FOP: An Open-Source XSL Formatter and Renderer

+ What is FOP?

FOP is the world's first print formatter driven by XSL formatting objects. It is a Java 1.1 application that reads a formatting object @@ -51,7 +53,11 @@ Usage of attributes: 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. From Java 1.2 on (aka Java 2) they are part of the standard + distribution. +

b) An XML parser @@ -93,6 +99,12 @@ Usage of attributes: 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. +

b) An XML parser which supports SAX and DOM like Xerces-J.

c) If you have to produce the flow objects files, which are the input for FOP, @@ -104,8 +116,8 @@ Usage of attributes:

2) Starting FOP as an standalone application -

There are three ways of running FOP from the command line.

a) Batch processing formatting object files:

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 xml files (includes production of the fo-files):

java org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine xml-file xsl-file pdf-file

@@ -118,17 +130,18 @@ Usage of attributes:

One is to first use an XSLT engine to produce the formatting object tree as an XML 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, SAX and your SAX Parser in your classpath and so you might invoke + FOP and your XML Parser in your classpath and so you might invoke

java -cp fop_x_xx_x.jar;sax.jar;xp.jar

org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine formatting-tree-file pdf-file

If your SAX Parser is other than XP, you will need to set the property +

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 Xerces, the xml parser from xml.apache.org: + the command line, if you use XP, the XML parser from James Clark:

java -Dorg.xml.sax.parser=org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser

-cp fop_x_xx_x.jar;xerces.jar

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 xml parser which supports DOM in your classpath.)

b) Method Two @@ -139,9 +152,10 @@ Usage of attributes: need to include FOP, SAX, your SAX Parser and XT in your classpath and so you might invoke

java -cp fop_x_xx_x.jar;sax.jar;xp.jar;xt.jar

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 xml-file xsl-file pdf-file

Again, if your SAX Parser is other than XP, you will need to set the property +

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.

@@ -149,9 +163,11 @@ Usage of attributes: 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, SAX and your SAX Parser in your classpath + application. You will need to include FOP and your XML Parser in your classpath

java org.apache.fop.apps.AWTCommandLine formatting-tree-file

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: @@ -159,6 +175,14 @@ Usage of attributes:

java org.apache.fop.apps.CommandLine fo-file pdf-file