How do I display XML using an XSLT document, in a

Question

I've been given a sample XML file (ultimately my client will receive several of these each day), and an XSLT file which will apparently transform the XML into something with a meaningful layout, suitable for displaying in a browser or printing.

I'd like to put something into an existing legacy Delphi app, such that the user can pick one of the XML files from the drive and 'display' it (in a TWebBrowser or similar).

I have no idea where to start, and Googling delphi, xml and xslt gets me examples that seem to be datamodule/database based; I just want to transform a given XML file into something on-screen. It looks like it might involve a PageProducer but I can't quite get my head around what I need to do. Anyone offer any pointers, or maybe a link to a quick tutorial?

Many thanks!

Answer 1

You can try install the AltovaXML, it can be call as a COM+. It is free and can be download from: http://www.altova.com/altovaxml.html

MsXml can only works with xslt 1.0 but AltovaXml can work with xslt 2.0

Answer 2

Uses
  XMLDoc, XMLIntf;

function Transform(XMLContent : string; XSLContent : string) : WideString;
var
  XML : IXMLDocument;
  XSL : IXMLDocument;
begin

  XML := LoadXMLData(XMLContent);
  XSL := LoadXMLData(XSLContent);

  XML.DocumentElement.TransformNode(XSL.DocumentElement, Result)

end;

Answer 3

If you need only transformations, you can use TXMLDocument, save to disk and than display the result in a TWebBrowser (via Navigate('file:///...')).

Personally I had some problems with MSXML so I started to use DIXML.

Answer 4

I used an MSXML library to do the XSLT transformation in Delphi. It was a long time ago. Worked like a charm!

I'm not sure what output format your XSLT will generate, but knowing that will help you figure out how to display it. We generated HTML from XML via XSLT, and displayed it using an ActiveX Web Browser (IE) control on a pane in our application.

Here's a link on MSSXML and Delphi that might help.

BTW: If this is your first time working with XSLT, you can manually edit an XML file, and add in a directive to get it to display using a specific XSLT. When you open the XML in Firefox after the edit, the XSLT will be applied, and it will show you what will be the output of your MSXML calls. Here's the line you add manually to the xml:

<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="myStyleSheet.xsl"?>