Retrieving HTML generated using XSLT through AJAX in Umbraco

Question

I am new to Umbraco, just want to get input on if the following is the way to go to retrieve HTML generated using XSLT through AJAX.

1. Create the XSLT Macro that generates the HTML

2. Place the XSLT Macro in blank page

3. Call page with AJAX

Is there a better way to do this?

Can I run the XSLT macro programmatically in .NET code and return the result? This way I do not have to put the XSLT macro on a blank page.

Answer 1

You may try umbraco.library.RenderMacroContent to render an Xslt macro.

http://our.umbraco.org/wiki/reference/umbracolibrary/rendermacrocontent

Answer 2

Here is the code I used to just get the HTML for an XSLT macro in Umbraco. Setup a RestExtension to return this content. The code is not refined and hard coded. I stole this from the xsltVisualize.aspx.cs

public static string GetMacroContent()
    {
        HttpRequest post = HttpContext.Current.Request;
        Member umbMember = Member.GetCurrentMember();
        string macroname = post["macroname"];
        string content = string.Empty;

        if(Member.IsLoggedOn() && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(macroname))
        {
            string xslt = "";

            System.IO.StreamReader xsltFile =
            System.IO.File.OpenText(
                IOHelper.MapPath(SystemDirectories.Root + "/xslt/htmlcontent.xslt")
            );

            xslt = xsltFile.ReadToEnd();
            xsltFile.Close();

            // prepare support for XSLT extensions
            xslt = macro.AddXsltExtensionsToHeader(xslt);

            Dictionary<string, object> parameters = new Dictionary<string, object>(1);
            parameters.Add("currentPage", library.GetXmlNodeById("1057"));


            // apply the XSLT transformation
            string xsltResult = "";
            XmlTextReader xslReader = null;
            try
            {
                xslReader = new XmlTextReader(new StringReader(xslt));
                System.Xml.Xsl.XslCompiledTransform xsl = macro.CreateXsltTransform(xslReader, false);
                xsltResult = macro.GetXsltTransformResult(new XmlDocument(), xsl, parameters);
            }
            catch(Exception ee)
            {
                xsltResult = string.Format(
                    "<div class=\"error\"><h3>Error parsing the XSLT:</h3><p>{0}</p></div>",
                    ee.ToString());
            }
            finally
            {
                xslReader.Close();
            }               
        }

        return content;
    }

    private static XPathNodeIterator GetXmlNodeById(string id)
    {
        if(UmbracoContext.Current.GetXml().GetElementById(id) != null)
        {
            XPathNavigator xp = UmbracoContext.Current.GetXml().CreateNavigator();
            xp.MoveToId(id);
            return xp.Select(".");
        }
        else
        {
            XmlDocument xd = new XmlDocument();
            xd.LoadXml(string.Format("<error>No published item exist with id {0}</error>", id));
            return xd.CreateNavigator().Select(".");
        }