nFop issues/alternatives

Question

I require a free .net XSL-FO processor and have initially tested nfop's functionality. I have found some shortcomings which are significant in allowing me to meet the requirements for my project.

The issues I have encountered are:

• SVG do not render

• watermark functionality is basically impossible to render - body renders before all other panels, no SVG (above) and no text rotation

• keep-together attribute is not implemented* (http://www.w3schools.com/xslfo/prop%5Fkeep-together.asp)

The third point is particularly annoying, I have found workarounds for some of the above issues(1,2) by using iTextSharp and editing the PDF afterwards (messy).

My questions are:

• Are there workarounds for any of the issues mentioned above?
• What other issues have people encountered with nfop?
• Are there alternative XSL FO processors for .net?

Answer 1

I have found 1 work around for the keep-together attribute issue. Instead of using this attribute, I chain table-row elements together using:

<fo:table-row keep-with-previous="always">

The above attribute appears to be implemented.

I used the following site as a reference: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-tippgbk/index.html

I still would like to hear other issues/workarounds/alternatives for nfop.

Answer 2

Other FOP engines with .NET interfaces to consider:

• AntennaHouse
• RenderX XEP
• Ibex PDF Creator

The level of FOP standards compliance and bugs/issues varies between FOP engines, so I would recommend using several FOP engines(many offer trial versions) when developing in order to determine if there is a problem with your FOP or a bug/issue with your rendering engine.

Answer 3

Thanks for your answer Mads. Unfortunately those options are unavailable to me, due to budget constraints and what-not.

I will have to use iTextSharp and add in the watermark afterward manually (yay).

Answer 4

Well this puppy reared its head again and I was confronted with the "keeping blocks on the same page" issue.

I found

<fo:table-row keep-together="always">

worked a charm.