XSLT Component

Available as of Camel version 1.3

The xslt: component allows you to process a message using an XSLT template. This can be ideal when using Templating to generate respopnses for requests.

URI format

xslt:templateName[?options]

Where templateName is the classpath-local URI of the template to invoke; or the complete URL of the remote template. Refer to the Spring Documentation for more detail of the URI syntax

You can append query options to the URI in the following format, ?option=value&option=value&…​

Here are some example URIs

URI

Description

xslt:com/acme/mytransform.xsl

refers to the file com/acme/mytransform.xsl on the classpath

xslt:file:///foo/bar.xsl

refers to the file /foo/bar.xsl

xslt:http://acme.com/cheese/foo.xsl

refers to the remote http resource

Maven users will need to add the following dependency to their pom.xml for this component when using Camel 2.8 or older:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
    <artifactId>camel-spring</artifactId>
    <version>x.x.x</version>
    <!-- use the same version as your Camel core version -->
</dependency>

From Camel 2.9 onwards the XSLT component is provided directly in the camel-core.

Options

The XSLT component supports 9 options which are listed below.

Name Description Default Type

xmlConverter (advanced)

To use a custom implementation of org.apache.camel.converter.jaxp.XmlConverter

XmlConverter

uriResolverFactory (advanced)

To use a custom javax.xml.transform.URIResolver which depends on a dynamic endpoint resource URI or which is a subclass of XsltUriResolver. Do not use in combination with uriResolver. See also link setUriResolver(URIResolver).

XsltUriResolverFactory

uriResolver (advanced)

To use a custom javax.xml.transform.URIResolver. Do not use in combination with uriResolverFactory. See also link setUriResolverFactory(XsltUriResolverFactory).

URIResolver

contentCache (producer)

Cache for the resource content (the stylesheet file) when it is loaded. If set to false Camel will reload the stylesheet file on each message processing. This is good for development. A cached stylesheet can be forced to reload at runtime via JMX using the clearCachedStylesheet operation.

false

boolean

saxon (producer)

Whether to use Saxon as the transformerFactoryClass. If enabled then the class net.sf.saxon.TransformerFactoryImpl. You would need to add Saxon to the classpath.

false

boolean

saxonExtensionFunctions (producer)

Allows you to use a custom net.sf.saxon.lib.ExtensionFunctionDefinition. You would need to add camel-saxon to the classpath. The function is looked up in the registry where you can comma to separate multiple values to lookup.

List

saxonConfiguration (producer)

To use a custom Saxon configuration

true

Object

saxonConfiguration Properties (advanced)

To set custom Saxon configuration properties

Map

resolveProperty Placeholders (advanced)

Whether the component should resolve property placeholders on itself when starting. Only properties which are of String type can use property placeholders.

true

boolean

The XSLT endpoint is configured using URI syntax:

xslt:resourceUri

with the following path and query parameters:

Path Parameters (1 parameters):

Name Description Default Type

resourceUri

Required The name of the template to load from classpath or file system

String

Query Parameters (17 parameters):

Name Description Default Type

allowStAX (producer)

Whether to allow using StAX as the javax.xml.transform.Source.

true

boolean

contentCache (producer)

Cache for the resource content (the stylesheet file) when it is loaded. If set to false Camel will reload the stylesheet file on each message processing. This is good for development. A cached stylesheet can be forced to reload at runtime via JMX using the clearCachedStylesheet operation.

true

boolean

deleteOutputFile (producer)

If you have output=file then this option dictates whether or not the output file should be deleted when the Exchange is done processing. For example suppose the output file is a temporary file then it can be a good idea to delete it after use.

false

boolean

failOnNullBody (producer)

Whether or not to throw an exception if the input body is null.

true

boolean

output (producer)

Option to specify which output type to use. Possible values are: string bytes DOM file. The first three options are all in memory based where as file is streamed directly to a java.io.File. For file you must specify the filename in the IN header with the key Exchange.XSLT_FILE_NAME which is also CamelXsltFileName. Also any paths leading to the filename must be created beforehand otherwise an exception is thrown at runtime.

string

XsltOutput

saxon (producer)

Whether to use Saxon as the transformerFactoryClass. If enabled then the class net.sf.saxon.TransformerFactoryImpl. You would need to add Saxon to the classpath.

false

boolean

transformerCacheSize (producer)

The number of javax.xml.transform.Transformer object that are cached for reuse to avoid calls to Template.newTransformer().

