XSL Formatter V2 Q&A

We have implemented TeX hyphenation algorithm in XSL Formatter. You need hyphenation pattern XML file for the language you are formatting. Included with Formatter is only one US-English hyphenation pattern that is converted from PlainTeX hyphenation pattern to XML format.

Antenna House started selling XSL Formatter Hyphenation Option that doesn't depend on hyphenation algorithm of TeX. This option makes it possible to hyphenate 40 or more languages without preparing the dictionaries by yourself. Please visit our Website for more details at: http://www.antennahouse.com/product/hyphenation.htm.

XSL Formatter uses XML DOM parser and XSLT processor function in Microsoft MSXML3.dll. You cannot change the DOM parser part, but you may change XSLT processor part to other XSLT processors than MSXML3.dll.

You can get MSXML3.dll, Microsoft XML Parser Version3 as an actual name, out of charge. Click MSXML Parser 3.0 Service Pack 1 Release to get it.

Yes, you can. Please refer to [Formatter]-[Formatter Options]-[XSLT Processor tab] in XSL Formatter GUI.

It is the precondition that the HTML file is up to the standard of XML well-formed files. Then, make an XSLT stylesheet that transforms HTML tags into XSL-FO. You will display your HTML files by XSL Formatter. Please note, in HTML, you can omit the end tags, but this file is not a well-formed XML file. First you have to modify your HTML file so that it becomes a well-formed XML file.

Not completely in the version V2. It conforms to most of the Basic level of XSL V1.0 Recommendation, to a part of Extended. Although conformance level has improved from V1.1, there still remain not implemented items in XSL Specification.

You can specify the font family, the font size as the properties of fo:block elements, fo:inline elements in XSL-FO file. If there are no font names that you specify in Windows when XSL Formatter works, alternative generic font is applied.

You have to write the reference file in <fo:external-graphic src="url(URL of the file)"/>. Some graphic files such as WMF, EMF is shown without Internet Explorer, but for other Graphic files, you have to install Internet Exploler5.0 or later, install the plug-in for your file format. Remember that it may not work well according to the plug-in.

No. I regret to say that TeX is not supported.

Yes. AXFO.dll does not depend on the languages in Windows. There are both English and Japanese strings in one DLL, Japanese messages appear in Japanese Windows, and English messages appear in other Windows.

If you specify Adobe Acrobat Distiller or Acrobat PDF Writer as Windows printer driver when printing, you can get a PDF file with XSL Formatter. Furthermore, from V2.2 Antenna House original "PDF Output Option" was added. If you use XSL Formatter PDF Output Option, you don't have to use Acrobat Distiller or Acrobat PDF Writer.

Yes. Actually XSL Formatter automatically selects the XML parser according to the following steps.

1. Find MSXML 4.0. If it is installed use it as XML parser.
2. Find MSXML 3.0. If it is installed use it as XML parser.
3. Find old MSXML. If it is installed use it as XML parser. (In this case, XSLT transformation will not work correctly.)

Therefore it is unnecessary to specify XML parser in COM interface.

Yes. XSL Formatter automatically distinguishes between .fo file and .xml file. If the contents of file are Formatting Objects, XSL Formatter reads the file directly.

XSL Formatter V2 is not a GUI based XSLFO authoring tool yet. With the release of V2, We added more powered functions for formatting and printing XSLFO and outputting to PDF.

Yes. XSL Formatter is designed as a multi-threaded application (apartment thread model).

XSL Formatter V2 can increase its processing speed by getting extra memory, by increasing CPU speed of the system. However we have no idea except for that.

XSL Formatter V3 modified the architecture of a program, and accelerated formatting sharply. However, the size of the memory used is dependent on the structure of FO.

Since XSL Formatter V3 outputs PDF from the page which fo:page-number-citation solved, and delete the outputted page data from the memory. Therefore, though its number of pages increases, the size of the memory used does not increase.

However, when a table of contents is on the top of document and fo:page-number-citation refers to the last page, the size of the memory use increases according to the number of pages.

The limitation on Window95/98/ME is as follows:

1. Only reference-orientation="0" is effective.
2. The paper size of A4 or less and letter are supported. If you specify the paper size except for the above size, the over-flow error will occur on XSL Formatter.

By our in-house measurement, we only know XSL Formatter can format 10,000 pages of text only FO. If tables are included, the limitation is smaller. More over, if the graphics are included, the limitation is much smaller. We recognize this is the weak point of XSL Formatter V2.

XSL Formatter uses Windows API to calculate the line spacing.

The value gotten from Windows API in Windows 98 is not accurate. There is a difference between the value gotten in Win98 and in Win2000/XP. The formatted result in Win2000/XP is correct.

