XSL editor

An XSL file is a style sheet that can be used to transform XML documents into other document types and to format the output. You can use the XSL editor to manually edit your stylesheet files or you can edit them using various XSL editor wizards.

Since the XML language does not use predefined tags, it is necessary to provide a Web browser with information on how to interpret the XML document. The XSL document provides a browser with information on how to display an XML document.

In an XSL file, you can define the layout of an output document, and where to get the data from in an input document. The output document can be an HTML document, an XML document, or a text document.

You can create a new XSL file which automatically opens in the XSL editor or use the XSL editor to open an existing XSL file. You can then use content assist (select Ctrl + Space to invoke it) or XSL editor wizards to help you edit the XSL file. 

Once you have finished editing your file, you can also validate it.

Viewing an XSL file in the Outline view

You can view an XSL file in two different manners in the Outline view - the XML tree view (this is the default view) and the Template only view. To switch between them, click the Menu button This graphic is the Menu button. and click Show Template View.

When you view an XSL file in the Template only view, only the <xsl:template> elements and their parameters <xsl:param> in the XSL file are listed. The Template only view presents a filtered view of all the templates in your XSL file, enabling you to easily work with your XSL templates.

Named templates (templates with a name attribute) are marked with the following icon: This graphic is the Named template icon.. Matched templates (templates that use the match attribute for matching patterns) are marked with the following icon: This graphic is the Matched template icon.

If you need to work with all the content in the XSL file, you can switch to the XML tree view. All the content (for example, elements, text, comments and so on) in your XSL file will be shown in the Outline view when you choose this view.

If you want to sort the XSL nodes alphabetically, click the Sort Alphabetically button This graphic is the Sort Alphabetically button.

Related tasks
Editing XSL files
Related information
XSL on w3

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