Custom Web Publishing with XML and XSLT

Chapter 5
Introduction to Custom Web Publishing with XSLT
You can use FileMaker XSLT stylesheets to transform, filter, or format XML data for use in a web browser or
in other programs and applications. This chapter introduces FileMaker XSLT stylesheets, and a tool to help you
get started creating XSLT stylesheets—FileMaker XSLT Site Assistant. For more detailed information about
how FileMaker XSLT stylesheets are constructed, see
chapter 6, “Developing FileMaker XSLT stylesheets.”
About FileMaker XSLT stylesheets
You can use FileMaker XSLT stylesheets to:
1 filter FileMaker data by controlling which database fields are published by the stylesheet
1 hide metadata, such as database and field names
1 format how the data is presented in a web page and control how the web user interacts with the data
1 output the data as HTML or text, such as vCards or comma-separated values
1 transform the data from a FileMaker XML grammar to a different XML grammar for use in another
database or application, such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
1 integrate any subset of the FileMaker data into other websites and with other middleware and custom
applications that are potentially very different from the FileMaker database
1 change the published field names to prevent unauthorized use of the database design information
Note Custom Web Publishing with XSLT for FileMaker Server is based on the W3C recommendation for
XSLT 1.0. For information on XSLT 1.0, see www.w3.org. Additional functionality such as session
management, email sending, and access to cookies and headers is provided by FileMaker XSLT extension
functions. For information, see
“Using the FileMaker XSLT extension functions and parameters” on
page 59. The Web Publishing Engine does not support XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO).
What are some examples of using FileMaker XSLT stylesheets?
Here are just a few of the many possible examples of using FileMaker XSLT stylesheets:
1 You can insert a table in a web page for web users to browse that contains a subset of the data from a
FileMaker database. For example, the table might contain people’s names and addresses, but not their
phone numbers. To prevent unauthorized access, the web page can show generic labels for the data (such
as “Name”) instead of the actual field names in the FileMaker database, such as “first_name.”
1 You can create a web page or application that integrates data from a FileMaker portal with information
from other data sources.
1 You can add a button on a web page that creates a vCard from a person’s contact information in a
FileMaker database.
1 You can transform the XML data from a FileMaker database into an XML grammar that a spreadsheet
or database application can open.