XSL Components

Watson™ Explorer Engine output is generated by XSL templates spread across several components. These are arranged hierarchically in the display functions accessible through the Watson Explorer Engine administration tool interface. No correlation exists between templates and components: a component could contain many templates or none. All components are assembled to create the templates that Watson Explorer Engine XSL rendering uses to generate the output.

Like projects, display functions form a hierarchy with inheritance. This allows users to create multiple similar displays based on a single abstract display defining the common elements.

The components are organized hierarchically as well, but this is more for organization than inheritance, similar to clustering or even directories in a computer's file system. Prior to version 6.0, these XSL components were the primary mechanism for modifying a display. In 6.0 or later, these XSL components are still available from the Display screen's XSL tab.

The XSL components that you can modify are the following:

  • Color: Controls the interface colors with names or hexadecimal values.
  • CSS Style: Specifies the CSS styles used in the interface.
  • Document: Creates the individual results returned by a query. You will most often manipulate the "Main" component that calls the other components.
  • Form Component: Defines the appearance of the query form and the top frame in framed output. The front page is a special case of the form and is classified here.
  • Free XSL: Adds free-form XSL to the template without belonging to a component.
  • JavaScript: Creates the JavaScript scripts used by the interface.
  • List Component: Generates the results frame. The individual results are created with the Document components.
  • Misc Component: Used at various points, such as the components that generate tabs and the frameset.
  • Node Component: Generates the individual clusters in the tree frame.
  • Text String: Creates the text strings used in the interface.
  • Tree Component: Defines the tree frame. The individual clusters in the tree are created by the Node components.

To proceed with this tutorial, click XSL Templates.