Andis Spielwiese

Introduction

At the University we have been introduced into transforming XML to (X)HTML using XSLT. As i found this quite interesting i started to write a small Itunes to HTML converter, which is finished now. Of course there are still some bugs left, but it works quite well for me.
The output may look like this: Converter Example

Usage

Simply download the Zip-File which you find at the bottom and unzip it into a folder of your choice. Then start up a console, whether it is a windows or Linux console should not matter though i have only tested using windows.
Locate the directory you unzipped into and change into it. Now you have to type the right syntax, which is:

java -jar ItunesXMLConverter.jar pathToITunesXml outputFolder name

This means for instance:

java -jar ItunesXMLConverter.jar itunes.xml c:\itunesexport Andi

In this example “itunes.xml” is the Itunes Database, “c:\itunesexport” the Export Path and “Andi” the name of die Library Owner.

It is a good idea to copy the Itunes Database in a separate Folder and remove the whitespaces. You find the Itunes Database in your “Own Music/Itunes” Folder.
If you run into any problems please drop me a message.

Technical Background and adaption

The program uses some external libraries:

• Jdom, for parsing the Itunes XML und generating an XML
• a Java ID3 Library, for reading out the cover art from the Mp3 Files
• Apache Xalan for transforming the XML to HTML

As XSLT is used to transform to (X)HTML it is very easy to adapt the output to your own needs. All you need to do is edit two files, xslt.xsl and style.css. Of course you also need a tool to test the transformation. For testing it, i uploaded a small Example XML, which should be quite helpful:
songlib.xml If you need more info on XSTL you use your friend google

Download

itunesconverter.zip