Using XML in HTML along with XSLT

An xml file gives you structured data which is defined by the tags that you create yourself. To display this structured data to the user with some formatting and styles is the proper way to do. Otherwise, if you attempt to view this data, you will see a tree like structure of your data in the browser.

So you have to create an xsl file that has all the formatting needed to display that structured data in to an html file. This xsl file is included at the top of the xml file so that when the user views the xml file.

The data is displayed according to the formatting instructions given in the xsl file. You can create xsl files using tools like Dreamweaver, XMLSpy etc. There are many tools available in the market and some of them are also freeware.

The code given below embeds a style sheet into the xml file.

<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="xsl_file.xslt"?>

Upon embedding this xsl file, the xml file is transformed into html according to the formatting instructions given in the xsl file.