0

int

converter (advanced)

To use a custom implementation of org.apache.camel.converter.jaxp.XmlConverter

XmlConverter

entityResolver (advanced)

To use a custom org.xml.sax.EntityResolver with javax.xml.transform.sax.SAXSource.

EntityResolver

errorListener (advanced)

Allows to configure to use a custom javax.xml.transform.ErrorListener. Beware when doing this then the default error listener which captures any errors or fatal errors and store information on the Exchange as properties is not in use. So only use this option for special use-cases.

ErrorListener

resultHandlerFactory (advanced)

Allows you to use a custom org.apache.camel.builder.xml.ResultHandlerFactory which is capable of using custom org.apache.camel.builder.xml.ResultHandler types.

ResultHandlerFactory

saxonConfiguration (advanced)

To use a custom Saxon configuration

Object

saxonExtensionFunctions (advanced)

Allows you to use a custom net.sf.saxon.lib.ExtensionFunctionDefinition. You would need to add camel-saxon to the classpath. The function is looked up in the registry where you can comma to separate multiple values to lookup.

String

synchronous (advanced)

Sets whether synchronous processing should be strictly used or Camel is allowed to use asynchronous processing (if supported).

false

boolean

transformerFactory (advanced)

To use a custom XSLT transformer factory

TransformerFactory

transformerFactoryClass (advanced)

To use a custom XSLT transformer factory specified as a FQN class name

String

uriResolver (advanced)

To use a custom javax.xml.transform.URIResolver

URIResolver

Using XSLT endpoints

For example you could use something like

from("activemq:My.Queue").
  to("xslt:com/acme/mytransform.xsl");

To use an XSLT template to formulate a response for a message for InOut message exchanges (where there is a JMSReplyTo header).

If you want to use InOnly and consume the message and send it to another destination you could use the following route:

from("activemq:My.Queue").
  to("xslt:com/acme/mytransform.xsl").
  to("activemq:Another.Queue");

Getting Parameters into the XSLT to work with

By default, all headers are added as parameters which are available in the XSLT.
To do this you will need to declare the parameter so it is then useable.

<setHeader headerName="myParam"><constant>42</constant></setHeader>
<to uri="xslt:MyTransform.xsl"/>

And the XSLT just needs to declare it at the top level for it to be available:

<xsl: ...... >

   <xsl:param name="myParam"/>

    <xsl:template ...>

Spring XML versions

To use the above examples in Spring XML you would use something like

  <camelContext xmlns="http://activemq.apache.org/camel/schema/spring">
    <route>
      <from uri="activemq:My.Queue"/>
      <to uri="xslt:org/apache/camel/spring/processor/example.xsl"/>
      <to uri="activemq:Another.Queue"/>
    </route>
  </camelContext>

There is a test case along with its Spring XML if you want a concrete example.

Using xsl:include

Camel 2.2 or older
If you use xsl:include in your XSL files then in Camel 2.2 or older it uses the default javax.xml.transform.URIResolver which means it can only lookup files from file system, and its does that relative from the JVM starting folder.

For example this include:

<xsl:include href="staff_template.xsl"/>

Will lookup the staff_tempkalte.xsl file from the starting folder where the application was started.

Camel 2.3 or newer
Now Camel provides its own implementation of URIResolver which allows Camel to load included files from the classpath and more intelligent than before.

For example this include:

<xsl:include href="staff_template.xsl"/>

Will now be located relative from the starting endpoint, which for example could be:

.to("xslt:org/apache/camel/component/xslt/staff_include_relative.xsl")

Which means Camel will locate the file in the classpath as org/apache/camel/component/xslt/staff_template.xsl.
This allows you to use xsl include and have xsl files located in the same folder such as we do in the example org/apache/camel/component/xslt.

You can use the following two prefixes classpath: or file: to instruct Camel to look either in classpath or file system. If you omit the prefix then Camel uses the prefix from the endpoint configuration. If that neither has one, then classpath is assumed.

You can also refer back in the paths such as

    <xsl:include href="../staff_other_template.xsl"/>

Which then will resolve the xsl file under org/apache/camel/component.

Using xsl:include and default prefix

When using xsl:include such as:

<xsl:include href="staff_template.xsl"/>

Then in Camel 2.10.3 and older, then Camel will use "classpath:" as the default prefix, and load the resource from the classpath. This works for most cases, but if you configure the starting resource to load from file,

.to("xslt:file:etc/xslt/staff_include_relative.xsl")
  1. then you would have to prefix all your includes with "file:" as well.

