What the problem is, is that there is no xml file as such. There is only xml markup (without an xsl stylesheet link) pasted into a textarea. I would like to transform this with an xsl stylesheet that resides on the server.

How do I transform xml markup in a textarea?

I guess I'm asking how to "get at" the data within the textarea.

text = document.getElementById( "myTextArea" ).value;

to parse it

var doc = new DOMParser().parseFromString( text, "text/xml" );
var documentElement = doc.documentElement;