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Posted to fop-dev@xmlgraphics.apache.org by Clay Leeds <cl...@medata.com> on 2004/11/01 17:50:06 UTC
Re: Form Extension
Florian,
On Oct 31, 2004, at 7:17 AM, Florian Hecht wrote:
> Hi FOP devs,
>
> I' ve developed a form extension for XSL-FO for an university project.
> It's an extension to FO like the fox extensions. With it you can
> declare and define the usual form elements like edit fields, radio
> buttons, check boxes, combo boxes, list boxes, comment fields and
> buttons. They are inserted into a document as inline objects, so that
> they flow like normal text. As a proof of concept I've extended
> fop-0.20.5 to support my form extension. I'm using the system around
> ExtensionObj to make fop understand my elements and I've extended the
> PDFRenderer to generate PDF documents that contain forms, that can be
> filled out and submitted just like normal HTML forms.
This is an oft-requested (once every couple of months counts as
'oft-'...) feature. Thank you for this information! This is exciting,
and I can imagine it almost certainly being a tool others may want.
> At the moment the module for fop consists of a jar archive with the
> classes and a new batch file to start the processing (I'm not using
> the fop class as a starter, because I need to create a different
> renderer). The system works so far and is able to generate all of the
> form elements named above. Submit and reset buttons work as they're
> supposed to. I didn't test every layout situation for the form
> elements, so it might produce unexpected layout in some cases. As I
> said it's a proof of concept implementation and not a final product.
>
> The reason why I'm announcing this is that I will finish the project
> in a couple of days and I don't think I will develop the form
> extension any further. Maybe someone will find the sources usefull as
> a starting point or is even willing to develop it further. The sources
> and the precompiled jar archive can be found at my homepage [1]. I've
> also got an example fo document with my extension there, together with
> the resulting PDF file. So anyone who's interested can take a quick
> look at it. The paper I'm writing on this project will be released in
> couple of days (in German though, Studienarbeit) together with a
> little documentation on the form extension in English.
>
> I just wanted to let you know. If you have any questions, just ask me.
> Any feedback is welcome.
>
> Cheers,
> Florian Hecht
>
> P.S.: should I also post this on fop-user?
>
> [1] http://wwwstud.ira.uka.de/~s_hecht/
I went to that page, but the PDF link doesn't work.
Before you post on fop-user perhaps you/we should transfer it to a more
'permanent' server (since your e-mail will be in the FOP archives in
perpetuity). I'm thinking that a good to place for this extension is on
the 'Objects For Formatting Objects' Sourceforge project page[2]
(assuming that Simon Pepping and/or other FOP committers agree).
However, before we do that, we need to ensure it has the proper
licensing. Please go to Apache Software Grants page for information on
how to transfer[3].
Also, as you are probably aware, fop-0.20.5 (the fop-0_20_2-maintain
branch) is a dead-end (it's in code freeze so FOP development can focus
all energies on the FOP 1.0 release). It would be *HUGE* (!) if you
could 'port' your work over to the 1.0-dev (HEAD branch). Since you are
intimately aware with the inner workings of your code, no one will be
able to do this more efficiently or effectively.
[2]
http://offo.sourceforge.net/
[3]
http://www.apache.org/licenses/software-grant.txt
Web Maestro Clay
--
Clay Leeds - <cl...@medata.com>
Webmaster/Developer - Medata, Inc. - <http://www.medata.com/>
PGP Public Key: <https://mail.medata.com/pgp/cleeds.asc>
Re: Form Extension
Posted by Clay Leeds <cl...@medata.com>.
On Nov 2, 2004, at 12:52 PM, Florian Hecht wrote:
>> I went to that page, but the PDF link doesn't work.
>
> The link is fixed. It should work now
> (http://wwwstud.ira.uka.de/~s_hecht/)
I just wanted to say, that this is excellent!
