Re: [xsl] relative relative indents

["G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 2006-11-26 00:23 -0800, Bob Stayton wrote:
> Is there a way to form relative relative indents in XSL-FO 1.0?
> Here, the first "relative" means relative to the writing mode, and
> the second "relative" means relative to the containing block.
> I'm trying to create nested indents from nested source elements
> in a language-independent stylesheet, and I'm not finding
> the right property combination.

I can see an object combination and a property combination:

> For example, in left-to-right writing mode, I can use margin-left
> in nested fo:block elements:
>
> <fo:block margin-left="1in">First block.
>  <fo:block margin-left="1in">Second block.
>    <fo:block margin-left="1in">Third block.
>    </fo:block>
>  </fo:block>
> </fo:block>
>
> The third block will be indented 3in from the left region boundary.
>
> But "margin-left" is an absolute property.  If I use this stylesheet
> for a language in writing mode right-to-left, this does not have
> the intended effect.  At first I thought that
> space-start would be the corresponding property that is relative
> to the writing-mode.  But space-start only applies to inline areas,
> not block areas.

But they are relative to the reference area, so you could introduce a 
reference area in each block by a block-container.

> There doesn't seem to be a "margin-start" property, and start-indent
> does not produce the same additive effect.  Is there any way to
> accomplish this nesting of indents without having to resort to
> using nested list-blocks or computing a sum for a start-indent?

Remember that you can express the sum without computing the sum and 
let the FO processor do the computation for you ... will that help?

So, my two suggestions are nested block-containers and arithmetic expression.

Examples below.

I hope this helps, Bob.

. . . . . . . . . . Ken

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="US-ASCII"?><!--raw.fo-->
<root xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format";
      font-family="Times" font-size="20pt">

  <layout-master-set>
    <simple-page-master master-name="frame"
                        page-height="297mm" page-width="210mm"
                        margin-top="15mm" margin-bottom="15mm"
                        margin-left="15mm" margin-right="15mm">
      <region-body region-name="frame-body"/>
    </simple-page-master>
  </layout-master-set>

  <page-sequence master-reference="frame">
    <flow flow-name="frame-body" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format";>
      <block>This is a test with margin-left</block>
<block margin-left="1in">First block.
 <block margin-left="1in">Second block.
   <block margin-left="1in">Third block.
   </block>
 </block>
</block>

      <block>This is a test with start-indent</block>
<block start-indent="1in">First block.
 <block start-indent="1in">Second block.
   <block start-indent="1in">Third block.
   </block>
 </block>
</block>

      <block>This is a test with arithmetic expressions</block>
<block start-indent="1in">First block.
 <block start-indent="1in+1in">Second block.
   <block start-indent="1in+1in+1in">Third block.
   </block>
 </block>
</block>

      <block>This is a test with block containers</block>
<block start-indent="1in">First block.
 <block-container>
   <block start-indent="1in">Second block.
     <block-container>
       <block start-indent="1in">Third block.
       </block>
     </block-container>
   </block>
 </block-container>
</block>

    </flow>
  </page-sequence>
</root>

--
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