Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- How does XSLfast work?
- Where do I insert my license key in XSLfast?
- Why does my old license key not work with the new XSLfast version?
- Where do I find examples for XSLfast?
- What is a renderer?
- Which PDF renderer does XSLfast support?
- Which java version is needed for XSLfast?
- Where do I find more information about XSL-FO?
- What is XSL and XSL-FO?
- What is FOP?
- How does XSL-FO work?
- What are potential applications for XSLfast?
- Cross media publishing
- What if XSLfast does not have a nice editor for functions/properties which are urgently needed?
- Online help files
- Renderer FOP - Getting Help [at apache.org]
- Renderer FOP - Frequently Asked Questions [at apache.org]
- How does XSLfast work?
XSLfast is first of all an editor for XSL-FO documents. Start XSLfast and begin to create and define your document, similar to what you do in word processing or desktop publishing software.
Drag and drop placeholders on the working sheet that later on can be replaced by your current data.
This can be used for mail merging, formats processing, catalog production and other areas of publishing and cross media publishing applications. - Where do I insert my license key in XSLfast?
Under Help/Register you can insert your key. If you have more than one license key (e.g. for your InDesign Interface) you can insert both keys, first the XSLfast key and after that the InDesign key.
- Why does my old license key not work with the new XSLfast
version?
XSLfast uses new license keys. If you have a support subscription you will get new license keys automatically. If you need the new key immediately please send us an email with your support subscription number to info@xslfast.com.
If you have no support subscription you can purchase an update. For the update we need your current license key. - Where do I find examples for XSLfast?
In the new version of XSLfast a tutorial with examples is included. Please find the tutorial in your XSLfast installation directory under Input/Tutorial (e.g.: ..\XSLfasthome\Input\Tutorial). In the directory Tutorial there are examples with short descriptions. All examples exist as layout, PDF, XSL, and FO file. You can open the examples directly in XSLfast.
- What is a renderer?
With a renderer you can create a PDF document from an XSL-FO file. On the market there are many renderers with the XSL-FO standard. With XSLfast the renderer FOP is available for free. If you need more information about the renderer, visit the internet under: http://xml.apache.org/fop/.
- Which PDF renderer does XSLfast support?
XSLfast supports the commercial renderer XEP (from RenderX) and XSLformatter (from AntennaHouse).
- Which Java version is needed for XSLfast?
We ship the correct Java version in the installation package. If you have installed old Java versions do not overwrite these versions. XSLfast needs the JRE-Version 1.4.1 and JAI 1.1.1.
- Where do I find more information about XSL-FO?
You will find information and useful links together with the standard documents on http://www.w3.org/
- What is XSL and XSL-FO?
XSL is a language developed and standardized to W3C (http://www.w3.org/).
XSL is a language that was originally thought to express style sheets. It consists of two main aspects which are XSLT and XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO).
XSLT is a XML based language that transforms XML documents into other documents.
XSL Formatting Objects is an XML based language to specify formats, layouts and styles of documents.
These two aspects are supported by a language called xPath. This language is an expression language that can be used with an XSLT to access the form or calculate aspects and elements of XML documents.
For further information concerning XSLT and XSL-FO and on the format specification look at http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL - What is FOP?
FOP is a rendering system that renders XSL-FO files into PDF and other representations.
XSLfast uses FOP for rendering PDF and for previews, but can be used independently of the renderer. XSLfast can also be used with other commercial renderers like XEP or other open source packages and renderers like PassiveTeX. - How does XSL-FO work?
XLS:FO is a language that defines the style and the layout of a document. From this point of view it can be compared to PDF, while PDF is page oriented. XSL-FO describes the basic structure and content of a document but is not a page oriented language in the sense that pages are fixed when the document is written.
- What are potential applications for XSLfast?
XSLfast has a wide range of applications. Design XSL documents and render the information.
Design forms based on XSL-FO and merge these forms together with XML data, or data coming out of data bases. - Cross media publishing
XSLfast allows to define a document and merge the information together with data into different output formats. You will need XSLfast to take the same information to be transferred into PDF, XML.
- What if XSLfast does not have a nice editor
for functions/properties which are urgently needed?
XSLfast has an editor that allows the user to directly write XSL-FO and XSLT. So whenever XSLfast doesn't have the necessary feature that you need for your application, you can write the XSLT or XSL-FO code according to your needs.
