RE: AHF JobOptions for getting Area Tree

On Thu, February 27, 2014 6:36 pm, Kevin Brown wrote:
> Thank you Tony, that is completely understandable now.

Good to hear.

> Next question: Where is the list of functions planned/done so I can see if
> those I see as valuable are already implemented?

I think you give us too much credit.  What we have now is very ad hoc and
made up to support the examples.  As I realised on Tuesday [1], it doesn't
even support all of the examples, and Markus has a variant of the
ppl:area-tree() function that also takes a config file [2] that currently
only exists on the .NET version.

I have tried to get discussion started on what the useful functions would
be [3], so you're more than welcome to provide your list.

> A few come to my mind we have done in the past that could have possibly
> been
> done this way (although all of these can be done in a single pass of the
> area tree after the entire composition):
>
> 1) Nudging/feathering pages (make all lines of all pages end at the bottom
> margin, usually not the last and within some tolerance)
> 2) Rounded corner boxes mapping area tree rect to SVG and applying any
> other
> properties like gradients
> 3) Applying gradients to spans of text by substituting SVG for the text
> area

Those first three are things that I, at least, would want to see built
into a formatter rather than having to do them by post-processing. 
Feathering was in the XSL-FO 2.0 requirements [4], and I had thought it
was in Latinreq [5] but it seems that it, like current CSS discussion, has
gone for baseline grids rather than just doing feathering.  Rounded
corners [6] were also in the 2.0 requirements and are in CSS.  Gradients
aren't called out in the 2.0 requirements, though you might be able to
argue that they're covered under "Color support" [7].

> 4) Bookfolding (combining pages for professional duplex printing like 4-1,
> 2-3)
> 5) n-up processing

You could also do those by post-processing PDF or PostScript or with JDF,
and, again, you could say they were covered by the XSL 2.0 requirements.

> 6) Transpromotional advertising that is not a simple image fit, instead it
> is a separate composition run composing advertisements that fit within the
> available white space on dynamic pages (like bank statements)

I'm not sure I understand 'transpromotional', but it sounds like something
where the extension function would be a good fit.

> For those interested in doing something with RenderX, I am happy to
> provide
> licenses and guidance.

Personally, it's finding the time that's the hard part, but hopefully
someone can take you up on your offer.

> Perhaps persons interested can contact me with their desire (.NET, Java)
> and
> I will issue keys and instructions along with API documentation? Is that
> the
> process here or other, I can do it anyway you like but our preference is
> single key(s) to a person.

Any process we have is likewise ad hoc.  AFAIK, no-one is tasked to work
on this, so people have worked on this as they've had the time or
inclination, so growth has been somewhat 'organic' rather than being part
of a process.

> Like the questions on .NET -- RenderX's XEPWin has a .NET API that can be
> used pass an FO and return the area tree.

It would be interesting to have an extension function that works across
three FO formatters.  It also makes me wonder at what point it becomes
useful to have a common area tree format returned by the functions to
further insulate stylesheet writers from implementation details.

Regards,


Tony.

 --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  -- --
Mentea       XML, XSL-FO and XSLT consulting, training and programming

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-ppl/2014Feb/0039.html
[2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-ppl/2014Feb/0042.html
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-ppl/2014Feb/0033.html
[4] http://www.w3.org/TR/xslfo20-req/#feathering
[5] http://w3c.github.io/dpub-pagination/
[6] http://www.w3.org/TR/xslfo20-req/#N67092
[7] http://www.w3.org/TR/xslfo20-req/#N67097
[8]

Received on Friday, 28 February 2014 00:14:18 UTC