.NET & XML

Transforming an XML Document

Example 7-5 shows one of the simplest possible XSLT-related programs in C#. Given a source filename, a stylesheet filename, and a destination filename, it transforms the source into the destination using the stylesheet. It will work with any XML source file and any XSLT stylesheet.

Example 7-5. One of the simplest possible XSLT programs

using System.Xml.Xsl;

public class Transform {
  public static void Main(string [ ] args) {
    string source = args[0];
    string stylesheet = args[1];
    string destination = args[2];
    XslTransform transform = new XslTransform( );
    transform.Load(stylesheet);
    transform.Transform(source, destination);
  }
}

I won’t explain in excruciating detail how this program works, but I will point out a few important facts about the XslTransform type. It only has one property, XmlResolver, and two methods, Load( ) and Transform( ), but it is still one of the most versatile pitchers in the .NET XML bullpen.

First, the Load( ) method has eight overloads. All of them load the specified XSLT stylesheet, but each of them takes the stylesheet in a different parameter type. The stylesheet may be specified as an IXPathNavigable (such as XmlDocument), URL, XmlReader, or XPathNavigator; together, these types cover every possible way to read an XML document. For each Load( ) method that takes one of these parameters, there is another one taking an XmlResolver as the second parameter. This XmlResolver is used to resolve any stylesheets referenced in ...