Page 2 - best language and tools for a datadriven web app ?

TIMTOWDI as is said in Perl. It' much better to use a recognized template system than creating a proprietary system, imho. I've just worked on 2 projects from overseas programmers who used proprietary, buggy systems and there was no documentation so I'm still smarting a little that they did not use smarty or another system. As a side note, HTML::Template has more or less been ported to PHP but I prefer Template::Toolkit and some people would say I cross the line but oh well, time to loop back to the beginning of this paragraph.

Is there an XML/XSLT system out there you can recommend I look at? Of course I want my app to do the XSLT processing (not depend on the browser to do it)? An XML/XSLT system that can run in a virtual environment. I must say one reason for using PHP is the real ease in installing apps as opposed to Perl (where one must use mod_perl but doing so is so limiting)

Peter

pschon, I agree with you about using an established templating system saves headaches. Plus, I'd rather not re-invent anything if possible.

When I made the statement about using XML/XSLT for enterprise, I really do NOT know all the possibilities. It would be difficult for me to recommend XML/XSLT software solutions. I have done a project for the intranet of GE Corporate and used a content management product from Interwoven called Teamsite. This product made heavy use of XML (but not XSLT). Teamsite had its own templating system, but because Teamsite produced XML it became possible to use a different product for page production.

Never-the-less, if you are looking for shared environment XML/XSL the hosting service that I use for my web site is URL These folks have a PHP installed with XSLT, sablotron I believe (never used it though). So here is at least one example of XSLT in a shared environment. You can always see what software is available for PHP by the phpinfo() function. Here is an example from my host:
URL

If you are in search of Perl solutions that use XML/XSLT I can send you a Perl script that probes the installed modules in a shared enviroment. Some web servers have the necessary modules and some do not. I cannot recommend an XML/XSLT solution for Perl at this point.