Too much Schematron for an XML Schema world
I bought this book, in part, based on the positive reviews I've read here. But in actually reading the book, I've found that far too much time is spent on the Schematron rule-based schema validation mechanism. Kirsanov evangelizes Schematron with the fervor of a religious zealot. By the middle of the second chapter (the chapters are long--that's okay) I was already tired of hearing how Schematron is the best thing since sliced bread. I'm not particularly interested in using Schematron (though I see how the hybrid XSDL/Schematron approach could be valuable) because I'm already committed to using XSDL schemas. Unfortunately, the examples in this book use Schematron rather than XSDL, so the value of the examples is limited.
BTW, the schematron URL in the book (http://xml.ascc.net/xml/resource/schematron/schematron.net) is 404, but I found some stuff at http://xml.ascc.net/resource/schematron/schematron.html and http://www.schematron.com. Honestly the content there seemed pretty cheesy, despite the fact that ISO has supposedly approved Schematron as a standard.
A very good "companion" title for an XML developer...
If you are looking for an XSLT book that is more than just a reference or tutorial manual, you might like XSLT 2.0 Web Development by Dmitry Kirsanov (Prentice Hall).
Chapter list: XML and the Web; The source definition; Elements of a web site; An overview of XSLT; The XSLT stylesheet; XML software; XML on the server; Bibliography; Index
Don't let the short list of chapters scare you off. Each chapter is broken up into multiple "mini-chapters" that cover the subject matter quite well. Having said that, I think that it's important to know exactly what you're getting here. This is not a 1000 page tutorial and reference guide to all that is XML and XSLT. In fact, if this is your first exposure to XSLT technology, you might actually find yourself a bit frustrated. This is not so much of a "how to" as it is a "why to"...
The author spends a lot of time explaining XML design and schemas, and how an accurate schema can make the difference between a good and bad application. Once the proper schema is established, then he covers how XSLT can make the XML transform into a clear and well-structured site. Really good stuff, but you probably won't learn all there is to know about XSLT by reading this book. I actually see this as a good "second" XSLT title for a developer once they have mastered the language and syntax fundamentals.
If you're looking to learn XSLT, you may want to choose a different title. If you're looking to learn how to effectively utilize XSLT and XML on your web site, this is a very good option.
Great book for pragmatic developers
If to try to classify this book, I would put it in 'how to's' category, rather than 'tutorials'. The book summarizes author's significant experience with building web sites that are sanely organized and easy to maintain. The approach he advocates is somewhat minimalist: XML to markup the content, XSLT to transform it into HTML and to perform other auxiliary tasks -- 'The Pragmatic Programmer' followers will appreciate this. It should be noted that the content is mostly static or treated as such; how to fetch data out of a database and to build an XML DOM/SAX representation is left for other numerous books to ponder. While XSLT is the main subject, the scope of the book is broader. It includes developing an XML vocabulary for the site, choosing a schema language and writing a schema (here Schematron gets special attention), designing stylesheets for transformation, including tasks like checking files existence and generating images via extension functions written in Java. Finally, there is a section about batch processing with XSLT for automatic generation/regeneration of the whole site. Every task is illustrated with examples, generic enough so that you can modify them for your own project.
Orthogonal to what has been explained is the question of how it has been explained. The author's writing style is dense, even dry, the text is packed with information. It took me probably three times longer to read this book than it does usually, as there was no superfluous verbiage that could be quickly glanced over. The book doesn't make dull reading, though. Not only is it highly informative, it also gives aesthetical pleasure of a well-crafted work. The concepts are thoughtfully illustrated and made very clear; terminology is used precisely and consistently. Developers will appreciate an honest, 'no buzzwords, no marketing hype' approach, and accuracy in every small detail.
Good practices in website development explained well
XSLT 2.0 Web Development" by Dmitry Kirsanov, teaches a system of transforming semantically structured content into browser-ready HTML, including the proper separation of content from presentation, structuring the content into "cleanly separated semantic layers", developing a XML vocabulary for each layer, validating the XML and content structure, using XSLT to transform the XML content to HTML, and integrating the transformation system with web development frameworks and development tools.As described in the introduction, the author suggests readers should have a basic understanding of XML syntax and terms, as well as "know some XSLT and especially XPath". Before reading this book, this reviwer was comfortable reading, editing and creating XML documents, but I couldn't (and still can't) write an XML DTD. Also, the only idea I had about XSLT was that it's used to transform XML documents into HTML. That's it. With those basic introductory understandings, I had no problems following the well-structured and well-explained lessons throughout the book, as well as applying those lessons while developing a real-life web site.
This 406 page book consists of seven chapters containing plenty of well-organized and well-used text and diagrams, example code showing "all aspects of an XML-to-HTML transformation", and plenty of screenshots. The contents also include a discussion of the basic premises of XML, explanations and examples of XML source definitions including schema and regulations, a Schematron schema for document validation, XSLT extensions including new additions to XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0, coverage of tools available to assist developers, and a chapter on integrating an XML/XSLT system into a web server setup, the bulk of which is devoted to Apache Cocoon.
This book and the topics it teaches are not for the feeble minded. Reading it while falling asleep in bed is not recommended - you won't really get it. I would recommend this book to anyone concerned with organizing web site content into meaningful semantic layers, well-separated from presentation and business logic, while creating a system that is easier to understand and maintain than many web site projects I've run across.
A guide inside the new xml world !
This book has been a very interesting reading for me since it covers a lot of topics in a different way than usual. It's not a book for beginners, it does not teach you how to use XSLT from scratch neither teaches you how to build a web application if you have never done one. This book serve for mid-expert web application designer and builder in understanding the beauty,
and the need, to learn xml and xslt.
By reading this book you learn to appreciate the importance of xml and how you can effectively use it in your web application. The book requires a basic knowledge of xml and xslt, but if you have already use it, even not much,
you will learn that you cannot totally miss the knowledge of this important topic.
While reading this book my feeling has been to run on a store and
buy more dedicated books of all the topics that are discussed throughout this book. Definitely what most have impressed me are three different topics well covered on this book: Schematron, XSLT java extension and Cocoon. I feel more confident
and sure that I need to get e dapper understanding of these three topics, and this book gave me the right flavour for them. I recommend this book for both developers but most for designers that need to migrate from traditional web application
to a complete xml and xslt web applications.
Max Pellizzaro
http://www.maxpellizzaro.com
