Forum Moderators: open
I have a lot of questions about XML and its uses, but would like to start with a basic one.
Is there a place on the web where you can download ready made XML convertors for various formats, say XML to PDF? I have barely started to explore this format, and feel that seeing how it actually works first may be helpful. While I understand that XML is the placeholder for data, I do not understand the process of controlling the presentation of the data (which I understand as being DTDs and schemas?)
Thanks for reading!
You are really looking for XSLT transforms (.xsl files).
I have tried to find ones for MS Docs. Microsoft publishes a few schemas with their Office products, but they are only marginally useful. You still need to write your own transforms.
XSL will only transform to text-based formats. Things like PDF are not so straightforward. You need what's called an "FO Processor" to do that. Most FO processors are Mucho pricey, but there is an Apache version [projects.apache.org] that is "free."
The "free" is in quotes, because it is non-trivial to set up and maintain. We use it to generate PDF docs from our wiki.
If you want to produce "live" PDF, you may be better off simply using something like FPDF [fpdf.org] (I use that as well).
I work with alternative formats for persons with disabilities. There is someone who is pushing for the adoption of the daisy xml standard, which would be great but none of us are familiar with this standard. I realize this is an excellent format for basic text rendering since allows for such a structured presentation. But text-only format serves the needs of about 20% of our clients. Those with learning disabilities, acquired brain injury, physical limitation etc actually use a fully imaged version of print material. I am not sure that daisy can render a complicated textbook properly, atleast not without a separate schema for each book? I have looked at ready-made convertor such as Dolphin Easy convertor, but most will not render images, though images can be made part of the original daisy xml package.
My area is post-secondary education, and for the most part these are very complicated texts with double, and sometimes triple columns. I remain totally baffled about how to render the xml back into an original page form. I keep being told it is a simple process, but everything I have read so far is telling me that it will be actually quite complicated, and probably far beyond our current expertise levels...
So if you remember your textbooks, would there need to be a separate schema for each book? Or can it be one schema will render all? Does anyone have experience with the daisy xml standard who would be willing to talk to me about it?
It sounds like you would have a great deal to contribute to our Accessibility and Usability forum [webmasterworld.com]. You might want to hang out there a bit as well.
Glad to have you on board!
I remain totally baffled about how to render the xml back into an original page form. I keep being told it is a simple process, but everything I have read so far is telling me that it will be actually quite complicated, and probably far beyond our current expertise levels...
XSLT [w3schools.com] will do it if you combine it with CSS for browser-side "pretty printing." XSLT isn't a junior-level language, but it is probably a heck of a lot less onerous than setting up an FO processor.
If you want, I can SM you a site (with its main code as a SourceForge project) that demonstrates XSLT in rendering a search, and then print-specific CSS is used to ensure that search results pages print in a very simple manner.
