Testing individual XSLT features

The easiest way to test individual XSLT features is as follows:

• Install SAXON;


• Create a small XML document with structure that represents your input data;


• Create a small XSL stylesheet focusing on features you want to test;


• Use xml:output method='text' in the test stylesheet to produce the test results without XML garbage;


• Perform the tests with SAXON;


• Test the transformation in your target environment. If you're developing browser-side transformations, insert xsl-stylesheet pseudo-instruction in your XML document and open it with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

You can see how I've used this approach in this post.