Embedding XSLTs in a C# Project

spjewett

I'm using an XSLT to transform an "in-memory" XML document into an HTML file. The following code performs the transformation without any problems, but it relies on a hard-coded path: XPathNavigator nav = xmlDocRoot.CreateNavigator(); XslTransform xslt = new XslTransform(); xslt.Load("C:/SomeFolder/AnotherFolder/MyXSLT.xslt"); XmlTextWriter htmlPage = new XmlTextWriter(htmlBaseFilename + ".html", null); xslt.Transform(nav, null, htmlPage, null); Replacing the Load method call with the following call works, provided the XSLT is located in the working folder for the app, and it eliminates the need for a hard-coded path: xslt.Load("MyXSLT.xslt"); What I really would like to do is embed the XSLT as a resource in the project (no worries about the file getting deleted or modified by some over zealous user), but I haven't had any luck doing so. Some of Microsoft's documentation describes adding the XSLT file to the project, setting the Build property to Embedded Resource, and calling methods from the "GetManifestResource..." group on the executing assembly, but I can't seem to get it to work. Any ideas on how to embed the XSLT in the project?

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spjewett22y ago
Whoops! Left out a left parentheses after GetExecutingAssembly. It should be "...Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream..."
spjewett22y ago
Guess I'll have to answer this myself. After puzzling 'til my puzzler was sore, I came up with this. 1) Add the XSLT file "reportgen.xslt" to the project and set the Build Action to "Embedded Resource". 2) Use the following code to execute the transform: XPathNavigator xpathNav = xmlDoc.CreateNavigator(); XslTransform xslt = new XslTransform(); XmlTextReader xsltReader = new XmlTextReader(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly).GetManifestResourceStream("Report.HTML.reportgen.xslt")); xslt.Load(xsltReader, null, null); StreamWriter reportWriter = new StreamWriter(reportFilename + ".html"); xslt.Transform(xpathNav, null, reportWriter, null); reportWriter.Close(); where the namespace for "reportgen.xslt" is "Report.HTML". Of course, to shorten things up the constructor calls for xsltReader and reportWriter can be made directly from within the argument list of xslt.Load and xslt.Transform. Note: This example uses an "in memory" XML document contained in the variable "xmlDoc", which is of type XmlDocument. An external file can be loaded and used as well.