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I'm looking at technologies for print rendering, and I know there's lots of old print engines around, but I'd like something that is flexible and also gives some sort of standard (which means that rendering gives us options).

XSL-FO seems to stick out like a sore thumb as the technology we should be using, but if there's other options that fit the bill, I'd be interested to hear about them.

Thanks.

Tim Almond
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1 Answers1

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The best XSL-FO engine is Antenna House XSL Formatter. RenderX XEP is also pretty good, Apache FOP is pretty average but you can make it work for simple things.

There is no other "standard" for getting XML into PDF. For SGML there used to be DSSSL. I think some people have also implemented XML->TeX conversion and then use a TeX typesetter. The other (commercial) options off the top of my head are:

  • PrinceXML (XML+CSS)
  • PTC Arbortext (FOSI, XSL-FO and APP/3B2)
  • TurnKey TopLeaf (proprietary)
  • SDL XySoft XPP (proprietary)
  • Typefi (basd on InDesign Server)

I guess if your print publishing is simple enough you could use something like iText to build the PDF using a Java class or something.

ju1ce--
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