Serializing to an XmlReader (Invoking XSLT)

When you use the System.Xml interoperability capabilities of LINQ to XML, you can use CreateReader to create an XmlReader. The module that reads from this XmlReader reads the nodes from the XML tree and processes them accordingly.  

Invoking an XSLT Transformation

One possible use for this method is when invoking an XSLT transformation. You can create an XML tree, create an XmlReader from the XML tree, create a new document, and then create an XmlWriter to write into the new document. Then, you can invoke the XSLT transformation, passing in XmlReader and XmlWriter. After the transformation successfully completes, the new XML tree is populated with the results of the transformation.

string xslMarkup = @"<?xml version='1.0'?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform' version='1.0'>
    <xsl:template match='/Parent'>
        <Root>
            <C1>
            <xsl:value-of select='Child1'/>
            </C1>
            <C2>
            <xsl:value-of select='Child2'/>
            </C2>
        </Root>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>";

XDocument xmlTree = new XDocument(
    new XElement("Parent",
        new XElement("Child1", "Child1 data"),
        new XElement("Child2", "Child2 data")
    )
);

XDocument newTree = new XDocument();
using (XmlWriter writer = newTree.CreateWriter()) {
    // Load the style sheet.
    XslCompiledTransform xslt = new XslCompiledTransform();
    xslt.Load(XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xslMarkup)));

    // Execute the transformation and output the results to a writer.
    xslt.Transform(xmlTree.CreateReader(), writer);
}

Console.WriteLine(newTree);

Dim xslMarkup As XDocument = _
    <?xml version='1.0'?>
    <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform' version='1.0'>
        <xsl:template match='/Parent'>
            <Root>
                <C1>
                    <xsl:value-of select='Child1'/>
                </C1>
                <C2>
                    <xsl:value-of select='Child2'/>
                </C2>
            </Root>
        </xsl:template>
    </xsl:stylesheet>

Dim xmlTree As XDocument = _
    <?xml version='1.0'?>
    <Parent>
        <Child1>Child1 data</Child1>
        <Child2>Child2 data</Child2>
    </Parent>

Dim newTree As XDocument = New XDocument()
Using writer As XmlWriter = newTree.CreateWriter()
    ' Load the style sheet.
    Dim xslt As XslCompiledTransform = New XslCompiledTransform()
    xslt.Load(xslMarkup.CreateReader())

    ' Execute the transformation and output the results to a writer.
    xslt.Transform(xmlTree.CreateReader(), writer)
End Using

Console.WriteLine(newTree)

This example produces the following output:

<Root>
  <C1>Child1 data</C1>
  <C2>Child2 data</C2>
</Root>

See Also

Concepts

Serializing XML Trees