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Re: FO, FOP and PDF
- From: <robert dot wills at sts dot co dot uk>
- To: <docbook-apps at lists dot oasis-open dot org>, <dave dot olson at itt dot com>
- Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 11:02:28 GMT
- Subject: Re: FO, FOP and PDF
Dave,
Yes, FOP can do the things you ask - we've been using it for a year or so
for technical manuals but wrote our own Java-based tools to drive it rather
than using XSLT. Some of our source material is DocBook, but other parts
are data models, interface API definitions, etc., and our Java developers
are happier using OO inheritance to 'subclass' document types and styling
handlers than they would be trying to customize the docbook DTD and
stylesheets. This approach also enables us to put more intelligence into
the transformation process to make up for FOP's weaknesses in certain
areas, e.g. table column sizing.
The small subset of XSL:FO features which FOP claims to implement seems
pretty accurate, and we've not found any show-stopping bugs we can't work
around. One restriction we did find is size - FOP is designed around an
'in-memory' architecture which is fine for small to medium sized docs. If
you're hoping to create complex output PDFs of, say, 300+ pages, you might
be advised to look elsewhere for now.
Rob Wills.
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: FO, FOP and PDF
Author: "Olson, Dave -Systems" <Dave dot Olson at itt dot com> at STS
Date: 18/03/03 00:37
I'm embarking on a project to generate documentation in PDF,
among other
formats, and I'm hoping to use FOP. Docbook seems to cover all
our needed
features, but after Norm Walsh's comment that "FOP isn't very
robust or
complete yet," I'm wondering what level of effort I'm getting
into.
We need to do the following:
-TOCs (page numbers)
-index (links or page numbers)
-lists of figures (links or page numbers)
-tables
-embedded images (PNG & GIF)
-bulleted and numbered lists
-nested sections, preferably auto numbered.
I assume I'll need to learn a moderate amount about XML-FO and
stylesheet
transformations, and probably modify the DocBook XSL to some
degree to get
around FOP quirks, but is it realistic to expect to achieve the
above
features with the current version of FOP? I've read the
limitations, and
they seem bearable, but I don't know all the FO features I may
need. Is
this a month project, a six-month effort, or a "FOP just can't
do that"? (I
have 10 years programming experience, but XML is mostly new.)
If FOP is still too immature, can anyone recommend another
Docbook->something->PDF generator that is redistributable?
(We're hoping to
avoid TeX and C++.)
Thanks,
David Olson
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