0.3. Organization

This book consists of 10 chapters and 3 appendixes, as follows:

Chapter 1, "Introduction "

Provides a broad overview of the technologies covered in this book and explains how XML, XSLT, Java, and other APIs are related. Also reviews basic XML concepts for readers who are familiar with Java but do not have a lot of XML experience.

Chapter 2, "XSLT Part 1 -- The Basics"

Introduces XSLT syntax through a series of small examples and descriptions. Describes how to produce HTML and XHTML output and explains how XSLT works as a language. XPath syntax is also introduced in this chapter.

Chapter 3, "XSLT Part 2 -- Beyond the Basics"

Continues with material presented in the previous chapter, covering more sophisticated XSLT language features such as conditional logic, parameters and variables, text and number formatting, and producing XML output. This chapter concludes with a more sophisticated example that produces summary reports for Ant build files.

Chapter 4, "Java-Based Web Technologies"

Offers comparisons between popular web development technologies, comparing each with the Java and XSLT approach. The model-view-controller architecture is discussed in detail, and the relationship between XSLT web applications and EJB is touched upon.

Chapter 5, "XSLT Processing with Java"

Shows how to use XSLT processors with Java applications and servlets. Older Xalan and SAXON APIs are mentioned, but the primary focus is on Sun's JAXP. Key examples show how to use XSLT and SAX to transform non-XML files and data sources, how to improve performance through caching techniques, and how to interoperate with DOM and JDOM.

Chapter 6, "Servlet Basics and XSLT"

Provides a detailed review of Java servlet programming techniques. Shows how to create web applications and WAR files, how to deploy XML and XSLT files within these web applications, and how to perform XSLT transformations from servlets.

Chapter 7, "Discussion Forum"

Implements a complete web application from start to finish. In this chapter, a web-based discussion forum is designed and implemented using Java, XML, and XSLT techniques. The relationship between CSS and XSLT is presented, and XHTML Strict is used for all web pages.

Chapter 8, "Additional Techniques"

Covers important Java and XSLT programming techniques that build upon concepts presented in earlier chapters, concluding with a detailed discussion of XSLT internationalization. Other topics include XSLT page layout templates, servlet session tracking without cookies, browser identification, and servlet filters.

Chapter 9, "Development Environment, Testing, and Performance"

Offers practical advice for making a wide range of XML parsers, XSLT processors, and various other Java tools work together. Shows how to resolve conflicts with incompatible XML JAR files, how to write simple unit tests with JUnit, and how to write custom JAXP error handlers. Also discusses performance techniques and the relationship between XSLT and EJB.

Chapter 10, "Wireless Applications"

Describes the world of wireless technologies, with emphasis on Wireless Markup Language (WML). Shows how to detect wireless devices from a servlet, how to write XSLT stylesheets for these devices, and how to test using a variety of cell phone simulators. An online movie theater application is developed to reinforce the concepts.

Appendix A, "Discussion Forum Code"

Contains all of the remaining code from the discussion forum example presented in Chapter 7, "Discussion Forum".

Appendix B, "JAXP API Reference"

Lists and briefly describes each of the classes in Version 1.1 of the JAXP API.

Appendix C, "XSLT Quick Reference"

Contains a quick reference for the XSLT language. Lists all XSLT elements along with required and optional attributes and allowable content within each element. Also cross references each element with the W3C XSLT specification.

0.2. Software and Versions		0.4. Conventions Used in This Book

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