Re: [xsl] Converting XML into ODT document to print as paper

["Manuel Souto Pico terminolator@xxxxxxxxx" <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks, Andre.

In the XML -> XSLT -> HTML + CSS/JS path, I was assuming it would be
possible to print directly from the browser, in which case printing to an
offline PDF file wouldn't be necessary. If it is not possible to print
directly from the browser and it's necessary to create the PDF file, that
wouldn't be a problem, but I as far as I am concerned, that step can be
spared unless it is not skippable.

Cheers, Manuel

Andre Cusson akhu01@xxxxxxxxx <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
escreveu no dia segunda, 28/09/2020 C (s) 16:40:

> When you follow the XML -> XSLT -> HTML + CSS/JS path, you can still print
> to PDF
> There is potentially some manual work required, but it is a quick and easy
> fix if the volume is "reasonable".
> Other paths may be more appropriate in most cases.
>
>
> Le ven. 25 sept. 2020 C  07:32, Manuel Souto Pico terminolator@xxxxxxxxx <
> xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> a C)crit :
>
>> Thank you so much everyone for all the suggestions. They help a lot, I
>> have what I needed.
>>
>> In the end it seems my initial idea (ODT output) is not the best approach
>> at all.
>>
>> Some clarification: I don't need the final document to be modified. I
>> said ODT/OOXML because I assumed it's easier to convert to that than to
>> PDF. And ideally there should be no hand intervention other than for
>> printing, so a final-final result out of the pipeline.
>>
>> So it seems these are my options:
>> * XML -> XSLT -> FODT -> PDF
>> * XML -> XSLT -> HTML + CSS/JS ( and print directly, I suppose)
>> * XML -> XSL-FO -> PDF
>> * XML -> XSLT -> LaTeX -> PDF
>>
>> Some good pointers to things worth exploring:
>> * https://www.pagedjs.org and aged-media CSS (new to me)
>> * XSL-FO (I had heard about it before)
>>
>> Also very interesting (but more specific and perhaps more advanced for my
>> meager CSS skills):
>> * https://vivliostyle.org/
>> * https://github.com/flyingsaucerproject/flyingsaucer
>>
>> >> Open/Libre Office also has a single-file XML format that you can use
>> for this purpose.
>>
>> I saw that LO's Writer can save as a FODT (F stands for "flat xml"), I
>> guess this is what you Willem and Wendell meant (thanks for that!). I
>> easily created a quick and dirty template in XSL to produce a FODT which
>> looks quite good, so that's the trick as PoC. Probably it shouldn't be too
>> difficult to convert to PDF without having to open the file in LO, but
>> that's fine.
>>
>> >> LaTeX
>>
>> I know some LaTeX and I used it to craft my thesis and my cv (
>> http://msoutopico.es/cv). It would have never crossed my mind that it
>> could be used for this, but it doesn't seem a bad idea at all! Good tip,
>> thanks Peter! (And great sample, you nail it).
>>
>> Thank you again. Have a great weekend.
>> Cheers, Manuel
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Peter Flynn peter@xxxxxxxxxxx <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> escreveu no dia quinta, 24/09/2020 C (s) 17:25:
>>
>>> On 24/09/2020 08:57, Manuel Souto Pico terminolator@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
>>> > I would need to convert XML to something that has a fixed page layout
>>> > ready to print, like ODT/OOXML or PDF.
>>>
>>> Do you want other people to be able to edit the result? ODT/OOXML are
>>> designed to be editable; PDF is not.
>>>
>>> > I know OOXML is complex, but since the final document needs to be
>>> > printed and keep the same layout, probably HTML output is not good for
>>> > this (I guess!).
>>>
>>> A good web designer can probably create a layout that looks the same and
>>> honours the paged-media CSS, but I don't think there are any guarantees.
>>>
>>> > What I need at the moment is just a quick and dirty proof of concept
>>> > to show that this conversion is feasible and not too difficult, to
>>> > show it to decision makers (I'm not a XSLT developer myself).
>>>
>>> XSLT will certainly be involved IMNSHO. My personal preference would be
>>> XML > LaTeX > PDF but not everyone knows LaTeX.
>>>
>>> > My first thought was to unzip the ODT model I have, look at the
>>> > content.xml inside and then try to transform my XML into that same
>>> > structure (as suggested here:
>>> >
>>>
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38298174/directly-convert-a-single-xml-fi
le-to-docx).
>>>
>>>
>>> That is indeed possible. Just complicated.
>>>
>>> > However, probably that's the hard way...
>>>
>>> You spotted it :-)
>>>
>>> > I'm doing some research, any tips or pointers or advice or
>>> > recommendation or examples here would be highly appreciated. Is there
>>> > any best practice to do this? or a ready-made solution?
>>>
>>> I did a quick test just now and the results are at
>>> http://xml.silmaril.ie/software
>>>
>>> Peter
>>>
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