basic-settings.xsl changes not reflected in PDF output

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kbentley
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:25 pm

basic-settings.xsl changes not reflected in PDF output

Post by kbentley »

I must be missing something. At the moment, I just want to see the effect of changes in basic-settings.xsl on standard (default) PDF output. I'm not creating a customization directory yet, just doing some proof of concept for myself. I know this is working for other folks, so it's got to be me.

For example, if I change <xsl:variable name="side-col-width">25pt</xsl:variable> to <xsl:variable name="side-col-width">0pt</xsl:variable>, I see no change in the output. Nor do I see margin changes or font size changes. Because I'm editing the source basic-setting.xsl (in Oxygen XML Editor 18.1/frameworks/dita/DITA-OT/plugins/org.dita.pdf2/cfg/fo/attrs), I don't believe there are any transformation param settings needed.

What am I missing?

Thanks much.
Costin
Posts: 828
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 6:04 pm

Re: basic-settings.xsl changes not reflected in PDF output

Post by Costin »

Hi kbentley,

We do not recommend modifying the original files coming by default in the oXygen installation folder or in any of its subfolders, as this could lead to oXygen stability issues or to undesired output when applying further transformations.
That's why the suggested way to customize the transformation scenario is to create your own customization directory, then use the "customization.dir" parameter available in the "Parameters" tab from the scenario configuration dialog.

If you find it somehow difficult to create your customizations in a separate folder and point it in your scenario, you should at least make sure you first backup the original folder from the DITA framework where you want to perform the changes, just in case anything goes wrong at a later time.

You specified that you do not see the changes after you edited the basic-setting.xsl from Oxygen XML Editor 18.1/frameworks/dita/DITA-OT/plugins/org.dita.pdf2/cfg/fo/attrs.
Please note that oXygen comes bundled with two different DITA Open Toolkits - DITA OT 1.8 and DITA OT 2.x, hence there are two different DITA OT subfolders in the DITA framework folder in oXygen - "DITA-OT" and "DITA-OT2.x" - each of them corresponding to each DITA OT you have configured in the oXygen preferences (Options > Preferences > DITA)
By default, the enabled DITA support in oXygen is DITA OT 2.x so, unless you deliberately changed it to DITA OT 1.8 before, for the changes to be reflcted in your PDF output, you should've actually modified the files from the DITA OT 2.x folder Oxygen XML Editor 18.1/frameworks/dita/DITA-OT2.x/plugins/org.dita.pdf2/cfg/fo/attrs.
Again, you should edit the original files (after you back them up) only as a last resort, as it is recommended to pass your own customization directory to the scenario instead.

In case you are interested in learning more about customizations we have a customization plugin on GitHub together with some useful customization tips, over which you could take a look here

Regards,
Costin
Costin Sandoi
oXygen XML Editor and Author Support
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