Is There Documentation for PDF2 - Templates, Tags, etc.?

[jnielsen]

I'm still in the process of becoming acquainted with PDF2 and since it transforms things differently than a regular PDF, and doesn't use args.xsl (that I know of), I've been told that PDF2 has several templates that can be applied to it from the DITA-OT\demo\fo\xsl\fo directory (I assume the *.xsl files are the "templates"?). I suppose you apply the different templates by editing the build file that calls them, right? Also how can I know what tags (tag names/types/options) can be used to pass information to the templates? Since I don't know these things I was wondering if there is any documentation for things like which tags can be use with PDF2 & also how the templates work for PDF2.

I was told by someone over on the yahoo dita-forums that, "The pdf2 plugin has several text readme files in its various directories. They contain a lot of information about customizing the output". However I cannot find any such directories or readme files in Oxygen's program files.

To be specific about my goals though, I am trying to discover how to pass certain information to a cover/title page such as a title & subtitle, author names, and perhaps a revision number and date to go on the front as well. I was also told on the dita-forums that "pdf2 already has templates for putting the title, author, and a couple of other bits onto the front cover". How do I find out more about how to do that? That's what I'm wondering.

Thanks,

~Josh

[Radu]

Hi Josh,

The IDIOM FO Plugin is installed in the OXYGEN_INSTALL_DIR/frameworks/dita/DITA-OT/demo/fo directory. In that directory there is another one called Customization. You can find some Readme files inside it and each subfolder.
See the DITA OT user guide for more details:
http://dita-ot.sourceforge.net/doc/ot-u ... index.html
Read expecially the 'Adding a product logo to a PDF2 cover page' section.

Regards,
Radu
--
Radu Coravu
<oXygen/> XML Editor
http://www.oxygenxml.com

[jnielsen]

For future reference, and to help others out as well, I did find a decent tutorial about how to edit some elements and files associated with the Idiom PDF2 plugin, and in which files to do it, in the following PDF DITA Manual: DITA for Solo Writers. Linked from here: http://www.ditausers.org/tutorials/

I still think there is a problem though with the setup of the Idiom Plugin files in frameworks\dita\DITA-OT\demo\fo, because both the readme and the tutorials in the manual mention that there is supposed to be a catalog.xml file in Customization, but there isn't (only the orginal - which shouldn't be edited - in cfg\catalog.xml) and the readme says it has several commented out lines (which none of the lines in cfg\catalog.xml are). The file must be missing. Also missing, yet referenced by both the readme and the manual are the supposed *.orig files, none of which I can find in any of the subdirectories. Why are these files missing?

[Radu]

Hi Josh,

Indeed the sample files are missing from our distribution.
This happened because we use Eclipse as an IDE and Eclipse ignores by default files with the ".orig" extension so the files were never committed to the project.
We'll rectify this.
You can either make a Diff Directories between our "DITA-OT/frameworks/fo" directory and the downloaded FO Plugin and copy the files yourself or contact us and we'll provide the files for you.

Regards,
Radu