The problem of getting inaccurate value of line spacing is a restriction when execute formatting in Windows95/98/Me.

No. We have no such data sheets so far. Please understand that XSL Formatter reads all the information to be formatted in memory once, and starts formatting. The memory information is held until the formatting ends. So there is a possibility that the memory shortage may be occurred if the XML file or the formatted result is big.

By our in-house measurement, we only know XSL Formatter can format 10,000 pages of text only FO. If tables are included, the limitation is smaller. More over, if the graphics are included, the limitation is much smaller. Suppose one page has one table and two images, the maximum volume might be 2,000 pages. We recognize this is the weak point of XSL Formatter V2.

The text-transform property is supported from XSL Formatter V2.3. Also you can get the same result by using XPath translate function in the stylesheet.

No, both are impossible.

For example, in the markup you might have:

<para><changed>this is changed</changed> this is not changed</para>

and in the presentation you want to have something like this:

|   this is changed
    this is not changed

From V2.5 the function of revision bar is supported as Antenna House XSL extension. Please refere to the XSL Formatter Online Manual for more details.

XSL Formatter formatting engine (AXFO.dll) is developed by using C++, GUI is developed by using Delphi.

No，AIX is not supported. We are developing Solaris version. (Release date undecided.)

XSL Formatter V2 is Windows version only.

XSL Formatter V3 are releasing Windows version, Solaris version and Linux version.

Please refer to the following URL:
http://www.antennahouse.com/product.htm

From V2.3, XSL Formatter implements the FLOAT object.

In the evaluation version, background image of evaluation version is shown at the first page of the formatted result, Antenna House URL (watermark) is shown below in the page. The product version doesn't have a watermark. There is no difference in the spec of XSL Formatter between them.

It's not a bug. From V2.3 Maintenance Release 1, the hyphenation functionality is upgraded and the hyphenation frequency is increased. Also the hyphenation-ladder-count property is newly implemented.

Therefore if the document contains the hyphenation process, the formatted result may be changed as compared to the former one. As the result, if the document has multiple pages, there may be a possibility that the total number of document pages may be changed.

Yes. You may specify to print partially, printing time or time needed for creation PDF becomes smaller. But you may not specify to format the partial pages. In XSL Formatter V2, after finishing all pages, printing process starts.

Formatter does not have the function to output "crop mark" to document.

It's all right. Each process generates the separate AXFO.dll instance through COM. These are running independently. Also as far as there is no competing material in the scheduling of Windows process, both runs parallel with each other.

When there are plenty of fo:inline as child elements of fo:block, the procedure may exit because of the stack overflow. Please think of this point.

If you still have problem, memory of the system is not sufficient. Please be aware of the amount of memory.

It was a bug of XSL Formatter until V2.3. The position of list-item-label processed by end-indent="label-end()"may be based on the width of region-body of the page before braking when the pagenation has different width of region-body in odd pages and even pages.

This problem was fixed with XSL Formatter V2.4.

This problem was fixed with XSL Formatter V2.4.

When border is specified using the shorthand property 'border-top' and 'border-bottom', 'border-before-width.conditionality', 'border-after-width.conditionality="retain' are not effective.

There was a bug of XSL Formatter until V2.3. in the precedence order of the shorthand, the absolute and the relative properties. When both the absolute and the relative properties are specified, such like 'border-top-width' and 'border-before-width', the absolute property takes precedence.

However, if the absolute property 'border-top-width' is the expansion of a shorthand property 'border-top', the rule in W3C Recommendation gives precedence to the relative property. Please also see 5.3.1 Border and Padding Properties.

However, a bug is in this process, and then the shorthand property 'border-top' takes precedence over the border-before-width property.

In order to avoid this behavior please don't use the shorthand property and specify the border-before-xxx , the border-after-xxx. properties to create border.

The function of 'error-if-overflow' takes the same process as 'auto' in XSL Formatter. This is a limitation of XSL Formatter.

This problem was fixed with XSL Formatter V2.4.

See also the sample below:

<fo:flow flow-name="frame-body" font-family="Times" font-size="20pt">
<fo:block>This is line one</fo:block>
<fo:block>This is <j:junk xmlns:j="junk"/> line two</fo:block>
<fo:block>This is line three</fo:block>
</fo:flow>

Properly speaking, only 'j:junk' that is not FO namespase should be ignored and the formatted result should be shown as follows:

This is line one
This is line two
This is line three

However, current XSL Formatter ignores the text of the block coming after 'j:junk'.

This is line one
This is
This is line three

XSL Formatter places a footnote on the next page when the footnote cannot be placed on the same page as an anchor when processing before-float and footnote.

When an anchor of the footnote is in the block of the page, XSL Formatter moves the footnote to the next page because if the footnote is placed on the same page as anchor, it crosses over the block where the anchor exists.

