About XSL transformation files

One of the advantages of using XML as a data interchange standard is the ease of transforming XML data documents into other formats and structures, such as HTML files. The two languages that are used to define transformations are XML-based languages called Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) and Extensible Stylesheet Language: Transformations (XSLT). XSLT is a subset of XSL. XSL is used to define the formatting of XML documents, and XSLT defines the structure of the data.

You can specify a transformation file when you import data from or export data to XML. When you import XML data, you can transform the data as soon as the data is imported— before you create a new table or append data to an existing one. When you export data to XML, you can select a transformation that is applied following the export.

When you export data to XML, you can also choose to export a presentation XSL file. The file is generated based on presentation information in the Access form, report, or data sheet. You can then modify this file to further change the formatting of the exported XML data.