Oxygen XML Forum

I have a ditamap made up of 8 or so topic files. When I generate a PDF, I'd really like each topic to start a brand new page.

What's the best way to do this?

Hi mdslup,

Are you using the predefined general PDF transformation scenario (DITA Map PDF - based on XSL-FO), or one of the predefined CSS-based scenarios?
However, breaking the page before new topics is possible in both cases.

Depending on the specific transformation scenario, you should follow the instructions:
from the User-Guide (for the CSS based)
https://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/versions/ ... aking.html
from Radu's blog post (for the XSL-FO based - DITA Map PDF scenario)
http://blog.oxygenxml.com/2015/04/dita- ... reaks.html

Regards,
Costin

I maintain a custom PDF transformation scenario that is based on the Oxygen out-of-the-box scenario. My custom transformation points to my custom XSL files using the customization.dir parameter. I have successfully implemented many changes to my PDF output using this workflow, such as page rotation, column count, headers, footers, etc. In fact, I produce documents of different column counts nearly every week, so I know these files are properly hooked up.

What you described seemed simple, but I could not get it to work. Can you help me identify my issue, if you have time?

In my ditamap file, I added the processing instruction:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE map PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Map//EN" "map.dtd">
<map>
<title>My Map Title</title>
<topicref
href="Cover.dita"/>
<?pagebreak?>
<topicref
href="Installation.dita"/>
...
</map>

I verified that, in author mode, that was in fact a page break processing-instruction. I added the following code to my customization file (customization-directory\fo\xsl\custom.xsl):

<xsl:template match="processing-instruction('pagebreak')">
<fo:block break-after="page"/>
</xsl:template>


I ran my transformation and the page break did not apply.

I tried moving the pagebreak into the first topic file itself, both like this:

<reference>
...
<?pagebreak?>
</reference>

and like this:

<reference>
...
</reference>
<?pagebreak?>

But the page break didn't apply. Any thoughts?

The page break processing instructions should be placed inside the topic files, not in the map between topic references.
Many regards,
Dan

Hi,

If you want to break the page before a topic for the XSL-FO-based PDF output maybe this thread will help:

topic13829.html

You need to override the attributes set for each topic and somehow decide to add a "break-before='page'" attribute on it.
There is a also a book called "DITA For Print" which has lots of PDF customization examples.
And you can also ask around on the Yahoo Groups DITA Users List.

Regards,
Radu

Dan, I was able to solve this based on your advice. Thanks.

In DITA 3.x, refer to the use of the following plugin:

https://github.com/dita-community/org.d ... page-break

This plugin enables you to force a new page in a topic body.
To implement one (or more) new page insertions before a topic, append to file pageBreak.xsl:
You can start the concept topic on a new page by inserting: