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Posted to fop-users@xmlgraphics.apache.org by Clifton Craig <cc...@icsaward.com> on 2006/06/20 16:27:45 UTC
I need help with an XSL-FO solution
Hello all,
I've started a project involving rather complicated FOP generation. I have the
details on what exactly I'm trying to do on my weblog here:
http://codeforfun.wordpress.com/2006/06/12/new-xml-grammar/
In short, I'm writing a stylesheet that transforms a custom XML grammar into
XSL-FO stylesheets. These generated XSL-FO stylesheets (XSLT templates that
generate raw FO using input XML) will be used to process an input XML and
generate PDFs. My current problem regards unit testing pieces of my solution.
I currently need a way to validate first the XSL-FO that I generate and
secondly validate the FO that the generated XSL-FO creates. I'm doing a lot
of manual work right now to acheive this. What I do is load a sample of my
custom XML grammar (I call it SSML) into a TrAX transform with my
SSMLStylesheet. (That's what generates the XSL-FO.) I diff it against a
golden copy of what I believe the output XSL-FO should look like. I've also
been separately testing the golden copy to make sure it actually works and
generates a PDF when run against FOP.
I desparately need a way to streamline the entire process. I want to enahnce
the golden copy and have an automated test verify that the changes I make
still generate valid FO syntax. I also want to verify the output of my
SSMLStylesheet is valid XSLT before diff'ing it against my golden copy. I'm
also having a little trouble with XMLUnit doing diffs. I've gotten spoiled
with Idea's auto-diff on failed String assertions in junit tests, so when I
see the messages generated by XMLUnit it takes a moment to decipher what's
actually wrong. What I've been doing is trapping the XMLDiff
AssertionFailedException and doing an assertEquals on the two XML strings so
I can take advantage of Idea's diff. It's clumsy but I can pick out the error
a little better this way. The other problem is the generated stylesheets are
not formatted (indented and such) so even with Idea's string diff I have to
squint, turn my head sideways and figure it out. What I do then is copy the
generated stylesheet and paste it in a temp file and format it. That moves
completely away from unit testing and is more of an eyeball test. So as you
can see I am really struggling with the testing. I'll stop rambling now. Are
there any XSL gurus out there that can offer some insight?
---------------------------------------------------
Clifton C. Craig, Software Engineer
Tell me what's up...
visit: http://codeforfun.wordpress.com
ccc@icsaward.com
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Re: I need help with an XSL-FO solution
Posted by "J.Pietschmann" <j3...@yahoo.de>.
Clifton Craig wrote:
> My other major question is are there any FO validators available in
> the FO package?
See
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/xmlgraphics/fop/trunk/src/foschema/fop.xsd?revision=198361
for a schema which can be used for validation. Because of
restrictions of what can be expressed by an XSD, some constraints
can't be expressed. The schema also tries to validate
FO property values in a somewhat simplistic way, resulting in
the rejection of valid FO documents. It seems to omit FO 1.1
elements as well as FOP extensions as well as possible
content for fo:instream-foreign-object.
> What do others use (if anything) to validate their FO?
FOP will validate the input quite thoroughly unless validation
is relaxed.
J.Pietschmann
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Re: I need help with an XSL-FO solution
Posted by Chris Bowditch <bo...@hotmail.com>.
Clifton Craig wrote:
> Johannes,
>
> Thanx for the feedback. I realize my question speaks more towards the
> development practices regarding XSL-FO but I was hoping to run across some
> experts in the field that might shed some light on my situation. I'll try
> another list and see if I have better luck. Indentation can be done by the
> Xalan processor it's just that the way I'm using it seems to not work. I know
> there are options you can use in your stylesheet but they don't seem to be
> working with the way I'm doing my transform. Are there any Xalan experts out
setting indentation options in the stylesheet itself, i.e. <output
indent="yes"/> only seems to work when running from the command line. If
you are serializing the output within a program then you need to set
indentation on the serializer properties.
I don't have a clue about any of your other questions. Sorry,
Chris
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Re: I need help with an XSL-FO solution
Posted by Clifton Craig <cc...@icsaward.com>.
