Summary

In this chapter we explored the important concepts needed to understand what an XSLT processor does, including the following:

• The overall system architecture, in which a stylesheet controls the transformation of a source tree into a result tree.

• The tree model used in XSLT, the way it relates to the XML standards, and some of the ways it differs from the DOM model.

• How template rules are used to define the action to be taken by the XSLT processor when it encounters particular kinds of node in the tree.

• The way in which expressions, data types, and variables are used in the XSLT language to calculate values.

The next chapter looks at the structure of an XSLT stylesheet in more detail.