The ability to transform XML documents is one of the more useful and powerful features of XML streams.

With transformation filters, you can adapt the format of an XML stream to the requirements of other software, or change the format to make it suitable for display.

Using transformation filters with XML streams can also enhance the capabilities of loosely-coupled messaging systems by reducing the constraints on the format of XML documents. The transformation streams in the XML Streams Module all make use of a “transformation object” to effect the actual transformation of a document. The use of transformation filters is not automatic; you must explicitly implement these objects.

This chapter discusses two types of transformations: