RE: [xsl] XML to Word Document

[Wendell Piez <wapiez at mulberrytech dot com>]

At 07:33 PM 10/1/01, Kalpana wrote:
>I don't know if there is any way to import HTML
>document to Word Document programatically, in XSL.

I guess not, but should there be? A job like this is far more effectively 
done by Word itself, isn't it?

>Right now documents are being created in HTML, I
>understand that an HTML file can be saved as word
>document or HTML file can be viewed in MS Word,
>frankly speaking even I'm not clear why do we need to
>convert them to word if this way is possible.

You may well ask.

I think the requirement for Word format is generally rationalized as a 
requirement for interoperability (i.e. "we all use Word" or even "everyone 
uses Word" therefore documents in Word are portable). A clean (X)HTML is 
far more portable than Word at this point.

Another rationale is that "we are dependent on certain processes as they 
are provided in Word" (such as a set of macros or Word's capabilities in, 
for example, cross-referencing), "so we need the stuff in Word". (In a 
weird way, this is the opposite argument: not that you need the stuff to be 
portable, but that you confessedly have a dependency on a proprietary 
format.) If this is the reason, you have more particular problems that may 
be more or less tractable depending on the specific requirements. But as 
was mentioned, Word's HTML import (possibly enhanced through special 
tricks) is strong enough even to handle many of these.

Either way, HTML/CSS may be getting as good even as RTF for Word 
compatibility.
(Would others disagree?) An XSL formatter that would take XSLFO and render 
it into Word or RTF will be a good thing (and if it's well done, profitable 
enough that whoever's doing it may not be making much noise yet). Any Word 
on that front?

Cheers,
Wendell



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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@mulberrytech.com
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