Also the position of the anchor is one line before the block, if a footnote is placed, the page may have to break. In the case XSL Formatter breaks a page.

We already aware of this situation. It's a XSL Formatter's specification.

Unfortunately the function of generating the area tree is available only for GUI in XSL Formatter.

It's impossible with XSL Formatter. Actually, the 'font-stretch' property in XSL-FO is available for specifying the width of fonts. However, XSL Formatter V2.x has not implemented this property yet.

We are under consideration if XSL Formatter can implement this property in the future version.

In XSL Formatter V3.1, the font-stretch is implemented. Moreover, percent value is available as extended specifications.

It's impossible. We will investigate if it is possible to implement.

XSL Formatter Java classes, methods were named based on the properties of XSL Formatter COM Interface. For that reason, they are out of Java naming rules saying: 'Methods should be verbs, in mixed case with the first letter lowercase, with the first letter of each internal word capitalized'.

Actually the point is supposed to be modified. However having in mind that people use these already, we hope to understand that it's a limitation of current XSL Formatter.

From XSL Formatter V2.4, Maintenance service started. You need to have XSL Formatter V2.4 maintenance service key installed in addition to user license separately. If maintenance service key is not installed, it is equivalent to evaluation copy.

We have sent file of maintenance service key for customers who purchased XSL Formatter after November 1, 2001. When you upgrade XSL Formatter to V2.4, please install the maintenance license key.

We also have sent information on maintenance service and application form for customer who purchased XSL Formatter before October 31, 2001. Please confirm it and subscribe to maintenance service. We will send maintenance license key for subscribers.

No, it is not possible with XSL Formatter.

The main purpose to distribute Evaluation version is to allow the user to test the functionality of XSL Formatter in order to get more sense of the produce. However, we prohibit any user without obtaining the permission from Antenna House to utilize Evaluation version for commercial purpose. The details of commercial purpose includes following items,

1. To use evaluation version for the purpose of software development such as development of prototype;
2. To copy and distribute XSL Formatter program;
3. To format XML Documents for any customers;
4. To do development service of XSLT Stylesheet for customers;

We have not tried PHP with XSL Formatter yet. However, we will consider this issue.

When we try PHP, We will add the result of this issue to our FAQ.

It's impossible to change the writing-mode in the mid-stream of flow. It's a limitation of XSL Formatter. However there is a room for improving the formatted result. We are considering this issue for the future plan.

When the table goes across the plural pages, the height of region-body after the following page becomes the same as the first page. This is a restriction of XSL Formatter.

We will consider this problem to be improved in the future.

In your FO,

<fo:simple-page-master master-name="Pagemaster">
<fo:region-body column-count="2" />
</fo:simple-page-master>
(syncopation)
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="Pagemaster>
(syncopation)

<fo:block span="all" keep-with-previous.within-page="always"/>
</fo:page-sequence>

According to the formatted result, the page ends just before the last fo:block. However, as the last fo:block is empty, which means the height is 0 and also as keep-with-previous.within-page="always" is specified, it should be outputted at the end of the same page.

In spite of that, this blank fo:block is outputted to the next page. As the result, white extra page is generated.

This is a bug of XSL Formatter up to V2.4MR1. It was fixed with V2.5.

Fo:retrieve-marker is replaced with the contents of fo:marker where condition is the same. At that time when fo:marker is not a child of fo:flow, and fo:leader exists in fo:marker, there may be a little possibility that the content of fo:marker is not outputted correctly under various conditions.

For example, there is a possibility of inheriting the property of the ancestor of fo:marker, or sometimes portion of contents are missing. This is a bug of XSL Formatter. To avoid this phenomenon, please specify fo:marker as a child of fo:flow. In addition, when fo:marker is used as the block element, you also can avoid this phenomenon by surrounding the contents of fo:marker with fo:block. This problem was corrected with V2.5.

This problem was fixed with XSL Formatter V2.5 Maintenance Release 1.

However the height of region-body of page-position="last" is much smaller that the page where rest is specified, the last page of region-body may be generated as empty.

This problem is a bug of XSL Formatter. Please use fo:block for the child element of fo:marker. And, please input fo:table in the fo:block.

We fixed this problem in the Maintenance Relase 2 version of XSL Formatter.

This happens when two fonts are specified for font-family and both were fonts that support the Latin alphabet (same script).

XSL Formatter distinguishes the script from the text. And, the font to which the script is supported is selected. When the character in block that belongs to a specific script, the script of the previous character is considered to be continuous. Therefore, if the first font doesn't have glyph for this character, it is output by the first font.

This is a limitation of XSL Formatter.

