XSLT and XPATH: A Guide to XML Transformations

2.2. Embedding Stylesheets in XML Documents

XSLT stylesheets are often used in a batch environment as separate files, but it is also possible to embed a stylesheet directly in an XML document, possibly to deliver the document directly to a browser for rendering. This means that the XML document must be aware of the stylesheet.

There is a separate recommendation from the W3C that identifies the process for embedding stylesheets in XML documents, called Associating Style Sheets with XML Documents, Version 1.0.^[1] This recommendation describes a predefined XML processing instruction, or PI, that can be used at the top of any XML document to allow the XML to find the top of the XSLT stylesheet, wherever it is in the XML.

^[1] See http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-stylesheet ...