Re: [xsl] XSL-FO control over external links

Subject: Re: [xsl] XSL-FO control over external links
From: Abel Braaksma <abel.online@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:28:01 +0200
Hi Cindy,

I think, but am not 100% sure, that this is an Acrobat thing you can't control. I just tried a few documents to see how they acted when I moved away by clicking a link in it and then returning by clicking the Back button. I found the following:

1. In IE, when you select in Cache control "Every visit to the page" under Preferences > General > Settings, it will default back to the top of the page
2. In FF, it seems to remember the page where it was, always
3. When you select a page in IE, move away, select another page in FF, then click 'Back' in IE, it will show the position you last were in FF, not the one from IE.
4. It doesn't matter whether you click on a link or type the link in the browser yourself, both IE and FF always remember the position if configured correctly.


In addition, in FF, when you have 'Open all new windows in a tab', the clicks from PDF will also open in a tab, and in IE, when you have Cache control to lower level, i.e., "Automatically", it will remember the position always.

So, in summary, by a little testing, you can find that each user has its own preferences and the Adobe Acrobat remembers the position for you, regardless what you code.

If you have trouble getting *your* documents to be controlled in the way explained above, it is likely a cache thing. I.e., if your server-side cache-control is set to a very short time interval or even "every visit", then IE nor FF will display the same page again when you click the Back button of the browser (see point (1) above).

It is possible (though highly discouraged outside an intranet) to use EcmaScript inside PDF. If you want additional control you can do whatever you want with it. Though I doubt that many users will like it when you override their preferred settings.

Cheers,
-- Abel Braaksma
  http://www.nuntia.nl

Cindy Hunt wrote:
When I generate a PDF document via XSL-FO (formatted via Antenna House), I have links to some external web sites. When I open the PDF file in Internet Explorer and right-click on the link and say "open in browser", I go to the web page I want. The problem is that when I hit the back button in IE, I go back to the first page of my document instead of the link anchor point. Is there any way to control this behavior in my XSL-FO or is this something that can be set in browser settings?

If I just left-click the link without saying "open in browser", it opens a new IE window to the web page and my document stays at the same point as where I linked from.

Any ideas on getting it to work so that when I just do a regular mouse click on the link, that it doesn't open a new window (the web page fills my document's page) but does return to my link anchor when I hot the back button?

Any ideas appreciated!

Cindy Hunt

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