There is no difference in the accuracy of a hyphenation between "Hyphenation Option" and the standard "hyphenation dictionary" of XSL Formatter.

merit:

• It is not necessary to prepare a dictionary for every language. (It can correspond to 40 or more languages only as this option)
• This option also supports hyphenation which includes spelling changes when a hyphen is placed. In the standard hyphenation dictionary, it is not supported.
• Since the processing of reading a hyphenation dictionary is not necessary, processing time is shortened somewhat.

demerit:

• Hyphenation Option does not read the standard "hyphenation dictionary" for XSL Formatter. Therefore, Hyphenation Option does not read the exception dictionary data which you prepared.

This problem occurs because the printer's buffer is full and the 'finish printing' message doesn't reach to XSL Formatter from the printer. It can be removed by changing the property of the printer as follows:

1. Open the property of your printer.
2. Click the Advances tag.
3. Change the setting from 'Print directly to the printer' to 'Spool print document so program finishes printing faster'.

Unfortunately it is impossible to execute Logging by using command line interface or COM interface of XSL Formatter V2.

The command line interface of XSL Formatter V3 outputs error message to the stdout or stderr. Please get this.

It is possible to get an error code / error message with an event/property in COM/.NET/Java interface of XSL Formatter V3. Please get error information by using these.

Take the following manual steps.

1. Please try to register AXFOGRA.dll manually, using Regsvr32.exe.

   Change the current folder to the install folder of XSL Formatter.

   (Windows System Folder Path)\Regsvr32.exe AXFOGRA.dll

2. If it displays error message "WININET.DLL could not be found..", please check if IE is installed correctly. WININET.DLL is installed with IE. AXFOGRA.dll needs WININET.DLL.

This is the problem of installshield. Please refer to the following address, and try again.

• http://support.installshield.com/kb/view.asp?pcode=CLASS630PEE&articleid=Q104985

You can get a server license of XSL Formatter. It's a license that is used by installing into the server computer. When you use the function of XSL Formatter from your client computer that is connected to the server computer through network, there are no number limit of the client computers to be connected.

You can use XSL Formatter V2.2 by incorporating it into your application. In this case XSL Formatter server license is necessary if your application is for server use. Also, you need a stand-alone license if your application is for stand-alone use. Furthermore, one license is necessary for one CPU which runs an application.

Our company provides the Formatter engine (AXFO.dll) for OEM. In order to duplicate and provide it with your application, you need to contract a OEM license agreement with Antenna House. For your specific pricing and purchase information, please inquire us at info@antennahouse.com.

Yes. PDF Output Option is designed to be used with XSL Formatter. Actually it consists of two modules, namely PDFcreator.dll and AXFOPDF.dll. pdfcreator.dll is our original PDF generating library. Antenna House begins to OEM supplies PDFcreator library in Japanese market from April. If you are interested in using our library, please contact us.

Remark: There is the same name product "PDFCreator" from other company, but our library has no relation with it.

PDF Output Option is an option for each license. If you are interested in standalone license, you can also add on PDF output option as an additional client license.

We can provide it for the customer who contracts a OEM license agreement with Antenna House or who purchases SDK (Software Development Kit) license. Please inquire us at info@antennahouse.com.

XSL Formatter Server license is necessary when you use it on a server. Also, Adobe Acrobat Distiller is necessary for embedding vector graphics in PDF. Our PDF Output Option converts all vector images to raster image, so you may not use PDF Output Option.

Therefore the only solution for your purpose shall be:

"XSL Formatter Server License + Acrobat Distiller Server License"

In this solution, you may embed EPS vector (postscript images) into PDF.

For server use:

• If you want to use XSL Formatter on a server, you need a server license.
• If you develop an application by integrating XSL Formatter into systems for your customers, and want to use Active Interface, you need a SDK (developer) license.
• If you want to use COM Interface, SDK license is not necessary. A server license will be enough.

Note: Server license doesn't include PDF Option. If you want to use PDF Option, please order PDF Option separately.

No. We have no plan to release Macintosh version of XSL Formatter so far.

For XSL Formatter V2:

It can be confirmed in the dialog of "About XSL Formatter" of "Help" menu.

The LEADTOOLS library is not included in the package of SDK. Therefore if you can not see the description of the copyright of LEADTOOLS there, XSL Formatter which you are using is XSL Formatter SDK. However, if you can see the description of the copyright of LEADTOOLS there, XSL Formatter which you are using is not XSL Formatter SDK.

In addition, if you find "SDKReadme.txt" in installation folder of XSL Formatter, XSL Formatter which you are using is XSL Formatter SDK.

For XSL Formatter V3:

If you find "Readme-SDK.txt" in installation folder of XSL Formatter, XSL Formatter which you are using is XSL Formatter SDK.