What's the best way to learn XSLT?

[aksargige4]

XSLT newbie here,

I understand XML and I'm currently reading "Beginning XSLT 2.0" by Jeni Tennison; does anyone know of any helpful tutorials that I could use alongside this? I've successfully linked an XSLT stylesheet to an XML document; the main thing that I want to understand now is what each part of the stylesheet means and how I can understand and learn the syntax that's used to change the appearance of the XML document.

[Radu]

Hi,

One way to understand how a stylesheet is applied is to use Oxygen's XSLT debugger and step through the code. Most stylesheets have an xsl:template which matches / (meaning the entire XML document) and this template is called first, then it depends on what this template does, if it explicitly calls other XSLT templates or does an apply-template with a certain matched element.

Recently an xmlcom.slack.com Slack channel was created for XML users, lots of XML experts are registered on it, so this channel might also be a good place were to ask XSLT related questions. I just asked a question there about XSLT tutorials and if I get any answer I will update this forum thread.

Regards,
Radu

[Radu]

Pasting here some suggestions I got from the XSLT experts on the XML Slack channel:

I would recommend Michael's "XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0", especially Part I: Foundations. I found it an invaluable source.

A brilliant source for learning XSLT used to be the XSL FAQ, compiled by @Dave Pawson. I believe @Liam Quin is making it available again.

Yes, Liam has put it up at https://www.delightfulcomputing.com/xslfaq/xsl/ but I'm not sure what state of work-in-progress is at that URI
For your amusement, https://xslt.xmlexplorer.com/

Regards,
Radu

[Radu]

There is also an Udemy course by Ken Holman containing also some free lectures:

https://www.udemy.com/course/practical- ... -and-xpath

Regards,
Radu