[XSL-LIST Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date]

Re: [xsl] FW: Output formatting

---

---

At 2006-03-17 09:34 +0200, Linda Burgess wrote:

We use Apache FOP 0.20.5 generating PDF (on Linux).

I can't answer FOP-specific questions because I do not use it, but I can comment on your other questions.

I have a couple of problems:
1 - certain pages of the output should be printed from certain printer
trays (printing debtor invoices the first page for each debtor must be
printed on a letterhead).  How do I use printer escape codes in my
XSL-FO?

XSL-FO is an abstract expression of the intent of what needs to be formatted, it doesn't specify a direct control of output devices. There are no abstractions for selecting printer trays, but you might find some XSL-FO engines that offer extensions that would trigger behaviours that you need (though I'm not familiar enough with the extensions available to know if this might be there for you).

2 - we cannot figure out how to print to continuous stationery eg.
cheques.  If we set up the page-master the exact size of the cheque, it
prints landscape (height less than width?).

Are you going to PDF? If the page dimensions in the PDF reader are accurate, then it would be a printer facility for ensuring correct orientation and feeding of the paper ... again not an issue of XSL-FO.

We also tried to set the
page-master size very, very big, but this then just prints the detail
very, very small.

From that evidence it sounds like a "print to fit" function is somehow turned on in your reader.

Will it work if we use a A4 size page with no margins
- I am not very confident?

I think you should be using precise dimensions.

Should we change the output format to
something other than PDF?

Ah, so you are using PDF. I think your problem is between PDF and the printer, not between XSL-FO and PDF.

3 - what constraints are there on output file size, before it will run
out of memory?

That is tool dependent and I will leave it for people with FOP experience to comment.

Is there software that will string different PDF-files together?

When I need to do this, I use the http://itext.sf.net Java library, calling the functions from a Python program running in the Jython environment.

I hope this helps.

. . . . . . . . . . Ken

--
Upcoming XSLT/XSL-FO hands-on courses: Washington,DC 2006-06-12/16
World-wide on-site corporate, govt. & user group XML/XSL training.
G. Ken Holman                 mailto:gkholman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Crane Softwrights Ltd.          http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/s/
Box 266, Kars, Ontario CANADA K0A-2E0    +1(613)489-0999 (F:-0995)
Male Cancer Awareness Aug'05  http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/s/bc
Legal business disclaimers:  http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/legal

---