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DocBook to PDF Output Customization

When the default layout and output of the DocBook to PDF transformation needs to be customized, follow these steps:

  1. Create a custom version of the DocBook title spec file.

    You could start from a copy of the file [DocBook XSL directory]/fo/titlepage.templates.xml (for example, [OXYGEN-INSTALL-DIR]/frameworks/docbook/xsl/fo/titlepage.templates.xml) and customize it. More information about the spec file can be found here.

  2. Generate a new XSLT stylesheet from the title spec file from the previous step.
    Apply [DocBook XSL directory]/template/titlepage.xsl to the title spec file. The result is an XSLT stylesheet (for example, mytitlepages.xsl).
  3. Import mytitlepages.xsl in a DocBook customization layer.
    The customization layer is the stylesheet that will be applied to the XML document. The mytitlepages.xsl should be imported with an element like this:
    <xsl:import href="dir-name/mytitlepages.xsl"/>
  4. Insert a logo image in the XML document.
    The path to the logo image must be inserted in the book/info/mediaobject structure of the XML document.
  5. Apply the customization layer to the XML document.
    A quick way is to duplicate the transformation scenario DocBook PDF that is included with Oxygen XML Author Eclipse plugin and set the customization layer in the XSL URL property of the scenario.