How should a formatter work?

Hi All,
	I have a question related to the way in which any formatter which
supports transformation from FO to it's style (like PDF by FOP or RTF by
JFor) should do the formatting. Suppose I have the FO file in the following
structure.

<fo:root>
	<fo:layout-master-set>
		<fo:simple-page-master master-name="FIRST_SM"/>
		<fo:simple-page-master master-name="SECOND_SM"/>
		<fo:simple-page-master master-name="THIRD_SM"/>
		
		<fo:page-sequence-master master-name="FIRST_PSM">
//STEP 1
			<fo:single-page-master master-reference="FIRST_SM">
			<fo:repeatable-page-master
master-reference="SECOND_SM">
		</fo:page-sequence-master >

		<fo:page-sequence-master master-name="SECOND_PSM">
//STEP2
			<fo:single-page-master master-reference="SECOND_SM">
			<fo:repeatable-page-master
master-reference="THIRD_SM">
		</fo:page-sequence-master >
	</fo:layout-master-set>

	<fo:page-sequence master-reference="SECOND_PSM">
//STEP3
	.
	.
	.
	</fo:page-sequence>

	<fo:page-sequence master-reference="FIRST_PSM">
//STEP4
	.
	.
	.
	</fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>

		How should the formatter process this file? 
		To my understanding, the formatter first goes to the first
fo:page-sequence, gets the master-reference as SECOND_PSM, then go to the
page sequence master with master-name as SECOND_PSM, instantiate pages
according to the sequence specified and then fill their content with the
content that page sequence. Then it goes to the second fo:page-sequence and
get it's master name as FIRST_PSM, then go to the page sequence master with
master name FIRST_PSM, instantiates the pages in that order and fill the
content with this page sequences content. Is this the way in which a
formatter has to work. 
		So step wise, it goes in the following way:
			STEP3 to STEP2 and then STEP4 to STEP1
		I can also think of another way in which a formatter can
work. Like, it can first go the first page sequence master, get it's master
name as FIRST_PSM, then check for the first occurence of the page sequence
with that master name (FIRST_PSM) and then fill the contents of this page
sequence. 
		So step wise, it goes in the following way.
			STEP1 to STEP4 and then STEP2 to STEP3
	Can someone please help me out in this?
	Thanks,

Regards
Kalyan.


This message is confidential and may also be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify us immediately. You should not copy it or use it for any purpose, nor disclose it's contents to any other person. The views and opinions expressed in this e-mail message are the author's own and may not reflect the views and opinions of Wilco International.

Received on Tuesday, 19 February 2002 07:35:47 UTC