Where can I find good tutorials on XSL-FO (Formatting/ed Objects), the stuff one feeds to fop and get PDF's?

Question

On a company that I've worked, me and my colleagues, implemented a tailored document distribution system on top of XSL-FO.

My task was to get the script to deliver the documents and configure the CUPS print server and the Fax server, so I never had the time to get my hands dirty on XSL-FO.

I'm thinking of implementing something in the region that was made there but I'll need some templates to work with while testing.

Where can I find some good tutorials on XSL-FO, since the fop process I've mastered already?

Solution 1

I like to refer people to this 2003 IBM developerWorks article: HTML to Formatting Objects (FO) conversion guide

I don't recommend using the provided .xsl to convert HTML to FO, but use the narrative to understand the different XSL-FO constructs and how they relate to HTML (which we all understand).

Solution 2

First, before you buy a commercial engine, check out Apache FOP it is a pretty solid XSL-FO engine. I've used it extensively for "government" form generation.

If you're just getting started. W3schools is invaluable in learning XSL-FO: http://www.w3schools.com/xslfo/default.asp

If you're new to XSL, I highly recommend the list @ http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list/index.html, even for just searching for common solutions to common problems.

Solution 3

You can also try a visual xsl-fo designer/editor. If you still want to write XSL by hand, take a look at XSL-FO tutorial from XML 1.1 Bible.

Solution 4

Here is also a good tutorial for newbies in XSL-FO.This document gives a quick, learn-by-example introduction to XSL Formatting Objects. http://www.renderx.com/tutorial.html

Solution 5

I think too that the O'Reilly book is going to be the only one, there isn't much about XSL-FO out there... Frankly I think it's a dead technology, it's just too complex for the average programmer to learn, it takes weeks - plus the good formatters out there are expensive as hell.

This is not an answer to your question, but if anyone would ask me, I'd advise against learning XSL-FO. It's a solutions searching for a problem IMO.

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Comments

[Gut Feeling]

Having templates is just a desired by-product of the learning process.

[Hans Doggen]

Sometimes it helps to see the results of the transformation, as it will add most properties to the FO elements. And it is easier to follow when you want to create tables. But I must admit, I write XSL-FO templates most of the time by hand.

[Gut Feeling]

Thanks, I'll have a look at those!!

[Rafael Almeida]

What would you recommend instead?

[Roel]

Not sure in 2016, maybe use a PDF library and write PDF directly? I haven't dealt with this in many years.

[Rafael Almeida]

I've been researching this for an application, and currently I still haven't found anything in the open source real for PDF generation. FOP has a new version with better XSL-FO support (out early 2016), which alleviates things a bit. There's PrinceXML, which uses HTML + CSS Paged Media, but it's closed source and expensive for most applications. Apart from some SaaS (which can still get quite expensive, but with a lower entry point), there's still little solution for more complex documents, from my current research.