operators
- XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators
- XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Formal Semantics
- XSLT WG list, main public list for XSLT Working Group
- XSL-List, main public list for discussion about XSL
- xsl-editors: comments/discussion on XSLT 1.0
- www-xsl-fo W3C list about Formatting Objects
- XSL-FO: a Yahoo Groups list on XSL-FO.
- If you find an error in a specification, see the Scope section of that document for how to report the error.
- XSLT 1: too many to list here. Check dmoz.org.
- XPath 2.0 Grammar Test Applet
- Xml2PDFrenders XSL-FO and SVG to PDF (commercial for .NET)
- Asentis DocFamily Java-based; aimed at the financial industry.
- xmlroff (C, open source)
- XF Rendering Server 2007 (commercial; includes native 64-bit and .NET support)
- Ibex PDF Creator (Java, .NET; free downloads)
- DOPE/compose (Win/Linux/Solaris/Other, Java)
- XSL Formatter (Win/Linux, free evaluation versions)
- Scriptura XBOS: Output Solution (Java, evaluation on request)
- XSLFast (Java, free evaluation version)
- XEP (Java, free evaluation version)
- Apache FOP (Java, open source)
- PassiveTeX (TeX, open source)
- Apoc XSL-FO, for integration with .NET [free evaluation version]
- Unicorn FOs (TeX, free Windows binaries)
- REXP early implementation based on Apache FOP
- X-smiles (Java, open source)
- Novosoft RTF-TO-XML (formerly RTF2FO): RTF to FO converter (Java, Free evaluation version)
- WH2FO: WordHTML-to-FO (Java, Open Source)
- html2fo (C, Open Source)
- FOA: XSL Authoring Tool (Java, Open Source)
- JFO RTF to XSL-FO converter, XSL-FO API, reporting tool (Java, free evaluation version available)
- Adobe Document Server: document production framework (commercial, Win/Solaris)
- CSSToXSLFO free utility to convert XML + CSS into an XSLFO
- WH2FO: Word HTML to Formatting Objects converter.
- Infoprint XML Extender from IBM: document printing application (commercial, z/OS)
- XSL-FO tutorial by RenderX
- How to Develop Stylesheets for XML to XSL-FO Transformationby Antenna House
- Introduction to XSL by Miloslav Nic
- Tutorial from iX magazine (German, English)
- XSL-FO 1.1 in PDF produced by AltSoft.
- XSLT and XPATH: A Guide to XML Transformations by John Robert Gardner and Zarella L. Rendon
- XSL-FO: Making XML Look Good in Print, a book by Dave Pawson.
- Chapter 15 of the XML Bible by Elliotte Rusty Harold is about Formatting Objects is available online.
- Miloslav Nic has published a complete FO reference
- An XSL FAQ.
- XSLT Programmer's Reference (2nd edition) by Michael Kay [Amazon link]
- XSLT and XPath On The Edge, Unlimited Edition by Jeni Tennison [Amazon link]
- XSLT Quickly by Bob DuCharme [Amazon link]
- XSLT by Doug Tidwell
- Practical Transformations Using XSLT and XPath, Practical Formatting Using XSLFO and Definitive XSLT and XPath from Crane Softwrights Ltd.
- Chapter 17 of the XML Bible is dedicated to XSLT
- What's New in XSLT 2.0 by Evan Lenz
- What's New in XPath 2.0 by Evan Lenz
- Using XSL Formatting Objects by J. David Eisenberg, from xml.com.
- XSL style sheets: push or pull? by Kevin Williams
- Expand XSL with extensions by Jared Jackson
- Tip: Outputting HTML from an XSL style sheetby Nicholas Chase
- EXSLT, a community initiative to provide extensions to XSLT
- A few useful XSL tools and documents
- XSL Resources at Oasis
- jeremie.com's XSL pages
- XML-Web, XSLT site in German
- XSL Resources Plattform (in German)
News
2017-06-08: XSLT 3.0 is a W3C Recommendation
XSLT 3.0 is a W3C Recommendation.
2017-03-21: XQuery 3.1, XPath 3.1, XDM 3.1 etc W3C Recommendations
XPath 3.1, XQuery 3.1, XQueryX 3.1, and supporting documents now W3C Recommendations.
2014-04-12: XQuery 3.0, XPath 3.0, XDM 3.0 etc W3C Recommendations
XPath 3, XQuery 3 etc now W3C Recommendations.
2011-05-04: Liquid XML Editor New 2011 Functionality
Liquid XML Editor 2011 now features an advanced XSLT debugger and an XSLT-aware editor with validation, supporting XSLT 1 and 2.
2011-01-30: LIBX adds sequences and functions to libxml
LIBX* is a project to implement XPath 2.0 and XSLT 2.0 based on the libxml2 and libxslt Gnome C libraries.
2010-10-10: MarkLogic Server 4.2 includes XSLT 2.0
MarkLogic Server 4.2 includes a C++ implementation of XSLT 2.0 that runs directly against documents stored in the database.
2009-11-12: oXygen XML Editor verson 11 released
oXygen XML Editor version 11 now lets you generate documentation for XSLT stylesheet components in XHTML, including comprehensive annotations and cross references.
2009-10-01: XSL-FO 2.0 Design Notes Published
Design Notes for XSL-FO 2.0 wsa published. It is an early draft, but we are very much looking for feedback.
2009-04-15: German documents available
data2type has made a range of documents available in German relating to XML, XSLT, XSL-FO and XPath.
2009-02-17: Altsoft Xml2PDF 2009 beta available
Altsoft s.r.o. has released Xml2PDF 2009 beta with complete HTML and DOC support, improved SVG and DocX support, digital signatures in PDF and XPS, and many other improvements.
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