<xsl:include href="file:staff_template.xsl"/>

From Camel 2.10.4 onwards we have made this easier as Camel will use the prefix from the endpoint configuration as the default prefix. So from Camel 2.10.4 onwards you can do:

<xsl:include href="staff_template.xsl"/>

Which will load the staff_template.xsl resource from the file system, as the endpoint was configured with "file:" as prefix.
You can still though explicit configure a prefix, and then mix and match. And have both file and classpath loading. But that would be unusual, as most people either use file or classpath based resources.

Using Saxon extension functions

Since Saxon 9.2, writing extension functions has been supplemented by a new mechanism, referred to as http://www.saxonica.com/html/documentation/extensibility/integratedfunctions[integrated extension functions] you can now easily use camel:

 
  • Java example:

SimpleRegistry registry = new SimpleRegistry();
registry.put("function1", new MyExtensionFunction1());
registry.put("function2", new MyExtensionFunction2());

CamelContext context = new DefaultCamelContext(registry);
context.addRoutes(new RouteBuilder() {
    @Override
    public void configure() throws Exception {
        from("direct:start")
            .to("xslt:org/apache/camel/component/xslt/extensions/extensions.xslt?saxonExtensionFunctions=#function1,#function2");
    }
});
 

Spring example:

<camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/spring">
  <route>
    <from uri="direct:extensions"/>
    <to uri="xslt:org/apache/camel/component/xslt/extensions/extensions.xslt?saxonExtensionFunctions=#function1,#function2"/>
  </route>
</camelContext>


<bean id="function1" class="org.apache.camel.component.xslt.extensions.MyExtensionFunction1"/>
<bean id="function2" class="org.apache.camel.component.xslt.extensions.MyExtensionFunction2"/>
 
 

Dynamic stylesheets

To provide a dynamic stylesheet at runtime you can define a dynamic URI. See How to use a dynamic URI in to() for more information.

Available as of Camel 2.9 (removed in 2.11.4, 2.12.3 and 2.13.0)
Camel provides the CamelXsltResourceUri header which you can use to define a stylesheet to use instead of what is configured on the endpoint URI. This allows you to provide a dynamic stylesheet at runtime.

Accessing warnings, errors and fatalErrors from XSLT ErrorListener

Available as of Camel 2.14

From Camel 2.14 onwards, any warning/error or fatalError is stored on the current Exchange as a property with the keys Exchange.XSLT_ERRORExchange.XSLT_FATAL_ERROR, or Exchange.XSLT_WARNING which allows end users to get hold of any errors happening during transformation.

For example in the stylesheet below, we want to terminate if a staff has an empty dob field. And to include a custom error message using xsl:message.

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <html>
      <body>
        <xsl:for-each select="staff/programmer">
          <p>Name: <xsl:value-of select="name"/><br />
            <xsl:if test="dob=''">
              <xsl:message terminate="yes">Error: DOB is an empty string!</xsl:message>
            </xsl:if>
          </p>
        </xsl:for-each>
      </body>
    </html>
  </xsl:template>

This information is not available on the Exchange stored as an Exception that contains the message in the getMessage() method on the exception. The exception is stored on the Exchange as a warning with the key Exchange.XSLT_WARNING.

Notes on using XSLT and Java Versions

Here are some observations from Sameer, a Camel user, which he kindly shared with us:

In case anybody faces issues with the XSLT endpoint please review these points.

I was trying to use an xslt endpoint for a simple transformation from one xml to another using a simple xsl. The output xml kept appearing (after the xslt processor in the route) with outermost xml tag with no content within.

No explanations show up in the DEBUG logs. On the TRACE logs however I did find some error/warning indicating that the XMLConverter bean could no be initialized.

After a few hours of cranking my mind, I had to do the following to get it to work (thanks to some posts on the users forum that gave some clue):

\1. Use the transformerFactory option in the route ("xslt:my-transformer.xsl?transformerFactory=tFactory") with the tFactory bean having bean defined in the spring context for class="org.apache.xalan.xsltc.trax.TransformerFactoryImpl".
2. Added the Xalan jar into my maven pom.

My guess is that the default xml parsing mechanism supplied within the JDK (I am using 1.6.0_03) does not work right in this context and does not throw up any error either. When I switched to Xalan this way it works. This is not a Camel issue, but might need a mention on the xslt component page.

Another note, jdk 1.6.0_03 ships with JAXB 2.0 while Camel needs 2.1. One workaround is to add the 2.1 jar to the jre/lib/endorsed directory for the jvm or as specified by the container.

Hope this post saves newbie Camel riders some time.