Re: New Developer Suggestion

2002-10-10 Thread jaccoud


Although I'd appreciate the capability to produce RTF files from DocBook
documents, I really don't think FOP would be the right tool to do it. RTF
is not intended to provide full rendering capabilities, it is in scope
somewhere between docbook and FO. It mixes style and content, the illness
for which stylesheets where designed.
I think it would be feasible to produce the RTF directly with XSLT
stylesheets (it is text based anyway), and rely on Word and other RTF-aware
editors to render the document. Has anyone tried that?
I'd rather see FOP incorporate more crucial features like floats and auto
tables then simply degrade a FO file into RTF.

=
Marcelo Jaccoud Amaral
Petrobrás (http://www.petrobras.com.br)
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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fax: +55 21 2534-1809
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RE: New Developer Suggestion

2002-10-10 Thread Sauyet, Scott (OTS-HAR)

 = J.Pietschmann [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 [ ... ]For working on HEAD, pick an area:
 - layout core
 - a renderer
 - the font subsystem
 - API and configuration
 - parsing and property resolution
 - FO extensions [ ... ]

Thanks for the great suggestions.  This one message taught me more
about the system design than a month's worth of list-reading.

And now, it's time to start looking at code.

  -- Scott

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RE: New Developer Suggestion

2002-10-09 Thread Sauyet, Scott (OTS-HAR)

Me: 
 So what I was hoping for is a suggestion for something that I can work 
 on that might be useful, but not critical to any immediate plans, 
 ideally something that overlaps little with currently active portions of 
 the project.

There were no replies yesterday.

Does anyone have a suggestion about something I could look at fixing /
enhancing which is not mission-critical, but which might give me a chance
to look at a fair bit of the code?

Thanks,

  -- Scott

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Re: New Developer Suggestion

2002-10-09 Thread Bertrand Delacretaz

Hi Scott,

On Wednesday 09 October 2002 16:20, Sauyet, Scott (OTS-HAR) wrote:
 Does anyone have a suggestion about something I could look at fixing /
 enhancing which is not mission-critical, but which might give me a chance
 to look at a fair bit of the code?

The integration of jfor (www.jfor.org) as a structure renderer for RTF 
documents is still waiting for someone to jump in. If you have good java 
skills and want to tackle this one we can certainly help you find your way.

But note that this part of FOP is not at all related to PDF layout, fonts, 
etc., it's a fairly different way of rendering documents.

-- 
 Bertrand Delacrétaz (codeconsult.ch, jfor.org)

 buzzwords: XML, java, XSLT, cocoon, mentoring/teaching/coding.
 disclaimer: eternity is very long. mostly towards the end. get ready.






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Re: New Developer Suggestion

2002-10-09 Thread Jeremias Maerki

Hi Scott

Your offer is highly appreciated even if the feedback to your initial
mail was a bit sparse. :-) We're all struggling for time to work on FOP
and gladly take any helping hand.

On 09.10.2002 17:15:21 Sauyet, Scott (OTS-HAR) wrote:
  = Bertrand Delacretaz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  = Scott Sauyet [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
  Does anyone have a suggestion about something I could look at fixing /
  enhancing which is not mission-critical, but which might give me a chance
  to look at a fair bit of the code?
 
  The integration of jfor (www.jfor.org) as a structure renderer for RTF 
  documents is still waiting for someone to jump in. If you have good java 
  skills and want to tackle this one we can certainly help you find your
 way.
 
 I expect my Java skills are up to the task.  This is all J2SE, right?  I
 have no experience with J2ME, and only a little with J2EE.

That's fully sufficient. We're only doing J2SE here.

 I don't really have a sense of the charter of FOP.  I know that there is a
 an AWT Renderer as well as the PDF converter, but is that meant more as a
 testing system than as something critical to the central project?  Or do I
 misunderstand?  So is integrating other renderers something that the group
 would eventually like to do?

FOP already has quite a bunch of renderers: PDF, AWT, PS, MIF, Text etc.
PDF is the classic renderer. It has traditionally the best quality. The
redesign focuses on PDF at the moment and as soon as the layout is
advanced enough we will surely begin to reimplement the other renderers
again. AFP and others will also be welcome additions.

So, we're not really talking about a testing system. PDF is just the
most important format. And AWT output is just another.

 For me, that would be a real plus, as I'm hoping to eventually work with
 PDLs for high-volume printers.

As FOP is in a redesign phase it would be nice to have help with
bringing FOP's layout to the level of the current maintenance branch
before implementing more output formats. PDF is the reference and once
this works acceptably we can think about reimplementing all other
renderers including new ones. Integrating JFOR as suggested by Betrand
is also a good idea, because it doesn't depend so much on the layout
stuff. Actually, we can't tell you what you should do. If you like to
implement a AFP renderer, then do it. Any help is welcome.