>>> Before you post on fop-user perhaps you/we should transfer it to a
>>> more 'permanent' server (since your e-mail will be in the FOP
>>> archives in perpetuity). I'm thinking that a good to place for this
>>> extension is on the 'Objects For Formatting Objects' Sourceforge
>>> project page[2] (assuming that Simon Pepping and/or other FOP
>>> committers agree). However, before we do that, we need to ensure it
>>> has the proper licensing. Please go to Apache Software Grants page
>>> for information on how to transfer[3].
>>
>> I think it is a good project to be hosted by the OFFO project. The
>> purpose of the OFFO project is to keep FO-related OS projects
>> available for users and prospective developers.
>>
>> In view of the fact that you do not wish to develop it further, it
>> should work out of the box for fop-0.20.5. Are you willing to answer
>> questions from users?
>>
> Sounds good to me to put it into the OFFO Project. As it is my 'baby'
> I'm of course willing to answer any questions about it.
Great! Glad to hear you're open to 'maintaining' and nurturing your
work.
>> It would be good if you have some developer documentation, to give a
>> prospective maintainer a headstart.
> The paper is nearly completed. It contains some indepth description of
> the implementation, but it will be only available in German. I think I
> will translate this section to English and some starting information.
> So that someone who want's to tinker with it knows where to start.
Sounds good. You might want to create a 'bug' report and post your
documentation there:
http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Fop
That way, others might be able to help with the documentation (some of
us here speak ein wenig Deutsche ;-))
>> It would be best if you release it under the Apache2 License. However,
>> OFFO is able to host projects under any OSI approved Open Source
>> license. You need to send the grant to me as the project maintainer; I
>> will deposit it with the OFFO project.
>
> I'm rather busy this week, so you'll have to give me a week or so to
> review the licence and grant stuff. This would be my first open source
> contribution, so I want to do things right.
Sounds good to me!
>> Note that I am not offering to do maintenance or to learn enough about
>> the project to answer user questions. Currently OFFO does not have CVS
>> services, but they can be set up if there is an interest.
>
> You can direct people to me for questions. No Problem.
>
> From Clay Leeds:
>
>> Also, as you are probably aware, fop-0.20.5 (the fop-0_20_2-maintain
>> branch) is a dead-end (it's in code freeze so FOP development can
>> focus all energies on the FOP 1.0 release). It would be *HUGE* (!) if
>> you could 'port' your work over to the 1.0-dev (HEAD branch). Since
>> you are intimately aware with the inner workings of your code, no one
>> will be able to do this more efficiently or effectively.
>
> I've taken a quick look at the HEAD branch: Adding the new fo-elements
> and the necessary PDF objects and PDFRenderer functions should be
> straight forward. But I had to make some ugly hacks, in order to
> actually make this work with FOP. I definitely think it's possible to
> integrate it into HEAD, but it would require work on my side. At the
> moment I'm relatively busy with my studies. But when I find some time,
> I might take it up again. It's good to here that there is interest in
> the ability to generade PDFs with forms, but I can't promise anything.
> Sorry.
I'm sure you'll get all the help you need. We have some capable
developers here, and I suspect anything that broadens the scope of FOPs
acceptance and user/developer base will be looked upon favorably (if
not excitedly!).
>> Web Maestro Clay
>
>> Regards, Simon
>
> Big thanks for the feedback. It's nice to see that others are
> interested in one's work.
>
> Cheers,
> Florian
Cheers!
Web Maestro Clay
--
Clay Leeds - <cl...@medata.com>
Webmaster/Developer - Medata, Inc. - <http://www.medata.com/>
PGP Public Key: <https://mail.medata.com/pgp/cleeds.asc>
Re: Form Extension
Posted by Florian Hecht <fl...@gmx.de>.
> I went to that page, but the PDF link doesn't work.
