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StAX and XSLT Transformations in J2SE 6.0 Mustang

As you know, the Java API for performing XSLT transformations is called TrAX (Transformations API for XML) (click here for more details). In JAXP 1.3 (and by default in J2SE 1.5 Tiger), the source and the result of an XSLT transformation can by represented in three distinct ways: by XML stream source/result, by SAX events source/result, and by DOM tree source/result.

Now, JAXP 1.4 (and by default in J2SE 1.6 Mustang), has been updated with the StAX API (also know as JSR 173), which allows an XSLT transformation to be performed using a StAX (Streaming API for XML) source as an input and a StAX result as an output. This article shows you how to perform an XSLT transformation based on a StAX source/result and using the both StAX APIs: Cursor API and Event Iterator API.

You'll need to be familiar with the basic concepts of XSLT and StAX. Also, be sure that you have the J2SE 1.6 (at least beta 1) installed on your machine (if you don't, chick here to download it).

The Source/Result Interfaces

The source and result interfaces play an important role in any TrAX application, as they represent the source (input) and the result (output) of an XSLT transformation. The Source interface represents the source of the stylesheets and XML documents. The Result interface represents the results of XSLT transformations. JAXP 1.3 provides three standard implementations of these interfaces:

javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource, javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult: the XML stream.
javax.xml.transform.sax.SAXSource, javax.xml.transform.sax.SAXResult: SAX events.
javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource, javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMResult: DOM trees.

In addition to these three implementations, JAXP 1.4 comes with a new package, called javax.xml.transform.stax, in which you'll find the StAXSource and StAXResult classes. These classes provide the support to write TrAX applications based on StAX:

javax.xml.transform.stax.StAXSource, javax.xml.transform.stax.StAXResult: StAX events.

These are the standard four implementations. If you want, you can write your own XXXSource/XXXResult classes, but keep in mind that it's not an easy job.

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