Applying Stylesheets

In order to apply a stylesheet to an XML document, the stylesheet must be associated with a scenario. See

If your stylesheet is associated with a scenario, there are two ways to apply it:

The following topics provide more information about how to apply stylesheets:

When you apply a stylesheet, Stylus Studio checks both the XML source document and the XSLT stylesheet for correct syntax. If it detects any errors, it displays a message that indicates what the error is. This message appears at the bottom of the XSLT editor. Stylus Studio also displays and flags the line that contains the error.

Often, a stylesheet refers to other files, such as CSS stylesheets or images. For Stylus Studio to display the complete result file in the Preview window, you must enter the path for resolving any links. Do this in the Base URL for HTML links resolution field of the Scenario Properties dialog box.

Ensure that the correct output type is set. To do this, click the Params/Other tab at the bottom of the stylesheet and check the value of the Output Method field.

If your stylesheet is associated with more than one scenario, select the scenario you want to use and then apply the stylesheet. To do this, click the down arrow to the right of the scenario name field to display a list of scenarios. Click the scenario you want to use, and then click Preview Result . After you apply a stylesheet in a particular scenario, the Preview window displays a tab for that scenario. To reapply the stylesheet in that scenario, click Preview Result in the left tool bar.

You might want to apply the same stylesheet to two different XML documents and compare the results. To do this, create a scenario for each XML source document. Apply the stylesheet in the context of each scenario. Stylus Studio displays a tab for each scenario at the bottom of the Preview window. Click the tab to display the result document for that scenario.

Results of Applying a Stylesheet

Stylus Studio applies the stylesheet to the XML source document specified in the current scenario and refreshes the Preview window with the latest result document. If the Preview window is not visible, select View > Preview from the Stylus Studio menu bar.

To toggle between viewing the text of the result and viewing what the result would look like in a browser, click Preview in Browser or Preview Text .

If the result document is XML, in the Preview window, you can click Preview in Tree to display the result of XSLT processing as an XML tree.

Figure 239. XML Tree View

To save the result of applying a stylesheet, click Save Preview in the Preview window. Stylus Studio displays the Save As dialog box.

The result document reflects any changes you made to either the XML source document or the XSLT stylesheet. You do not need to explicitly save either the XML or XSLT file to have changes to those documents appear in the result document. However, when you apply a stylesheet, Stylus Studio does not also save the stylesheet. To save a stylesheet, click Save .

Applying Stylesheets to Large Data Sets

When you open a stylesheet or assign a source XML document to a scenario, Stylus Studio loads the entire XML source document in memory. Stylus Studio requires the source XML document in order to display

If the source XML document is particularly large, loading it can take several minutes.

Each time you leave and return to Stylus Studio, Stylus Studio checks whether any open documents have been modified. If the documents reside on remote servers, this can take some time. If you want, you can turn off the check for modified documents.

To turn off the check for modified documents:

Stylus Studio displays the Options dialog box.

Creating a Scenario

A scenario allows you to preview the results of applying a stylesheet. Each scenario is for a particular group of settings. These settings include the name of an XML source document, the values of any parameters in the stylesheet, and the values of any encoding settings. A scenario can include any setting that you can specify when you apply the stylesheet.

A scenario can be associated with only one stylesheet and only one XML source document. However, you can associate any number of scenarios with a stylesheet, and you can associate any number of scenarios with an XML source document.

Stylus Studio displays the Scenario Properties dialog box.

Cloning Scenarios

When you clone a scenario, Stylus Studio creates a copy of the scenario except for the scenario name. This allows you to make changes to one scenario and then run both to compare the results.

Saving Scenario Meta-Information

Stylus Studio can store scenario meta-information in two places:

When you save a stylesheet, Stylus Studio saves the scenario meta-information in the stylesheet, but not in the project. When you select File>Save All or when you save the project, Stylus Studio saves the scenario meta-information in the stylesheet and in the project. To ensure that scenario meta-information in the project and in the stylesheet is consistent

Suppose you modify a scenario and save and close the associated stylesheet. If the stylesheet belongs to the open project, when you save the project, Stylus Studio saves the closed stylesheet's scenario meta-information in the project.