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XSL-FO (Extensible Stylesheet Language-Formatting Objects) is an XML-based language used to define the visual appearance of XML documents when they are transformed into other formats, such as PDF. XSL-FO provides a powerful way to create visually appealing documents while preserving the structure and semantics of the XML data.

1. Basic Structure

An XSL-FO document consists of a root element <fo:root> containing layout master sets and page sequences. The layout master set defines the page templates, and the page sequences contain the actual content.

<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
  <fo:layout-master-set>
    <!-- Page templates -->
  </fo:layout-master-set>
  <fo:page-sequence master-reference="...">
    <!-- Content -->
  </fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>
              

2. Page Templates

Page templates are defined using <fo:simple-page-master> elements. You can specify the dimensions, margins, and regions of the page.

<fo:simple-page-master 
      master-name="A4" 
      page-height="29.7cm" 
      page-width="21cm" 
      margin-top="1cm" 
      margin-bottom="1cm" 
      margin-left="1cm" 
      margin-right="1cm"
>
  <fo:region-body margin-top="1cm" margin-bottom="1cm"/>
  <fo:region-before extent="1cm"/>
  <fo:region-after extent="1cm"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>
              

3. Content and Formatting

Content is added within <fo:page-sequence> elements using <fo:flow> and various formatting objects like <fo:block> for text blocks, <fo:table> for tables, and <fo:list-block> for lists.

<fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">
  <fo:block font-size="14pt" font-weight="bold" space-after="0.5cm">
    Document Title
  </fo:block>
  <fo:block font-size="12pt" text-align="justify">
    This is a paragraph of text that will be 
    formatted with justified alignment.
  </fo:block>
</fo:flow>
              

4. Transforming XML with XSL-FO

To transform XML data into a PDF document using XSL-FO, you'll need an XSLT stylesheet that maps the XML elements to the appropriate XSL-FO formatting objects.

<xsl:stylesheet 
    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" 
    xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format" 
    version="1.0"
>
  <xsl:template match="/">
    <fo:root>
      <!-- XSL-FO structure and content -->
    </fo:root>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
              

Further Resources

For more in-depth information and tutorials, refer to the following resources:

• W3Schools XSL-FO Tutorial
• XSL-FO Tutorial by Antenna House
• Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) by RenderX

These resources provide a more comprehensive understanding of XSL-FO and its capabilities, allowing you to create complex and visually appealing documents using XML data.