Johannes,
Thanx for the feedback. I realize my question speaks more towards the
development practices regarding XSL-FO but I was hoping to run across some
experts in the field that might shed some light on my situation. I'll try
another list and see if I have better luck. Indentation can be done by the
Xalan processor it's just that the way I'm using it seems to not work. I know
there are options you can use in your stylesheet but they don't seem to be
working with the way I'm doing my transform. Are there any Xalan experts out
there? My other major question is are there any FO validators available in
the FO package? What do others use (if anything) to validate their FO?
---------------------------------------------------
Clifton C. Craig, Software Engineer
Tell me what's up...
visit: http://codeforfun.wordpress.com
ccc@icsaward.com
On Tuesday 20 June 2006 4:48 pm, Johannes Künsebeck wrote:
> Hi,
> thats only a 10% fop-question, so maybe you can find better lists these
> problems.
> To indent your style-sheets, you can use tidy :
> http://tidy.sourceforge.net/ bye, Johannes
>
> Clifton Craig schrieb:
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I've started a project involving rather complicated FOP generation. I
> > have the details on what exactly I'm trying to do on my weblog here:
> > http://codeforfun.wordpress.com/2006/06/12/new-xml-grammar/
> >
> > In short, I'm writing a stylesheet that transforms a custom XML grammar
> > into XSL-FO stylesheets. These generated XSL-FO stylesheets (XSLT
> > templates that generate raw FO using input XML) will be used to process
> > an input XML and generate PDFs. My current problem regards unit testing
> > pieces of my solution. I currently need a way to validate first the
> > XSL-FO that I generate and secondly validate the FO that the generated
> > XSL-FO creates. I'm doing a lot of manual work right now to acheive this.
> > What I do is load a sample of my custom XML grammar (I call it SSML) into
> > a TrAX transform with my SSMLStylesheet. (That's what generates the
> > XSL-FO.) I diff it against a golden copy of what I believe the output
> > XSL-FO should look like. I've also been separately testing the golden
> > copy to make sure it actually works and generates a PDF when run against
> > FOP.
> >
> > I desparately need a way to streamline the entire process. I want to
> > enahnce the golden copy and have an automated test verify that the
> > changes I make still generate valid FO syntax. I also want to verify the
> > output of my SSMLStylesheet is valid XSLT before diff'ing it against my
> > golden copy. I'm also having a little trouble with XMLUnit doing diffs.
> > I've gotten spoiled with Idea's auto-diff on failed String assertions in
> > junit tests, so when I see the messages generated by XMLUnit it takes a
> > moment to decipher what's actually wrong. What I've been doing is
> > trapping the XMLDiff
> > AssertionFailedException and doing an assertEquals on the two XML strings
> > so I can take advantage of Idea's diff. It's clumsy but I can pick out
> > the error a little better this way. The other problem is the generated
> > stylesheets are not formatted (indented and such) so even with Idea's
> > string diff I have to squint, turn my head sideways and figure it out.
> > What I do then is copy the generated stylesheet and paste it in a temp
> > file and format it. That moves completely away from unit testing and is
> > more of an eyeball test. So as you can see I am really struggling with
> > the testing. I'll stop rambling now. Are there any XSL gurus out there
> > that can offer some insight?
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > Clifton C. Craig, Software Engineer
> > Tell me what's up...
> > visit: http://codeforfun.wordpress.com
> > ccc@icsaward.com
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: fop-users-unsubscribe@xmlgraphics.apache.org
> > For additional commands, e-mail: fop-users-help@xmlgraphics.apache.org
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Re: I need help with an XSL-FO solution
Posted by Johannes Künsebeck <ku...@gmx.net>.
Hi,
thats only a 10% fop-question, so maybe you can find better lists these
problems.
To indent your style-sheets, you can use tidy : http://tidy.sourceforge.net/
bye, Johannes
Clifton Craig schrieb:
> Hello all,
>
> I've started a project involving rather complicated FOP generation. I have the
> details on what exactly I'm trying to do on my weblog here:
> http://codeforfun.wordpress.com/2006/06/12/new-xml-grammar/
>
> In short, I'm writing a stylesheet that transforms a custom XML grammar into
> XSL-FO stylesheets. These generated XSL-FO stylesheets (XSLT templates that
> generate raw FO using input XML) will be used to process an input XML and
> generate PDFs. My current problem regards unit testing pieces of my solution.