Look here for todo lists:
(Unfortunately we don't have a single todo list ATM)
- http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/xml-fop/status.xml
- http://xml.apache.org/fop/todo.html
- Bugzilla
To get familiar with FOP and the new design the following is a good
starting point:
http://xml.apache.org/fop/design/index.html


  But note that this part of FOP is not at all related to PDF layout, fonts,
 
  etc., it's a fairly different way of rendering documents.
 
 As of today, I know nothing about PDF syntax and little about RTF.  I figure
 I'm going to have to learn both.  I understand FO fairly well, and I speak
 Java fairly fluently.  What do you think is first priority?
 
 So how would we expect this to integrate.  What user code would change to 
 generate an RTF document rather than a PDF one?

 And as to mechanics, what code should I start with?

The output format is decided in the org.apache.fop.apps.Driver class ATM.
Use that as a starting point. The StructureHandler class is the another
important focus point for integrating RTF. You should also search the
mailing list archives for the discussion on the JFOR integration. That
will explain how this should be done.

Good luck diving into FOP. We'll try to support you as best as we can.
Fire away with questions as they come up!

Jeremias Maerki

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RE: New Developer Suggestion

2002-10-09 Thread Victor Mote

Sauyet, Scott wrote:

 Does anyone have a suggestion about something I could look at fixing /
 enhancing which is not mission-critical, but which might give me a chance
 to look at a fair bit of the code?

There are some documents in the trunk docs/design directory that have a list
of things that need to be done. I last night finished creating a pdf
document that can be built from them (a comprehensive FOP Developer
Documentation). I can't submit that patch until the last one is committed,
but I'll be happy to send it to you by email if you wish. It isn't perfect,
but is usable. (I didn't write it, I'm just trying to get it more visible).

Victor Mote (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Enterprise Outfitters (www.outfitr.com)
2025 Eddington Way
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80916
Voice 719-622-0650, Fax 720-293-0044


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Re: New Developer Suggestion

2002-10-09 Thread J.Pietschmann

Sauyet, Scott (OTS-HAR) wrote:
So what I was hoping for is a suggestion for something that I can work 
on that might be useful, but not critical to any immediate plans, 
ideally something that overlaps little with currently active portions of 
the project.
 
 
 There were no replies yesterday.

Well, I thought I wait for one of the lead developers to surface.

First, you'll have to decide whether you want to work on the
redesigned code (CVS HEAD), or fix bugs, or do some experiments
in the maintenance branch. Either way has it's pros and cons.

Picking work for the maintenance branch is easy: there's
bugzilla, and the list. The advantage is taht you might
immediately help some people, the drawback is that your work
is lost after the maintenance branch is abandoned, and you
probably can't take much to CVS HEAD.

For working on HEAD, pick an area:
- layout core
- a renderer
- the font subsystem
- API and configuration
- parsing and property resolution
- FO extensions

Expertise neede for the layout core
- Java
- intimate XSLFO knowledge, up to language lawyering
- layout algorithms (and TR14)
- the current design
There is a task list, as already noted.
A small task not on the list would be to provide the Unicode
character propery DB.

For a renderer, you'll need mainly knowledge of the rendered
format. A small, self containing task would be implementing
PDF encryption. There's also a task list.

Font subsystem:
- the metric file generators probably need lots of fixes. Get a lot of
fonts from public directories and other sources and try them.
- support for other font file formats
- improve usability of the font metrics generators (auto format detection,
write a GUI, leverage platform specific repositories)

API and configuration: search the list for the discussions
- get rid of static configuration data
- redesign API with emphasis on easy embedding
- URI resolving for images and font files
- configurable image chaching
- configurable image format detection and handling
- auto-detection of image format support (in particular JAI vs. JIMI)

FO extensions
- author and other information for PDF and perhaps other formatss
- cache=yes|no for external-graphics
- embed forms and JS stuff in PDF.
- embedding binary image formats, for example base64 encoded in
instream-foreign-object
- look at MathML support
- dig out a processor which produces charts and graphs form some
marked up data and tie it into instream-foreign-object

J.Pietschmann


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Re: New Developer Suggestion

2002-10-09 Thread Peter B. West

J.Pietschmann wrote:

...
 
 For working on HEAD, pick an area:
 - layout core
 - a renderer
 - the font subsystem
 - API and configuration
 - parsing and property resolution

Don't pick this one.  There is definitely a lot of work going on in this 
area, which will at least be relevant to HEAD.

 - FO extensions


Peter
-- 
Peter B. West  [EMAIL PROTECTED]  http://www.powerup.com.au/~pbwest/
Lord, to whom shall we go?


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