The link is fixed. It should work now (http://wwwstud.ira.uka.de/~s_hecht/)
>>Before you post on fop-user perhaps you/we should transfer it to a more
>>'permanent' server (since your e-mail will be in the FOP archives in
>>perpetuity). I'm thinking that a good to place for this extension is on
>>the 'Objects For Formatting Objects' Sourceforge project page[2]
>>(assuming that Simon Pepping and/or other FOP committers agree).
>>However, before we do that, we need to ensure it has the proper
>>licensing. Please go to Apache Software Grants page for information on
>>how to transfer[3].
>>
>>
>
>I think it is a good project to be hosted by the OFFO project. The
>purpose of the OFFO project is to keep FO-related OS projects
>available for users and prospective developers.
>
>In view of the fact that you do not wish to develop it further, it
>should work out of the box for fop-0.20.5. Are you willing to answer
>questions from users?
>
>
Sounds good to me to put it into the OFFO Project. As it is my 'baby'
I'm of course willing to answer any questions about it.
>It would be good if you have some developer documentation, to give a
>prospective maintainer a headstart.
>
>
The paper is nearly completed. It contains some indepth description of
the implementation, but it will be only available in German. I think I
will translate this section to English and some starting information. So
that someone who want's to tinker with it knows where to start.
>It would be best if you release it under the Apache2 License. However,
>OFFO is able to host projects under any OSI approved Open Source
>license. You need to send the grant to me as the project maintainer; I
>will deposit it with the OFFO project.
>
>
I'm rather busy this week, so you'll have to give me a week or so to
review the licence and grant stuff. This would be my first open source
contribution, so I want to do things right.
>Note that I am not offering to do maintenance or to learn enough about
>the project to answer user questions. Currently OFFO does not have CVS
>services, but they can be set up if there is an interest.
>
>
You can direct people to me for questions. No Problem.
From Clay Leeds:
> Also, as you are probably aware, fop-0.20.5 (the fop-0_20_2-maintain
> branch) is a dead-end (it's in code freeze so FOP development can
> focus all energies on the FOP 1.0 release). It would be *HUGE* (!) if
> you could 'port' your work over to the 1.0-dev (HEAD branch). Since
> you are intimately aware with the inner workings of your code, no one
> will be able to do this more efficiently or effectively.
I've taken a quick look at the HEAD branch: Adding the new fo-elements
and the necessary PDF objects and PDFRenderer functions should be
straight forward. But I had to make some ugly hacks, in order to
actually make this work with FOP. I definitely think it's possible to
integrate it into HEAD, but it would require work on my side. At the
moment I'm relatively busy with my studies. But when I find some time, I
might take it up again. It's good to here that there is interest in the
ability to generade PDFs with forms, but I can't promise anything. Sorry.
> Web Maestro Clay
>Regards, Simon
>
>
Big thanks for the feedback. It's nice to see that others are interested
in one's work.
Cheers,
Florian
Re: Form Extension
Posted by Simon Pepping <sp...@leverkruid.nl>.
On Mon, Nov 01, 2004 at 08:50:06AM -0800, Clay Leeds wrote:
> Florian,
>
> On Oct 31, 2004, at 7:17 AM, Florian Hecht wrote:
> >Hi FOP devs,
> >
> >I' ve developed a form extension for XSL-FO for an university project.
> > It's an extension to FO like the fox extensions. With it you can
> >declare and define the usual form elements like edit fields, radio
> >buttons, check boxes, combo boxes, list boxes, comment fields and
> >buttons. They are inserted into a document as inline objects, so that
> >they flow like normal text. As a proof of concept I've extended
> >fop-0.20.5 to support my form extension. I'm using the system around
> >ExtensionObj to make fop understand my elements and I've extended the
> >PDFRenderer to generate PDF documents that contain forms, that can be
> >filled out and submitted just like normal HTML forms.
>
> >At the moment the module for fop consists of a jar archive with the
> >classes and a new batch file to start the processing (I'm not using
> >the fop class as a starter, because I need to create a different
> >renderer). The system works so far and is able to generate all of the
> >form elements named above. Submit and reset buttons work as they're
> >supposed to. I didn't test every layout situation for the form
> >elements, so it might produce unexpected layout in some cases. As I
> >said it's a proof of concept implementation and not a final product.
