Chapter 6. Import from Any Format

I n the previous chapter, we saw how to extend XSLT with a formatter between XML and non-XML documents. In this chapter, we'll look at the flip side ”importing non-XML documents into an XML application.

Many XML applications would benefit from the capability to read non-XML documents because many formats commonly used are not based on XML. Obviously, if we can send EDIFACT orders, we need to be able to decode responses and invoices (which will be in EDIFACT) and receive EDIFACT orders from buyers .

To round off Chapter 5, "Export to Any Format," we will develop an EDIFACT-to-XML conversion. Of course, the principles demonstrated here also work for other formats, such as turning office documents (for example, RTF word processor files and Excel files) into an XML vocabulary such as DocBook. Likewise for converting Adobe Illustrator images to SVG, which is an XML-based vector graphics format currently under development at W3C.