The Extensible Markup Language (“XML”) sets a standard for the exchange of business data that is completely platform- and vendor-neutral. XML is in increasingly wide use for web applications, especially for business-to-business integration.

Because XML data comes in many forms, the most important technology needed for XML applications is the ability to transform it from one for to another (“vocabulary translation”), and to convert it to visible renderings, for example in HTML or PDF documents.

The Extensible Stylesheet Language (“XSL”) specification, from the W3C standards body, defines a powerful language to easily transform XML data from one form to another. This paper introduces XSL and studies several application scenarios that benefit from the use of XSL to solve real-world e-business problems.