Re: [xsl] placing graphics side by side with xsl-fo

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

At 2009-11-23 17:07 -0500, Flanders, Charles E (US SSA) wrote:
> I have no real experience with XSL-FO. I've been working on XML to 
> XML transforms. However, I've been asked to modify an XSL-FO 
> stylesheet to display subfigures side by side. Right now they are 
> rendering one over the other.
>
> Essentially, I need each <subfig> to render side by side, not over/under.

If I've understood your code correctly, you've put them each in block 
containers and block containers that are not absolutely positioned 
will stack in the block progression direction.

> Here is the basic XML.
>
> <figure>
> <title>TITLE</title>
> <subfig><graphic boardno="it1235"/></subfig>
> <subfig><graphic boardno="it1234"/></subfig>
> </figure>
>
> The current templates:

... were too confusing to determine your needs for captioning, 
positioning, alignment, etc.

Since graphics are inline constructs, you can put both on the same 
line, say with a half-centimeter separation, as follows:

  <block>
    <external-graphic src='url("it1235")'/>
    <leader leader-length=".5cm"/>
    <external-graphic src='url("it1234")'/>
  </block>

If each sub-figure has independent captioning requirements, then it 
will have to be more elaborate.  Some processors support 
<inline-container> and you can put two of those on a line and in each 
one you can put a line with the figure and other lines with your 
captions.  Without <inline-container> support you might consider 
using a single item list construct to provide the scaffolding for your blocks.

Once you figure out what works, then you can adjust your XSLT accordingly.

When I try to determine what I need in my XSLT I will often write the 
XSL-FO by hand and test it ... which will tell me what constructs I 
need where.  Then I worry about the XSLT to get there.  Take the 
output of what you have now, tweak the end result and test it without 
running XSLT, and then fix the XSLT.

I hope this helps.

. . . . . . . . . . . Ken

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