XSL-FO

What is XSL-FO?

• XSL-FO is a language for formatting XML data
• XSL-FO stands for Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects
• XSL-FO is a W3C Recommendation
• XSL-FO is now formally named XSL
  
  
• XSLT, a language for transforming XML documents
• XSL or XSL-FO, a language for formatting XML documents
• XPath, a language for navigating through elements and attributes in XML documents

XSL-FO Documents

XSL-FO documents are XML files with output information. They contain information about the output layout and output contents.

XSL-FO documents are stored in files with a .fo or a .fob file extension. It is also quite common to see XSL-FO documents stored with an .xml extension, because this makes them more accessible to XML editors.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<fo:layout-master-set>
  <fo:simple-page-master master-name="A4">
    <!-- Page template goes here -->
  </fo:simple-page-master>
</fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="A4">
  <!-- Page content goes here -->
</fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>

XSL-FO Areas
XSL-FO Pages
XSL-FO Regions
XSL-FO Block Areas
XSL-FO Line Areas
XSL-FO Inline Areas
XSL-FO Page, Flow, and Block

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<fo:layout-master-set>
  <fo:simple-page-master master-name="A4">
    <fo:region-body />
  </fo:simple-page-master>
</fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="A4">
  <fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">
    <fo:block>Hello W3Schools</fo:block>
  </fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>

XSL-FO Page Size
XSL-FO Page Margins
XSL-FO Page Regions

<fo:simple-page-master master-name="A4"
 page-width="297mm" page-height="210mm"
 margin-top="1cm"   margin-bottom="1cm"
 margin-left="1cm"  margin-right="1cm">
  <fo:region-body   margin="3cm"/>
  <fo:region-before extent="2cm"/>
  <fo:region-after  extent="2cm"/>
  <fo:region-start  extent="2cm"/>
  <fo:region-end    extent="2cm"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>

Block Area Attributes
Block Margin
Block Border
Block Padding
Block Background
Block Styling Attributes

<fo:block
    font-size="14pt" font-family="verdana" color="red"
    space-before="5mm" space-after="5mm">
W3Schools
</fo:block>
<fo:block
    text-indent="5mm"
    font-family="verdana" font-size="12pt"
    space-before="5mm" space-after="5mm">
At W3Schools you will find all the Web-building tutorials you
need, from basic HTML and XHTML to advanced XML, XSL, Multimedia
and WAP.
</fo:block>

XSL-FO List Blocks
XSL-FO Tables

XSL Formatting Objects Reference

The process that converts a description into a presentation is called formatting.

Object	Description
basic-link	Represents the start resource of a link
bidi-override	Overrides the default Unicode BIDI direction
block	Defines a block of output (e.g. paragraphs and titles)
block-container	Defines a block-level reference-area
character	Specifies a character that will be mapped to a glyph for presentation
color-profile	Defines a color-profile for a stylesheet
conditional-page-master-reference	Specifies a page-master to be used when the conditions defined are true
declarations	Groups global declarations for a stylesheet
external-graphic	Used for a graphic where the graphics data resides outside of the XML result tree
float	Typically used to position an image in a separate area at the beginning of a page OR to position an image to one side, with the content flowing along-side of the image
flow	Contains all elements to be printed to a page
footnote	Defines a footnote within the region-body of a page
footnote-body	Defines the content of the footnote
initial-property-set	Formats the first line of an <fo:block>
inline	Formats a part of a text with a background or enclosing it in a border
inline-container	Defines an inline reference-area
instream-foreign-object	Used for inline graphics or for "generic" objects where the object's data resides as descendants of <fo:instream-foreign-object>
layout-master-set	Holds all masters used in a document
leader	Used to generate "." to separate titles from page numbers in table of contents, or to create input fields in forms, or to create horizontal rules
list-block	Defines a list
list-item	Contains each item in the list
list-item-body	Contains the content/body of the list-item
list-item-label	Contains the label for the list-item (typically a number, character, etc.)
marker	Used with <fo:retrieve-marker> to create running headers or footers
multi-case	Contains (within an <fo:multi-switch>) each alternative sub-tree of XSL-FO objects. The parent <fo:multi-switch> will choose which alternative to show and hide the rest
multi-properties	Used to switch between two or more property-sets
multi-property-set	Specifies an alternative property-set that will be applied depending on the state of the user agent
multi-switch	Holds one or more <fo:multi-case> objects and controls the switching between them (activated by <fo:multi-toggle>)
multi-toggle	Used to switch to another <fo:multi-case>
page-number	Represents the current page-number
page-number-citation	References the page-number for the page that contains the first normal area returned by the cited object
page-sequence	A container for page output elements. There will be one <fo:page-sequence> object for each page layout
page-sequence-master	Specifies which simple-page-masters are to be used and in which order
region-after	Defines a page footer
region-before	Defines a page header
region-body	Defines a page body
region-end	Defines the right sidebar of a page
region-start	Defines the left sidebar of a page
repeatable-page-master-alternatives	Specifies repetition of a set of simple-page-masters
repeatable-page-master-reference	Specifies repetition of a single simple-page-master
retrieve-marker	Used with <fo:marker> to create running headers or footers
root	The root (top) node for XSL-FO documents
simple-page-master	Defines the size and shape of a page
single-page-master-reference	Specifies a page-master to be used at a given point in the sequence of pages
static-content	Contains static content (e.g. headers and footers) that will be repeated on many pages
table	Formats the tabular material of a table
table-and-caption	Formats a table and its caption
table-body	Container for table rows and table cells
table-caption	Contains the caption for a table
table-cell	Defines a table cell
table-column	Formats the columns of a table
table-footer	Defines a table footer
table-header	Defines a table header
table-row	Defines a table row
title	Defines a title for a page-sequence
wrapper	Specifies inherited properties for a group of XSL-FO objects

 
* Reference to W3C Schools