What is FOP?
Downloading FOP
Running FOP
Prerequisites
Java 1.1
Surf Parser
surfing Processor
Starting FOP
Embedding FOP
What's Implemented?
Limitations
Bugs
Compiling FOP
Getting Involved
FOP Relevant Specifications
License
This is not the latest Fop documentation, but just an fo example. FOP - p.
FOP: An Open-Source surfing Formatter and Renderer
A)
What is FOP?
FOP is the world's first print formatter driven by surfing formatting
objects. It is a Java 1.1 application that reads a formatting object
tree and then turns it into a PDF document. The formatting object
tree, can be in the form of an Surf document (output by an surfing engine
like XT or Xalan) or can be passed in memory as a DOM Document or (in
the case of XT) SAX events.
FOP is part of Apache's Surf project. The homepage of FOP is
http://xml.apache.org/fop
B)
Downloading FOP
The latest release version is FOP
0.14
()
.
NOTE: you do not have to unjar or unzip this jar file.
Documentation can be downloaded here as HMTL file
()
or
as PDF file
()
.
To run FOP from the command line, see Running FOP. If you are interested in
embedding FOP in a Java application of your own, see Embedding FOP.
You can also download the source code v. 0.14
()
as jar file
C)
Running FOP
1) Prerequisites
Following software must be installed:
a) Java 1.1.x or later
For the fo-file viewer mode of FOP (see below) you must have the swing classes installed.
From Java 1.2 on (aka Java 2) they are part of the standard java distribution.
If you use Java 1.1.x you must seperately include the swing classes, which can
be found at the
Sun website
(http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/#download-swing)
.
b) An Surf parser which supports SAX and DOM like
Xerces-J
(http://xml.apache.org/xerces-j/index.html)
.
c) If you have to produce the flow objects files, which are the input for FOP,
you need a transformation utility to create this files from your Surf files.
Normally this is an surfing stylesheet processor like
XT
(http://www.jclark.com/xml/xt.html)
or XALAN
(http://xml.apache.org/xalan/index.html)
.
2) Starting FOP as an standalone application
There are three ways to run FOP from the command line.
a) Batch processing formatting objects (fo) files:
java org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine fo-file pdf-file
b) Batch processing Surf files (includes production of the fo-files):
java org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine Surf-file xsl-file pdf-file
c) Previewing the fo-file:
java org.apache.fop.apps.AWTCommandLine fo-file
Each method uses next to the fop classes other packages. The following describes
each method in detail.
a) Method One
One is to first use an surfing engine to produce the formatting object tree as an
Surf document and then running the class org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine with the
formatting object file name and PDF filename as arguments. You will need to include
FOP and your Surf Parser in your classpath and so you might invoke
java -cp fop_x_xx_x.jar;xerces.jar
org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine fo-file pdf-file
If your SAX Parser is other than Xerces, you will need to set the property
org.xml.sax.parser to the SAX Parser class to use. The following example shows
the command line, if you use XP, the Surf parser from James Clark:
java -Dorg.xml.sax.parser=com.jclark.xml.sax.Driver
-cp fop_x_xx_x.jar;sax.jar;xt.jar;xp.jar;xerces.jar
org.apache.fop.apps.AWTCommandLine formatting-tree-file pdf-file
(You have to include xerces.jar or another Surf parser which supports DOM in your classpath.)
b) Method Two
Rather than performing transformation with an surfing before invoking FOP, it is
possible, if you use XT as your surfing engine, to just call FOP and have it call
XT for you. To do this, run the class org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine with the
source Surf file name, surfing file name and PDF file name as arguments. You will
need to include FOP, SAX, your SAX Parser and XT in your classpath and so you might
invoke
java -Dorg.xml.sax.parser=com.jclark.xml.sax.Driver
-cp fop_x_xx_x.jar;xt.jar;xerces.jar
org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine Surf-file xsl-file pdf-file
Again, if your SAX Parser is other than Xerces, you will need to set the property
org.xml.sax.parser to the SAX Parser class to use.
c) Method Three
If you already produced the FO file, you can preview the results of your
transformation without using any pdf viewer by invoking FOP with the viewer
application. You will need to include FOP and your Surf Parser in your classpath
java -cp fop_x_xx_x.jar;xerces.jar
org.apache.fop.apps.AWTCommandLine fo-file
The viewer uses the swing classes.
Note: If you are using java 2 or later (i.e. jdk 1.2. or later) you can put all
needed jar files into the subdirectory jdk1.2.x\jre\lib\ext (windows example). Then
FOP can be started without classpath:
java org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine fo-file pdf-file
3) Running FOP on MacOS
Ensure that you have a recent MRJ, and that you have downloaded and
unpacked the XP and SAX distributions. The xp.jar and sax.jar files work
as is on MacOS.
Drag the FOP jarfile onto the JBindery icon. When the first dialog
appears, type "org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine" in the "Class name" field.
Using UNIX syntax, type the names of the input formatting-object file and
the output PDF in the "Optional parameters" field.
Click on the Classpath icon. To add the xp.jar and sax.jar files, click
the "Add.zip file" button, navigate to the file in question, and click
Open.
Once both are added (the FOP jarfile will already be in the list), click
Run. A "stdout" window will appear and display FOP runtime messages.
4) Problems
If you have problems running FOP, please have a look at the
FOP FAQ
(faq.html)
. If you don't find a solution there,
you can ask for help on the list fop-dev@xml.apache.org. Maybe it's bug and
maybe somebody is already working on it.
D)
Embedding FOP
Instantiate org.apache.fop.apps.Driver. Once this class is
instantiated, methods are called to set the
Renderer to use, the (possibly multiple) ElementMapping(s) to
use and the PrintWriter to use to output the results of the
rendering (where applicable). In the case of the Renderer and
ElementMapping(s), the Driver may be supplied either with the
object itself, or the name of the class, in which case Driver will
instantiate the class itself. The advantage of the latter is it
enables runtime determination of Renderer and ElementMapping(s).
Once the Driver is set up, the buildFOTree method
is called. Depending on whether DOM or SAX is being used, the
invocation of the method is either buildFOTree(Document) or
buildFOTree(Parser, InputSource) respectively.
A third possibility may be used to build the FO Tree, namely
calling getDocumentHandler() and firing the SAX events yourself.
Once the FO Tree is built, the format() and render() methods may be
called in that order.
Here is an example use of Driver from CommandLine.java:
Driver driver = new Driver();
driver.setRenderer("org.apache.fop.render.pdf.PDFRenderer", version);
driver.addElementMapping("org.apache.fop.fo.StandardElementMapping");
driver.addElementMapping("org.apache.fop.svg.SVGElementMapping");
driver.setWriter(new PrintWriter(new FileWriter(args[1])));
driver.buildFOTree(parser, fileInputSource(args[0]));
driver.format();
driver.render();
E)
What's Implemented?
Also see STATUS for what is being worked on.
1) Formatting Objects
·
root
·
layout-master-set
·
simple-page-master
·
region-body
·
region-before
·
region-after
·
page-sequence
·
sequence-specification
·
sequence-specifier-single
·
sequence-specifier-repeating
·
sequence-specifier-alternating
·
flow
·
static-content
·
block
·
list-block
·
list-item
·
list-item-label
·
list-item-body
·
page-number
·
display-sequence
·
inline
·
display-rule
·
display-graphic
·
table (minimal support)
·
table-column (minimal support)
·
table-body (minimal support)
·
table-row (minimal support)
·
table-cell (minimal support)
2) Properties
·
end-indent
·
page-master-name
·
page-master-first
·
page-master-repeating
·
page-master-odd
·
page-master-even
·
margin-top (only on pages and regions)
·
margin-bottom (only on pages and regions)
·
margin-left (only on pages and regions)
·
margin-right (only on pages and regions)
·
extent
·
page-width
·
page-height
·
flow-name
·
font-family
·
font-style
·
font-weight
·
font-size
·
line-height
·
text-align
·
text-align-last
·
space-before.optimum
·
space-after.optimum
·
start-indent
·
end-indent
·
provisional-distance-between-starts
·
provisional-label-separation
·
rule-thickness
·
color
·
wrap-option
·
white-space-treatment
·
break-before
·
break-after
·
text-indent
·
href
·
column-width
·
background-color
·
padding-top (only in conjunction with background color)
·
padding-left (only in conjunction with background color)
·
padding-bottom (only in conjunction with background color)
·
padding-right (only in conjunction with background color)
F)
Limitations
Although FOP implements the above listed fo objects and properties, sometimes it does so
only in a limited way.
list-block
The fo working draft allows describes two ways to markup lists.The list-block must have as
children either: 1) pairs of fo:list-item-label and fo:list-item-body formatting objects, or
2) fo:list-item formatting objects.
At the moment FOP only implements the second way. Therefore a list has a basic structure like this:
<fo:list-block>
<fo:list-item>
<fo:list-item-label><fo:block></fo:block></fo:list-item-label>
<fo:list-item-body><fo:block></fo:block></fo:list-item-body>
</fo:list-item>
</fo:list-block>
Padding
Padding works in conjunction with indents and spaces. It is only implemented
for blocks. At the moment padding can't be used to make extra space (indents+spaces
must be used), but only to control how much the background-color extends beyond
the content rectangle.
