This is the mail archive of the xsl-list@mulberrytech.com mailing list .


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]

Re: XML to PDF


> > I'm looking for XSL to transform an XML document to a PDF file.  Can anyone
> > send to me working examples/approaches?  I'm particularly interested in how

All of the recommended approaches so far deal with 
FOP or something similar, either based on XSL:FO
or some intermediate format (ie: TeX).

I chose to take a very simple approach which has worked
quite well, albeit with a few limitations.

A simple XSLT can manipulate XML into FDF.  (FDF is an
Adobe format that represents data only.  When Reader
encounters an FDF file it merges it with a corresponding
PDF file (as specified within the FDF).  The result is a 
PDF complete with dynamic data.  You use Acrobat
(the application, not the reader) to layout fields on your
PDF file.  In fact, these fields can be completely editable,
have Javascript events, etc.

This approach works well for electronic "forms" but not
so well for "reporting".

The caveats are:

1. No way to change the "structure" of the PDF, ie: add
pages, number of fields, etc.

Regards,

Jeff Hamilton.
JSL Software Solutions Inc.
jhamilton@jslss.com


 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list

Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]