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Use XSLT to transform an XML tree (LINQ to XML)

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You can use XSLT to transform an XML tree, using XmlReader to read and XmlWriter to write.

Example: Use XSLT to transform an XML tree, using XMLReader to read and XMLWriter to write

This example creates an XML tree and uses XSLT to transform it. It makes use of an XmlReader to read the original tree, and an XmlWriter to write the transformed version.

It starts by creating:

  • An XML tree.
  • An XmlReader of the XML tree.
  • A new document to hold the XSLT output.
  • An XmlWriter to write the transformed tree to the new document.

It then invokes an XSLT transformation that uses the XmlReader to read the original XML tree, and the XmlWriter to write the transformed tree to the new document.

string xslt = @"<?xml version='1.0'?>
    <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform' version='1.0'>
        <xsl:template match='/Parent'>
            <Root>
                <C1>
                <xsl:value-of select='Child1'/>
                </C1>
                <C2>
                <xsl:value-of select='Child2'/>
                </C2>
            </Root>
        </xsl:template>
    </xsl:stylesheet>";

var oldDocument = new XDocument(
    new XElement("Parent",
        new XElement("Child1", "Child1 data"),
        new XElement("Child2", "Child2 data")
    )
);

var newDocument = new XDocument();

using (var stringReader = new StringReader(xslt))
{
    using (XmlReader xsltReader = XmlReader.Create(stringReader))
    {
        var transformer = new XslCompiledTransform();
        transformer.Load(xsltReader);
        using (XmlReader oldDocumentReader = oldDocument.CreateReader())
        {
            using (XmlWriter newDocumentWriter = newDocument.CreateWriter())
            {
                transformer.Transform(oldDocumentReader, newDocumentWriter);
            }
        }
    }
}

string result = newDocument.ToString();
Console.WriteLine(result);

Dim xslMarkup As XDocument = _
    <?xml version='1.0'?>
    <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform' version='1.0'>
        <xsl:template match='/Parent'>
            <Root>
                <C1>
                    <xsl:value-of select='Child1'/>
                </C1>
                <C2>
                    <xsl:value-of select='Child2'/>
                </C2>
            </Root>
        </xsl:template>
    </xsl:stylesheet>

Dim xmlTree As XElement = _
    <Parent>
        <Child1>Child1 data</Child1>
        <Child2>Child2 data</Child2>
    </Parent>

Dim newTree As XDocument = New XDocument()

Using writer As XmlWriter = newTree.CreateWriter()
    ' Load the style sheet.
    Dim xslt As XslCompiledTransform = _
        New XslCompiledTransform()
    xslt.Load(xslMarkup.CreateReader())

    ' Execute the transform and output the results to a writer.
    xslt.Transform(xmlTree.CreateReader(), writer)
End Using

Console.WriteLine(newTree)

This example produces the following output:

<Root>
  <C1>Child1 data</C1>
  <C2>Child2 data</C2>
</Root>

See also