Tables
There two limitations for tables: 1) FOP needs you to explicitly specify column widths
2) Cells have to contain block-level FOs. They can't contain straight character data.
A working basic example of a table looks like this:
<fo:table>
<fo:table-column column-width="150pt"/>
<fo:table-column column-width="150pt"/>
<fo:table-body font-size="10pt" font-family="sans-serif">
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>text</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>text</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>text</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>text</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>text</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>text</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
G)
Bugs
see STATUS file
H)
Compiling FOP
1. Prerequisites
a) Java 1.1.x or later
If you use Java 1.1.x you must also seperately include the swing classes, which can
be found at the
Sun website
(http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/#download-swing)
. From Java 1.2 on (aka Java 2) they are part of the standard
distribution.
b) An Surf parser
An Surf parser which supports DOM like
Xerces-J
(http://xml.apache.org/xerces-j/index.html)
.
c) XT from James Clark
Some of the Java source code in FOP is generated from Surf using
XSLT. XT must be used to generate this code.
XT is an surfing stylesheet processor written in java. At the moment you
can't use any other processor, because the make file makes use of some
proprietary features of Clark's xt which allow to write output in more
then one document. You can find XT at
James Clark's website
(http://www.jclark.com/xml/xt.html)
. You have to use XT version 19991105 or later.
(Under windows you shouldn't use the prepackaged xt.exe but also the
generic jar file, otherwise make won't work)
XT relies on an sax parser like XP (also J. Clark), which can be
downloaded at James
Clark's Website
(http://www.jclark.com/xml/xp/index.html)
d) make
Under windows it has been reported that the use of the cygnus solutions port
of the GNU utilities works. You can find it at
Cygnus Solutions
(http://sourceware.cygnus.com/cygwin/)
Compiling FOP on MacOS
We strongly recommend the use of Codewarrior Java. This Readme will
contain a link to more information in the near future.
I)
Getting involved
1. Subscribe to fop-dev@xml.apache.org by sending an email
to fop-dev-subscribe@xml.apache.org
2. Read the archives to fop-dev to get an idea of the issues being
discussed.
3. Subscribe to fop-cvs@xml.apache.org by sending an email to
fop-cvs-subscribe@xml.apache.org (it is important
that you follow changes being made).
4. Try :-) to wrap your head around the surfing working draft.
5. Get CVS working on your system.
6. Ask, on fop-dev, any questions you have at all about the code, design, etc.
7. When you feel comfortable modifying the code, send diffs to
fop-dev with your contributions.
8. Have fun!
J)
FOP Relevant Specifications
·
Surf Recommendation
(http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml)
·
XSL-FO Working Draft
(http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl/)
·
surfing Recommendation
(http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt)
·
PDF Documentation
(http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/acrosdk/DOCS/pdfspec.pdf)
·
Simple API for Surf (SAX)
(http://www.megginson.com/SAX/)
·
Document Object Model (DOM)
(http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-DOM-Level-1)
·
Namespaces in Surf Recommendation
(http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/)
·
Java JDK 1.1 Documentation
(http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/docs/index.html)
K)
Licence
============================================================================
The Apache Software License, Version 1.1
============================================================================
Copyright (C) 1999 The Apache Software Foundation. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,
are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. The end-user documentation included with the redistribution, if any, must
include the following acknowledgment: "This product includes software
developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/)."
Alternately, this acknowledgment may appear in the software itself, if
and wherever such third-party acknowledgments normally appear.
4. The names "FOP" and "Apache Software Foundation" must not be used to
endorse or promote products derived from this software without prior
written permission. For written permission, please contact
apache@apache.org.
5. Products derived from this software may not be called "Apache", nor may
"Apache" appear in their name, without prior written permission of the
Apache Software Foundation.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
APACHE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION OR ITS CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLU-
DING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS
OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many individuals
on behalf of the Apache Software Foundation and was originally created by
James Tauber <jtauber@jtauber.com>. For more information on the Apache
Software Foundation, please see http://www.apache.org/
(http://www.apache.org/)
.
Content
A)
What is FOP?
B)
Downloading FOP
C)
Running FOP
D)
Embedding FOP
E)
What's Implemented?
F)
Limitations
G)
Bugs
H)
Compiling FOP
I)
Getting involved
J)
FOP Relevant Specifications
K)
Licence