xml-dev - Re: Can XSLT be bi-directional ? XML + XSLT -> XHTML -> XML + (XSLT)

[Francis Norton <francis@redrice.com>]

Ashvil wrote:
> 
> An example would be a XML file is transformed using XSLT into XHTML. A
> User edits the data in the XHTML file (assuming no tags are harmed or
> replaced) and sends it back. Is it possible to convert the information
> in the XHTML file to it's original XML format using the original XSLT
> file only.
> 
I think you need to explain your requirement a bit more.

Why do you want to convert it into XTML? Is it to let the user edit the
data in an HTML form, or because the user has an editor that allows them
to edit the XHTML source? In other words, are they XHTML users or XHTML
developers?

If they're users then you need an XSLT routine to turn the XML elements
and attributes into XHTML entry fields, which is fairly easy. You then
need a way to read the returned name-value pairs in and turn them back
into XML, which is harder, and probably best not done in XSLT at all,
since XSLT only works on inputs which are at least some kind of XML.

If they're developers, then I suggest getting them to use a proper XML
editor.

On the third hand, if you're thinking of developing a content management
system (CMS) then I would check out some of the existing tools, and
consider something like XForms (http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/) for
editing content and XSLT Literal Result Elements
(http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt#result-element-stylesheet) for editing the
presentation layer.

You should also consider the xsl-list
(http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list) for specifically XSLT
questions.

Francis.
-- 
Francis Norton.

Defy Convention? Deify Convention!

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