How to view XSL files?

[ChuckieAJ]

I am trying both the Jira App and my Safari browser on my MacBook Pro.

Why is it I can't view XSL files that are attached to issues?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

I am really sorry, I have made an incorrect assumption and given you a comment that is total garbage.

I saw XSL and my brain jumped to "excel" and answered for that. 

It is clearly not an excel file.

So, a better (but still not a happy) answer is:

Although XSL files are in an XML format, the Atlassian suite does not have a "reader" for them, so it cannot throw up a preview.  I'm afraid you'll have to download them and open them with something that does read XSL correctly.

(If I were an Atlassian coder, I'd be sneaking in a minor tweak into the next version, one that says "if you see XSL treat it as XML or text", but I'm not)

[Pankaj Jangid]

XSL is nothing but an XML file. If your browser is not displaying the content then probably your browser doesn't know how to display it. But generally, the browsers can display XML content. Let us try to debug why you can't view XSL.

When you click on the link to the file, it sends a request to the portal and the response returns some headers along with the file content. You can view these headers using some kind of "developer tools" shipped with the browser. I use Firefox and I can see this,

Chrome also has something similar. When you open the the tool to browser network traffic, you can click on a particular request and its response.

Check what is the response coming when you click the XSL link. Especially, look for "Content-Type" header. If your browser is configured for that type then you can view the XSL file in the browser itself.

[ChuckieAJ]

I can't see this really helps me yet. I know that XSL is text files as I wrote the file. But I also know that XSL files can be a security breach because they can transform data (as mine does). But in this content of being in Jira it should work. I am using Opera.

I will ask them but I feel this to surely be a Jira matter? Because it happens in many platforms. Even INI files can't be viewed in BitBucket! and UTF8 encoded files show with characters messed up (although the raw data is fine).

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It probably isn't a Jira problem.

I can view and open XSL, INI and plenty of other files from Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket (cloud and server) and other systems absolutely fine. 

I suspect you have a problem with your client, either Opera or your operating system.

[ChuckieAJ]

I have tried a number of browsers, including Firefox (above).

I have tried:

• iPhone
• iPad
• MacBook Pro
• PC

No joy. They all show the above .... The above is not a FireFox error because I get teh same for all of the browsers. It is a Jira error being reported.

I admit there may be some common browser setting that I have or don't have set on all of my devices - but what would that be .... all I know is it doesn't work.

[Pankaj Jangid]

As I suggested, could you please diagnose and share what is the content-type being returned.

[ChuckieAJ]

Unfortunately I am not finding it that straightforward, I have used Firefox. I have displayed Web Tools. I have set it to Network. But I am in deep water. I see no content-type response header when I click to view the file.

Sorry.

[Pankaj Jangid]

I just tried to simulate it. And I acknowledge that error is reproducible at my end as well.

This is happening because Jira is intercepting the request and trying to display the preview itself. But it doesn't know how to do it. The browser knows how to display it but the request is not reaching the browser event loop.

No option but to download and view it with another browser tab.

Also this should be an enhancement request - if Jira doesn't understand a file format for preview then it should default to displaying it in another tab or browser popup and let the browser display it.

[ChuckieAJ]

I thought as much. So can this be turned into a feature request to save me typing all over again?

[Pankaj Jangid]

@ChuckieAJthat's another feature request. ;-)