Dreamweaver® CS3 Bible

Chapter 32. Integrating with XML and XSLT

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Exploring the basics of XML

• Exporting XML from templates

• Importing XML into Dreamweaver

• Building XML files

• Styling with XSL

• Incorporating XSLT fragments

• Creating client-side XSLT pages

• Dreamweaver Technique: Transforming XML Data

• Making XSLT server-side pages

XML, short for Extensible Markup Language, has quickly become a powerful force on the Web and an important technology for Web designers to master. XML enables designers to define the parts of any document—from Web page to invoice—in terms of how those parts are used. When a document is defined by its structure, rather than its appearance, as it is with HTML, the same document can be read by a wide variety of systems and put to use far more efficiently.

Dreamweaver includes Roundtrip XML as a complement to its Roundtrip HTML core philosophy. Roundtrip HTML ensures that the defined tags of HTML remain just as you've written them. With XML, no one defined set of tags exists—XML tags can be written for an industry, a company, or just a Web site. Roundtrip XML permits Web designers to export and import XML pages based on their own structures.

You can find XML all throughout Dreamweaver, just under the hood. The Design Notes feature is based on XML, as is the completely customizable menu system and even the HTML Styles feature. The Third-party Tags file is pure XML and can describe any kind of tag. In fact, you can use XML to describe most anything, even HTML. This chapter explores the ...