User defined xml transformation

Question

I have some sample xml data, for ex:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Account>
<User>
  <FirstName>John</FirstName>
  <LastName>Doe</LastName>
</User>
<LoginDetails Sequence="1">
  <LoginDate>01/01/09</LoginDate>
  <Status>Successful</Status>
</LoginDetails>
<LoginDetails Sequence="2">
  <LoginDate>01/02/09</LoginDate>
  <Status>Failed</Status>
</LoginDetails>
</Account>

I have a schema file for this xml. I'd like to provide functionality that allows an end user to do the following:

1. Define which elements to display.
2. Define a label for each element.
3. Give the user the ability to save this information and then utilize it at runtime in my application when I load the real xml data.

I'm thinking maybe I can use LINQ or Dynamic LINQ to do this. I think I can first parse the xml or use the schema to show a list of all the nodes (possibly in a tree view?) and let the user check which element they want to display and type in a label.

Does this sound like a good idea? I was thinking to use XSLT but I think it might be easier in LINQ. Can anyone provide me some links or information that would help me achieve this? Are there any better solutions out there?

Answer 1

You could use XSLT - just keep in mind that it's hard to read and maintain. If you do use XSLT I recommand you can use a good tool (if you can afford it) called MapForce that will help you create the XSLT file using a WYSIWYG editor.

Answer 2

The end-user doesn't need to know XSLT but I do need to provide a simple way for them to decide which element to display or not.

So it seems the best answer is to create a UI which allow the user to select which nodes they want to display and then simply serialize this information to a simple xml file so I can de-serialze it if they need to reload the settings page and change something later.

Then I can generate and XSLT based on these settings and utilize it for transforming the incoming xml? Maybe, I can provide an ability to directly edit the XSLT for advanced users?

Does this seem resonable?