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Alexandre Vazquez
Alexandre Vazquez

Posted on • Originally published at blog.xsltplayground.com

XSL online tester: run XSL and XSLT transforms in your browser

#webdev #programming #productivity #tooling

XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) is an umbrella term that covers three related specifications: XSLT for transformations, XPath for node selection, and XSL-FO for formatting objects. When developers search for an "XSL tester" or "XSL online editor", they are usually looking for a way to run XSLT stylesheets against XML input without a local install. XSLT Playground does exactly that.

XSL vs XSLT — what is the difference?

XSL is the full family of W3C specifications:

  • XSLT (XSL Transformations) — transforms XML documents into other formats
  • XPath — the path language used inside XSLT to navigate XML trees
  • XSL-FO (XSL Formatting Objects) — describes page layout for print and PDF output

In practice, when people say "XSL" in an integration or development context, they almost always mean XSLT. The stylesheet file extension .xsl and .xslt are interchangeable — Saxon and most processors accept both.

Running XSL transforms online

XSLT Playground supports XSLT 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 via the Saxon processor. To run an XSL transform:

  1. Paste your XML source document in the input panel
  2. Paste your XSL stylesheet in the stylesheet panel
  3. Select the XSLT version (1.0, 2.0 or 3.0)
  4. Click Run

The output appears immediately. If the stylesheet has errors, the error panel shows the exact line and message from Saxon.

Common XSL use cases

XML to HTML — the most common use. An XSL stylesheet walks an XML document tree and emits HTML tags:
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XML to XML — reshaping or filtering a document structure:
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XML to plain text or CSV — using xsl:output method="text":
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XSL file extensions: .xsl vs .xslt

Both .xsl and .xslt are valid. The .xsl extension is older and more common in enterprise systems (SAP, Oracle, IBM DataPower). The .xslt extension is more explicit. Saxon accepts either. XSLT Playground accepts any content regardless of what you call it.

Testing XSL stylesheets online

The main advantage of an online XSL tester is speed of iteration. You can:

  • Paste a real XML payload from a production system and see what the stylesheet produces
  • Add parameters and test different code paths
  • Enable trace mode to see which templates fired and in what order
  • Export the entire test case (input + stylesheet + parameters) as a JSON workspace to share with a colleague

All of this is available at XSLT Playground without creating an account or installing anything.

XSL transform online vs local Saxon

For most development and debugging tasks, the online tester is faster than running Saxon locally. Use local Saxon when:

  • You are processing confidential data that cannot leave your network
  • Your input files are very large (several MB or more)
  • You need to integrate the transform into a build pipeline

For everything else — prototyping, debugging, sharing test cases — the online XSL tester is quicker.

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