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Producing a static HTML site from XML content

Answer 1

+1 A:

I would go with the PHP option. The reason being is that when the XML changes your site content "should" automatically change without you having to touch your PHP code.

Creating a Python script to generate lots of static pages just seems like a bad idea to me and with javascript you will have your cross-browser headaches (unless you are using a framework maybe).

Use the server side languages for these kind of tasks, it is what they were made for.

Andre 2010-05-17 15:53:06

The thing is, it's being distributed on CD, so I'll still have to regenerate the static pages. Also, I will be using jQuery if I go the JS route.

Skilldrick 2010-05-17 15:57:41

Is the site distributed buy CD? In other words, will people run this site from the CD-ROM?

Andre 2010-05-17 16:02:34

@Andre - Yes...

Skilldrick 2010-05-17 16:03:50

In that case, PHP and server side languages are out. Best way forward will probably be Python IMHO, unless you know XSLT very well.

Andre 2010-05-17 16:05:54

@Andre - I know you can't run PHP from a CD! That's why I was going to generate a static site from the dynamic PHP site.

Skilldrick 2010-05-17 16:07:45

Answer 2

+2 A:

I would go with the XSLT option, controlled via parameters to generate different pages from the same XML source if needed. It's really the tool made for XML transformations.

Lucero 2010-05-17 15:55:08

The only reason I'm not sure about XSLT is because it's a language I've never used before. I'm happy to learn though.

Skilldrick 2010-05-17 15:58:17

If you've done some functional/declarative programming before, I think that you'll quickly feel at home with XSLT.

Lucero 2010-05-17 16:01:12

Answer 3

A:

Go with what you are most comfortable with.

If it's straightforward you could use (for example) php to generate a page and then use a command line script (in python or php) to create cached files for you.

zaf 2010-05-17 15:58:44

Answer 4

+2 A:

I think XSLT is by far the easiest and best method -- even taking into account having to learn xslt.

There are several styles of xslt programming, but the easiest is "push processing" , where you write several templates that describe how your xml input is to be transformed into html output. Then you write a root template that outputs the basic html wrapper and calls the other templates. The root template is the easy one:

<xsl:template match="/" > <!-- "/" matches the document root -->
  <html>  <!-- whatever is not in xsl: namespace is template output -->
  <head><title>...</title></head>
  <body>
  <xsl:apply-templates />  <!-- this searches for and calls additional template matches --> 
  </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>

Steven D. Majewski 2010-05-17 16:02:47

Thanks Steven (and Lucero). I think I'll go with XSLT, and I'll report back when I'm done! If it all goes badly I reserve the right to withdraw my accepted answer :)

Skilldrick 2010-05-19 16:31:29

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Producing a static HTML site from XML content

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