Table areas

Hello,

I've (finally) been reading the latest XSL spec. I've got a few
questions or requests for clarification concerning the areas generated
by the fo:table objects.

Question 1.
In 6.7.3 the spec says: "The fo:table formatting object generates one or
more normal block-areas."
Under the "Trait derivation" section it says, "The areas generated by
the fo:table formatting object have a value of "true" for the
is-reference-area."

Does that mean that the area(s) generated by fo:table are really normal
"reference-areas"? That seems more consistent with other parts of the
spec (fo:table-cell and fo:table-caption for example.) Or perhaps table
areas are NOT intended to be reference areas. This actually seems more
reasonable to me, since cells are reference areas.

Question 2.
Also in 6.7.3, the spec says:

"The areas generated by the fo:table formatting object have as children:
  . Areas, with only background, corresponding to the column-groups,
columns, and rows. 
  . Areas returned by the fo:table-cell formatting objects."

But in the sections concerning columns and rows, it clearly says that
these FOs don't directly generate any areas. I interpret this to mean
that any background (and border?) properties specified on columns or
rows affect the appearance of the underlying table grid (as determined
by the z-order). But perhaps this could be made clearer?

Thanks in advance for any explanations,

Karen Lease
klease@club-internet.fr

Received on Wednesday, 26 April 2000 17:49:14 UTC