Steps to convert XML to PDF

One might thing what is the benefit to convert XML to PDF as XML is used in a variety of application even today. One of the drawbacks of XML is that it lacks in the presentation and aesthetic features. In this regards it makes useful to convert XML to PDF documents.

One can convert XML to PDF by using formatting objects processor (FOP), and Ant. They both are Apache projects. So by using both the Apache projects here are the following steps of the process to convert XML to PDF:

In the first step of the process to convert XML to PDF, you need to convert the XML fragment to an XSL-FO tree. To have specific conversion instructions for every XML element you will require style sheet. To construct the tree, XSL-FO element used is the most basic in nature. FOP also offers fancier formatting elements for the documents.

After the above step, next we will prepare the Ant script so can do the actual conversion. With this you also have to keep in mind that you also have to create the directory called lib that contains the FOP’s libraries. This is important to place the build. xml file. The additional JARS and the fop.jar files are the files that are included in the FOP download. These files are located in build and lib directories.

The Ant script than first describes the path instruction which loads all the FOP’s libraries, that is located in the lib directory. After this the main target is set which we call the PDF. In this our first declaration is named al fop which contains the actual logic for converting the XSL-FO tree to the PDF format.

After this we declare another task called xslt task. This task takes two input parameters, one is the in=linuxdistros.xml and other is style=”linuxdistrod2pdf.xsl”. The first one deals with the XML files while the second one corresponds to the XSL style sheet. The output of this task is named as out=linuxdistros.fo. In this whatever the output is generated is placed in this file. It also represents the XSL-FO tree. This also defines the fop task in which the XSL-FO tree linuxdistros.fo is taken and a PDF file is generated called linuxdistros.pdf. 

In the end the Ant PDF command is executed from the shell to generate the PDF document.
So you can now directly convert XML to PDF document by using these open source based tools.

So now we have learned that to convert XML to PDF, FOP is a good source.
There are many outsourcing company that offers the HTML to PDF conversion, HTML to Excel at an affordable rate. It will help you in converting any type of HTML file to the required PDF file. To ensure that the quality is maintained it is rechecked by experts. You will find the HTML to PDF conversion very beneficial to you.

FOP: A source to convert XML to PDF

XML to PDF conversion can be done by using the FOP. FOP stands for formatting objects processor which is an Apache software foundation project. It is an open source java API which converts XML data to PDF format. FOP also converts XML reports into other formats such as TXT, PS, SVG, etc. The most important advantage of using FOP for the XML to PDF conversion is that it uses a formatting tree. One important thing to note is that FOP itself is not a XML to PDF conversion tool but also converts into other formats as discussed above by the help of World Wide Web Consortium standard XSL-FO tree. One can download the FOP easily from the FOP distribution directory.

FOP is such a tool that understands the formatting objects which is specified by the World Wide Web consortium in the XSL specification. There are two parts of this specification; the first part is the one that deals with the XSLT transformations while the second part deals with FO that is, formatting objects. The second part is the one that defines an output independent specification that can compose a vocabulary for the style and layout for a document. The basic point in it is it can use same styling information to produce different outputs. Therefore FO is simply a XML document.

XML is good for the data exchange but not for data presentation. For data presentation PDF format is suitable so for this if you have a document in XML format you will need to convert it into PDF format.

The process of converting XML to PDF through FO follows the following steps:

• First is to set the environment
• Convert the XML document to XSL-FO
• In the end convert the XSL-FO document to PDF document.

In the first step of XML to PDF conversion, you need to set an environment, for this we need to create an application and a project and in this project we add an XML document. We will also require adding an XSL style sheet so can convert the XML document to XSL-FO document. Java application is also required for the XML to XSL-FO conversion and with it XSL-FO to PDF conversion.

Next step is to convert the XML to XSL-FO. The XSL-FO document includes the formatting information about the data that has to be presented which includes the layout, fonts, and tables present in the document. In the end we will convert XSL-FO document to PDF document, for this we need FOP driver. Java application is also required here so can import the FOP driver and the logger classes so can convert the document from XML to PDF.

So now we have learned that to convert XML to PDF, FOP is a good source.

There are many outsourcing company that offers the HTML to PDF conversion, HTML to Excel at an affordable rate. It will help you in converting any type of HTML file to the required PDF file. To ensure that the quality is maintained it is rechecked by experts. You will find the HTML to PDF conversion very beneficial to you.

Advantages of HTML to PDF Conversion

HTML to PDF conversion is performed by experts who have full knowledge about the various conversion processes. These experts can even convert the complicated HTML files. HTML to PDF conversion is done by using dynamic HTML to PDF conversion systems. In this conversion process we share the documents and exchange and distribute the content on the internet. 

HTML to PDF conversion has a great amount of competitive advantages which will be briefly discussed as below:

• This type of conversion helps us in converting different features like the end notes, footnotes, and tables.
• There is software called Acrobat Reader which is used to open PDF files. This software is usually installed in our computer or can download it from net for free. So by this software you can easily view the file.
• HTML to PDF conversion not only supports a wide range of picture formats but its tools support HTML3, HTML4.0, and cascading style sheets.
• This conversion has the advantage of quality project management and a customizable turn around time.
• When one will convert the HTML document to the PDF file, this will optimize it that is the file will become much smaller in size but the quality is not affected. With this you can also merge multiple documents in one PDF document like the spread sheet, photos, word document and much more.
• To make sure that the process of converting the documents are of professional standard, its process is of stringent QA in nature.
• This conversion process also support the features such as the font sizes, point size, character styles and colors, style sheets, paragraph formatting features, tables, and the hyperlinks of any document in use.
• The files are protected with passwords and security permissions when conversion is done. The files are also secured from different viruses.
• This conversion helps you to open the file on any system like on Windows, Mac, even mobile phones, PDA, and Linux.
• When you will perform this conversion it will help prevent your PDF file from printing or duplicating your work by any person. So you can share your work to others.

There are many outsourcing company that offers the HTML to PDF conversion, HTML to Excel at an affordable rate. It will help you in converting any type of HTML file to the required PDF file. To ensure that the quality is maintained it is rechecked by experts. You will find the HTML to PDF conversion very beneficial to you.