> I currently need a way to validate first the XSL-FO that I generate and
> secondly validate the FO that the generated XSL-FO creates. I'm doing a lot
> of manual work right now to acheive this. What I do is load a sample of my
> custom XML grammar (I call it SSML) into a TrAX transform with my
> SSMLStylesheet. (That's what generates the XSL-FO.) I diff it against a
> golden copy of what I believe the output XSL-FO should look like. I've also
> been separately testing the golden copy to make sure it actually works and
> generates a PDF when run against FOP.
>
> I desparately need a way to streamline the entire process. I want to enahnce
> the golden copy and have an automated test verify that the changes I make
> still generate valid FO syntax. I also want to verify the output of my
> SSMLStylesheet is valid XSLT before diff'ing it against my golden copy. I'm
> also having a little trouble with XMLUnit doing diffs. I've gotten spoiled
> with Idea's auto-diff on failed String assertions in junit tests, so when I
> see the messages generated by XMLUnit it takes a moment to decipher what's
> actually wrong. What I've been doing is trapping the XMLDiff
> AssertionFailedException and doing an assertEquals on the two XML strings so
> I can take advantage of Idea's diff. It's clumsy but I can pick out the error
> a little better this way. The other problem is the generated stylesheets are
> not formatted (indented and such) so even with Idea's string diff I have to
> squint, turn my head sideways and figure it out. What I do then is copy the
> generated stylesheet and paste it in a temp file and format it. That moves
> completely away from unit testing and is more of an eyeball test. So as you
> can see I am really struggling with the testing. I'll stop rambling now. Are
> there any XSL gurus out there that can offer some insight?
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> Clifton C. Craig, Software Engineer
> Tell me what's up...
> visit: http://codeforfun.wordpress.com
> ccc@icsaward.com
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: fop-users-unsubscribe@xmlgraphics.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: fop-users-help@xmlgraphics.apache.org
>
>
>
--
Johannes Künsebeck
Heeper Str. 52
33607 Bielefeld
0521 / 5202341
kuensebeck@gmx.net
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Re: I need help with an XSL-FO solution
Posted by Clifton Craig <cc...@icsaward.com>.
J.,
Thank you for your suggestions. I'll check out the mulberrytech list as well
as the dex.com lists. I am using XMLUnit for testing but I'm having a little
difficulty with it as I detail on my site. As far as the nomenclature, I get
equally as confused with it. I guess the proper term for the stylesheets I
generate is just XSLT. They really are no different from other XSLT
stylesheets. Maybe there is no such thing as raw FO and maybe I'll start
referring to that as merely FO. Thanx anyhow for the advice.
-------------------------------------------------
Clifton C. Craig, Software Engineer
Tell me what's up...
visit: http://codeforfun.wordpress.com
ccc@icsaward.com
On Tuesday 20 June 2006 5:58 pm, J.Pietschmann wrote:
> Clifton Craig wrote:
> > Are
> > there any XSL gurus out there that can offer some insight?
>
> You'll probably want to post this on the XSL list
> http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
> although unit testing style sheet generators is somewhat
> far out even there.
>
> Note that your nomenclature is slightly non-standard
> and might hinder understanding your problem, I recommend
> lurking on the list for a day or two, then adjust the
> wording.
>
> Also check whether XMLUnit
> http://xmlunit.sourceforge.net/
> can help you.
>
> J.Pietschmann
>
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> To unsubscribe, e-mail: fop-users-unsubscribe@xmlgraphics.apache.org
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Re: I need help with an XSL-FO solution
Posted by "J.Pietschmann" <j3...@yahoo.de>.
Clifton Craig wrote:
> Are
> there any XSL gurus out there that can offer some insight?
You'll probably want to post this on the XSL list
http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
although unit testing style sheet generators is somewhat
far out even there.
Note that your nomenclature is slightly non-standard
and might hinder understanding your problem, I recommend
lurking on the list for a day or two, then adjust the
wording.
Also check whether XMLUnit
http://xmlunit.sourceforge.net/
can help you.
J.Pietschmann
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