Workflow for performing server-side XSL transformations

This section provides a list of steps you need to follow to perform server-side XSL transformations, and refers you to the sections in the documentation that elaborate on each procedure.

Macromedia recommends that you read About using XML and XSL with web pages, About server-side XSL transformations, and About client-side XSL transformations before building pages that display XML data.

To perform server-side XSL transformations, follow these steps:

• Set up a Dreamweaver site. See Setting Up a Dreamweaver Site.
• Choose a server technology and set up an application server. See Setting up an application server.
• Test the application server to make sure it is functioning correctly. For example, create a page that requires processing, and make sure that the application server processes the page. For a tutorial on how to do this, visit www.macromedia.com/go/dw_xsl.
• Do one of the following:
  • In your Dreamweaver site, create an XSLT fragment or an entire XSLT page. See Creating XSLT pages.
  • Convert an existing HTML page to an entire XSLT page. See Converting HTML pages to XSLT pages.
• If you haven’t already done so, attach an XML data source to the page. See Attaching XML data sources.
• Bind your XML data to the XSLT fragment or to the entire XSLT page. See Displaying XML data in XSLT pages.
• If appropriate, add a Repeat Region XSLT object to the table or table row that contains the XML data placeholder(s). See Displaying repeating XML elements.
• Do one of the following:
  • Use the XSL Transformation server behavior to insert a reference to the XSLT fragment in your dynamic page. See Inserting XSLT fragments in dynamic pages.
  • Delete all of the HTML code from a dynamic page, and then use the XSL Transformation server behavior to insert a reference to the entire XSLT page in the dynamic page.
• Post both the dynamic page and the XSLT fragment (or entire XSLT page) to your application server. If you are using a local XML file, you will need to post that as well.
• View the dynamic page in a browser. When you do so, the application server transforms the XML data, inserts it in the dynamic page, and displays it in the browser.