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Integrating with XML and XSLT 32
XSL is actually a family of W3C specifications. In addition to the XSL standard, a separate specification covers
XSLT, short for XSL Transformations. Many of the Dreamweaver XSL features involve XSLT functions
that convert XML to HTML and CSS. Another key component under the XSL umbrella is the XML Path
Language or XPath. XPath is an expression language that allows the XML data to be selectively presented;
XPath powers Dreamweaver features like the XSL Repeat Region.
Dreamweaver creates two different types of XSL content: a full XSLT page that displays HTML and transformed
XML data together, or an XSLT fragment that only contains the transformed XML data. An XSLT
fragment is embedded in a standard Web page much like a server-side include; a feed from the Yahoo!
Weather RSS service (http://weather.yahoo.com/rss/) embedded in the home page of a ski resort
is a good example of how an XSLT fragment would be used. XSLT fragments are used far more frequently
on the Web in general, whereas XSLT pages are more often seen in intranet applications.
Including XSLT fragments
The comparison of an XSLT fragment to a server-side include (SSI) is a good one, for a number of reasons:
n Neither type of file can be viewed independently on the Web, because they both lack necessary
HTML tags including , , and .
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