What XML technology

[Mike King]

I have an XML document that I need to be displayed with a specific
format/layout. I have been using XML for awhile now, but I'm not familiar
with every XML technology out in use. What would be the best XML based
technology to use for display and printing a document. I believe the
technology or XML processor will need to be aware of the printer dimensions
and screen dimensions so that it can format the document accordingly. Any
help guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Chris Huebsch]

Mike King (Wed, 2 Jun 2004 08:45:25 -0400):

I have an XML document that I need to be displayed with a specific
format/layout. I have been using XML for awhile now, but I'm not familiar
with every XML technology out in use. What would be the best XML based
technology to use for display and printing a document. I believe the
technology or XML processor will need to be aware of the printer dimensions
and screen dimensions so that it can format the document accordingly. Any
help guidance would be greatly appreciated.

google for

* xslt (uses to convert xml to any other format)
* xsl:fo (used to decribe visual representations)
* apache fop (used to convert fo to PDF)


Chris

 

[Victor]

Mike King (Wed, 2 Jun 2004 08:45:25 -0400):



google for

* xslt (uses to convert xml to any other format)
* xsl:fo (used to decribe visual representations)
* apache fop (used to convert fo to PDF)

And if you want to display as HTML in browsers, CSS (cascading
stylesheet) is invaluable.

 

[Andy Dingley]

And if you want to display as HTML in browsers, CSS (cascading
stylesheet) is invaluable.

This is potentially misleading. CSS is valuable, yes. However
there's also a way of displaying XML "in a browser" with just CSS and
without XSLT. Experience has shown that this is a poor solution. Go
with XSLT to transform to (X)HTML, then just use CSS to control
presentation. Don't expect CSS alone to handle all of the job.

 

[Victor]

This is potentially misleading. CSS is valuable, yes. However
there's also a way of displaying XML "in a browser" with just CSS and
without XSLT. Experience has shown that this is a poor solution. Go
with XSLT to transform to (X)HTML, then just use CSS to control
presentation. Don't expect CSS alone to handle all of the job.

Of course. I should have mentioned it.

Use XML to save your data, XSLT to transform into any format you want,
and if the format is XHTML, use CSS to style it.

 

[Speck]

I have an XML document that I need to be displayed with a specific
format/layout. I have been using XML for awhile now, but I'm not familiar
with every XML technology out in use. What would be the best XML based
technology to use for display and printing a document. I believe the
technology or XML processor will need to be aware of the printer dimensions
and screen dimensions so that it can format the document accordingly. Any
help guidance would be greatly appreciated.

An option to look at is IBM developerWorks open-source Toot-o-matic tool
(http://www-136.ibm.com/developerworks/).

For example, all their developerWorks tutorials are held as plain XML. From
this starting point they are converted (via XSLT) to HTML, ZIP files, or
A4/Letter PDF documents (via XSLT and XSL-FO) on the fly as requested.

Speck.

 

[Saqib Ali]

I have an XML document that I need to be displayed with a specific

format/layout. I have been using XML for awhile now, but I'm not familiar
with every XML technology out in use. What would be the best XML based
technology to use for display and printing a document. I believe the
technology or XML processor will need to be aware of the printer dimensions

Apache Cocoon ( http://cocoon.apache.org/ )

example(s): http://www.xml-dev.com/blog/#88

In Peace,
Saqib Ali
http://validate.sf.net