How To Offload XSL Transformations to Clients' Browsers (258294)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Information Server
  • Microsoft XML 2.0
  • Microsoft XML 2.5
  • Microsoft XML 2.6
  • Microsoft XML 3.0
  • Microsoft XML 3.0 SP1
  • Microsoft XML 4.0
This article was previously published under Q258294

SUMMARY

It is possible to offload XSL processing from the server to the client. Doing so distributes the load, which helps to relieve the server from having to process the formatting of an XML document.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example demonstrates how to load an XSL and XML document into the clients' memory and then it uses the XSL to transform the XML.
  1. First, copy the following code into a file named Sample.htm, and then save the file to a WebServer in a location accessible from the Web:
    <HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Clientside XSL Processing Sample</TITLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript">
	dim xslDoc, xmlDoc

Use the Version dependent PROGID 'MSXML2.DOMDocument.4.0 if you wish to use the DOMDocument object that ships with MSXML 4.0.	

	Sub Init()
		set xslDoc = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
		set xmlDoc = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
		xslDoc.Async = False
		xmlDoc.Async = False
		xslDoc.Load "http://<YourServerName>/Sample.xsl"
		xmlDoc.Load "http://<YourServerName>/Sample.xml"
		Data.innerHTML = xmlDoc.transformNode(xslDoc)	
	End Sub
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY ONLOAD="Init">
<CENTER><H1>Clientside XSL Processing Sample</H1></CENTER>
<DIV ID="Data">
</DIV>
</BODY>
</HTML>
  2. Modify the page so that the address of the Sample.xml and Sample.xsl files is the same as the location of your server.
  3. Insert the following XML code into a blank XML document and save it to the same location as the Sample.xml file:
    <?xml version="1.0"?>
<CUSTOMERS>
   <CUSTOMER>
      <CustomerID>
         ALFKI
      </CustomerID>
      <CompanyName>
         Alfreds Futterkiste
      </CompanyName>
      <ContactName>
         Maria Anderson
      </ContactName>
      <Country>
         Germany
      </Country>
   </CUSTOMER>
   <CUSTOMER>
      <CustomerID>
         ANATR
      </CustomerID>
      <CompanyName>
         Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados
      </CompanyName>
      <ContactName>
         Ana Trujillo
      </ContactName>
      <Country>
         Mexico
      </Country>
   </CUSTOMER>
</CUSTOMERS>
  4. If using an MSXML version earlier than 3.0, then insert the following XSL code into a blank XSL document and save it to the same location as the Sample.xsl file.
    <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">   
   <xsl:template match="/Books"> 
           <HTML>
           <BODY>
           <TABLE BORDER="2">
             <TR>
               <TD>Title</TD>
               <TD>Author</TD>
             </TR>
             <xsl:for-each select="Book">
               <TR>
                 <TD><xsl:value-of select="Title"/></TD>
                 <TD><xsl:value-of select="Author"/></TD>
               </TR>
             </xsl:for-each>
           </TABLE>     
           </BODY>
     </HTML>    
     </xsl:template>     
   </xsl:stylesheet>
  5. Browse to the Sample.htm page.
This page loads into the browser, and then downloads the data for the XML and XSL pages. It then uses the XSL document to transform the XML document into HTML. It displays this output on the page by using the innerHTML property of the DIV tag on the HTML page.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:7/2/2004
Keywords:kbhowto KB258294
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