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ptc-51109021-Visitor
1-Visitor
April 7, 2014
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Incorporate XSL-FO data in ".style" file

  • April 7, 2014
  • 1 reply
  • 2995 views

Hello all.

Is it possible to incorporate XSL-FO data which is created in the other stylesheet tool (e.g. AH Formatter ) to ".style" file for Arbortext Styler?

My idea is to copy and paste some of stylesheet settings written in XSL-FO into a ".style" file.

As some stylesheet settings are difficult to achieve (e.g. bleed tab) by Arbortext Styler UI, I want to reuser the XSL-FO data which I already have in hand.

The output will be PDF, just for your record.

Many thnaks.

Kind regards,

Tomomi

    Best answer by GarethOakes

    Hi Tomomi,

    There are kind of three levels of extra stuff that can be achieved once you hit the limits of Styler:

    1. Source Edits (XSL-FO, FOSI)

    2. Switch to APP engine and use APP source edits

    3. Implement a native APP template

    In the example you give of bleed tabs, I believe this would be best implemented as #2 above.

    Note that APP source edits often require a developer to have a certain level of training or experience to be effective.

    Gareth

    1 reply

    G
    GarethOakes16-Pearl
    16-Pearl
    April 7, 2014

    The Styler .style format is proprietary to Arbortext so styling from other tools cannot be shared directly. You can do source edits, which may be what you are thinking but even then I doubt it will work. While XSL-FO is a standard, each XSL-FO formatting engine has its own peculiarities and extensions. For anything non-trivial you will probably find it won't work to copy/paste source edits from another Style file. (and for anything trivial you shouldn't use source edits anyway)

    To be honest, if you already have AH Formatter and XSL-FO stylesheet(s) you should use AHF for XSL-FO. AHF feature set and standards compliance for XSL-FO far surpasses the Arbortext XSL-FO support.

    If you are finding stylesheets a challenge there are organisations out there who can help. There are a variety of PTC partners with the relevant skillset, one of which is my employer GPSL (www.gpsl.co).

    P
    ptc-51109021-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    April 8, 2014

    Hello Gareth,

    Thank you for your informative advice.

    I was kind of hoping that the copy/paste would work but now I understand it is difficult.

    So if you want to achieve the layouts that cannot be created on the Arbortext Styler UI (e.g. bleed tab), is APP source editting the best way to sort it out? If so, what do you use XSL-FO source editting for?

    My appreciation for your guidance.

    Tomomi

    G
    GarethOakes16-PearlAnswer
    16-Pearl
    April 8, 2014

    Hi Tomomi,

    There are kind of three levels of extra stuff that can be achieved once you hit the limits of Styler:

    1. Source Edits (XSL-FO, FOSI)

    2. Switch to APP engine and use APP source edits

    3. Implement a native APP template

    In the example you give of bleed tabs, I believe this would be best implemented as #2 above.

    Note that APP source edits often require a developer to have a certain level of training or experience to be effective.

    Gareth

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