Java Tutorial - Java Scipt :
Apache FOP
The Apache FOP (formatting object processor) project consists of specialized XSL transformation objects. These stylesheets help realize much of the theoretical benefits of keeping data in an independent, structured format such as XML. Through the use of FOP, a source document can be transformed to target the needs of the clients. The following table gives a summary of FOP
FOP supports transformation to the following target formats, with more being added continually:
· Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format)
· Hewlett-Packard PCL (Page Control Language)
· PostScript
· SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
· Print (direct to print spool)
· AWT (Abstract Window Toolkit)
· Framemaker MIF (Maker Interchange Format)
· Text
The original source file is marked up in a manner that isn’t concerned about the final presentational elements. Typically, there are two transformation steps:
1. XSLT is used to transform the source file into an XML document that is
properly marked up for presentation. This intermediate XML document
is referred to as the FO (formatting object) document.
2. The FO document is transformed into the final representation via FOP.
