|
Back to Dot-Com Builder How-Tos Archive
Using the Sun XSLT Compiler Speeds Up Transformation of XML Files
by Jacek Ambroziak Overview:
XML Data Transfer with XSLT Compiler XSLT is now a popular technology to support B2B integration and device-based Web access, but existing XSLT processors are slower than desired. The Sun XSLT Compiler was designed to allow faster XML data processing with Java-based technology. Sun's XSLT Compiler creates lightweight, portable Java class files for transforming XML files according to an input XSL file. This tool uses the Java platform for actual code translation, requiring less memory than traditional XSLT processors. The Compiler enables XML data transformation on small devices. Web sites can use this technology to support a variety of Internet access devices, such as desktops, pagers, phones, and PDAs. System Requirements The early access version of Sun's XSLT Compiler is available at no cost at: http://www.sun.com/xml/. This preview version can be run on any platform -- including UNIX®, Microsoft Windows, NT, and Mac -- that supports Java 1.2.x or later. The translets (compiled stylesheets) can run on any Java virtual machine and are small enough to run under PalmOS. For example, translets can be run on a Palm Pilot with J2ME CLDC (Java 2 Micro Edition, Connected Limited Device Configuration). The compiler itself requires Java 2, but the translets run anywhere Java is available. This version (1.0 Alpha 3) does not yet support 100% of the W3C XSLT 1.0 specification. Beta 4 version of the Sun XSLT Compiler has been benchmarked as the fastest pure Java-based XSLT solution, only slightly slower than the beta version of MSXSL3 (written in C). How Translets Work Sun's XML Technology Center tackled the performance issues of existing XSLT processors by bundling XSLT with Java VM and creating a compiler rather than a processor. In this new paradigm, transformation stylesheets are compiled directly to Java bytecodes. Translets, the resultant classes, capture the logic of the transformation, while being able to run in any JVM outside of any XSLT processor. The Compiler transfers stylesheets into Java codes, and translets transform these into secure, platform-independent executables. Translets run fast for high transformational server throughput and can be compiled on servers and downloaded into thin clients. The XSLT compilation technology enables scalable and ubiquitous XML processing on the Java platform. In a Web site, infrastructure translets are used within the broader servlet/applet ways of modularizing software. For both applets and servlets, translets can be used to translate arbitrary XML to HTML for display in standard browsers. Definitions and Background XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) is a W3C (Worldwide Web Consortium) standard. Sun's XSLT Compiler is based upon de facto industry standards: XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and the Java technology platform. Related Links
XML at Sun:
Sun XSLT Compiler (with README document):
"Creating Palm OS Applications Using J2ME & Sun XSLT Compiler," by Iftikhar Ahmed of Atlas Software Technologies, Inc.:
Benchmark tests of XSLT processors using JDK 1.3:
Sun's John Spiers on "XML and the End of 'Rube Goldberg' Computing":
http://www.xslt.com |
 | ||
 | |
