XSLT for web interface, whats your opinion

I had the exact same thought as you did (off and on over the past 2 years)
and here is what I concluded:

When using ASP.NET, use ASP.NET fully: It is just too rich and deterministic
to do anything outside of the server controls. Of course you have the Xml
Control where you can 'target' the placement of Xsl's. Perhaps the answer
here relies on how much Xml you use in the application. You can move
granularly from the robust, highly functional and debuggable framework to
the general processing facilities in Xsl as needed.

"andy" <adeanjs@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3dad728a$1@tnews.web.dev-archive.com...
>
> I think XSLT is great for transforming xml to whatever, but is it really
good
> for building web application front ends? With ASP.NET making front end
development
> a breeze, why even consider XSLT for anything beyond transforming xml to
> static content (html)?
>
> What are your thoughts

"Joe Shawfield" <joe@shawfield.com> wrote:
>XSL however, it is easer to maintain... ie no recompile. XSL is more natural
>for looping through stuff and wraping it in other stuff like HTML.

What i like about XSL is being able to modify the look of the ouput HTML
in conjunction with CSS. I use XSL for sort/order and other data-manipulation
type effects, and CSS for styling the output fonts, colors, etc. Also in
some cases, you can develop XSL/CSS independently of the database backend,
just agree on the XML structure of the output. Then you can develop web look
and feel while someone else develops the database connection, query strings,
etc. This made it very fast to create (and modify the visual representation
as needed) a client-side XSL transform of the XML returned from a db query
to an Oracle DB, for example.

BTW, Kurt Cagle has an interesting chapter on modular XSL development in
Porfessional XSL from WROX Press, check that out.

I don't do .Net, just XML/XSL. My 2 cents for what it's worth.
Dorothy

Dorothy hit it right on the nose and not many have got it.
I have 2 apps out in the real world based on XML-XSL, with IE as the
calling device.

The best thing about XSLT is that you can farm out portions of the
interface to other developers WITHOUT the need of a server, just simply
give them the XML, the look and feel of what needs to be done and a good
XML tool like XMLSpy or eXelon Stylus Studio.

And upkeep is great. You got a bug, fix it in the stylesheet and drop it
in the directory where it belongs.

al

"andy" <adeanjs@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>I think XSLT is great for transforming xml to whatever, but is it really
good
>for building web application front ends? With ASP.NET making front end
development
>a breeze, why even consider XSLT for anything beyond transforming xml to
>static content (html)?
>
>What are your thoughts