Two of the greatest potential weapons in any XSLT developer's arsenal often tend to be the least understood and most underused: the aforementioned XPath axes and Xalan-J extensions. While XPath axes are used to some degree by every XSLT developer, their extensive ability to reach out of the current context of traversal is not generally exploited to its fullest. Xalan-J extensions, on the other hand, give the developer the ability to extend the capabilities of the XSLT transformer in whatever way he or she sees fit - using languages such as Java and JavaScript. We'll examine the utility, concepts and practical uses of each, and hopefully teach you a few new tricks along the way.
Intermediate knowledge of XML, XSLT, XPath and basic knowledge of JavaScript and Java development are assumed.
Sean Sawyer is a software developer at Hannon Hill, focusing on the Cascade Server project. He is currently maintaining the 4.9 series of the product and assisting the 5.0 development push. Sean has worn a number of different hats at the company, from integrator to project manager to technical trainer.
A native of Orlando by way of Knoxville, Sean graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor of science in computer science. Prior to joining Hannon Hill, he worked variously as a systems administrator, freelance web developer, session musician, cook, and archival preservationist, amongst other things.