> >
> >The reason why I'm announcing this is that I will finish the project
> >in a couple of days and I don't think I will develop the form
> >extension any further. Maybe someone will find the sources usefull as
> >a starting point or is even willing to develop it further. The sources
> >and the precompiled jar archive can be found at my homepage [1]. I've
> >also got an example fo document with my extension there, together with
> >the resulting PDF file. So anyone who's interested can take a quick
> >look at it. The paper I'm writing on this project will be released in
> >couple of days (in German though, Studienarbeit) together with a
> >little documentation on the form extension in English.
> >
> Before you post on fop-user perhaps you/we should transfer it to a more
> 'permanent' server (since your e-mail will be in the FOP archives in
> perpetuity). I'm thinking that a good to place for this extension is on
> the 'Objects For Formatting Objects' Sourceforge project page[2]
> (assuming that Simon Pepping and/or other FOP committers agree).
> However, before we do that, we need to ensure it has the proper
> licensing. Please go to Apache Software Grants page for information on
> how to transfer[3].
I think it is a good project to be hosted by the OFFO project. The
purpose of the OFFO project is to keep FO-related OS projects
available for users and prospective developers.
In view of the fact that you do not wish to develop it further, it
should work out of the box for fop-0.20.5. Are you willing to answer
questions from users?
It would be good if you have some developer documentation, to give a
prospective maintainer a headstart.
It would be best if you release it under the Apache2 License. However,
OFFO is able to host projects under any OSI approved Open Source
license. You need to send the grant to me as the project maintainer; I
will deposit it with the OFFO project.
Note that I am not offering to do maintenance or to learn enough about
the project to answer user questions. Currently OFFO does not have CVS
services, but they can be set up if there is an interest.
Regards, Simon
--
Simon Pepping
home page: http://www.leverkruid.nl
Re: Form Extension
Posted by Chris Bowditch <bo...@hotmail.com>.
Clay Leeds wrote:
> On Oct 31, 2004, at 7:17 AM, Florian Hecht wrote:
>>
>> I' ve developed a form extension for XSL-FO for an university project.
>> It's an extension to FO like the fox extensions. With it you can
>> declare and define the usual form elements like edit fields, radio
>> buttons, check boxes, combo boxes, list boxes, comment fields and
>> buttons. They are inserted into a document as inline objects, so that
>> they flow like normal text. As a proof of concept I've extended
>> fop-0.20.5 to support my form extension. I'm using the system around
>> ExtensionObj to make fop understand my elements and I've extended the
>> PDFRenderer to generate PDF documents that contain forms, that can be
>> filled out and submitted just like normal HTML forms.
>
>
> This is an oft-requested (once every couple of months counts as
> 'oft-'...) feature. Thank you for this information! This is exciting,
> and I can imagine it almost certainly being a tool others may want.
Hi Clay - yes I concur with you. This feature is asked for quite frequently by
some of our clients.
<snip/>
>> The reason why I'm announcing this is that I will finish the project
>> in a couple of days and I don't think I will develop the form
>> extension any further. Maybe someone will find the sources usefull as
>> a starting point or is even willing to develop it further. The sources
>> and the precompiled jar archive can be found at my homepage [1]. I've
>> also got an example fo document with my extension there, together with
>> the resulting PDF file. So anyone who's interested can take a quick
>> look at it. The paper I'm writing on this project will be released in
>> couple of days (in German though, Studienarbeit) together with a
>> little documentation on the form extension in English.
>>
>> I just wanted to let you know. If you have any questions, just ask me.
>> Any feedback is welcome.
Thanks for letting us know. I am mildly excited about this. However, I fear I
wont be able to use it unless it is ported to HEAD.
Thanks,
Chris