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Re: [docbook-apps] Persian, Arabic or Hebrew FO output, need to get writing-mode=rl-tb

  • 1.  Re: [docbook-apps] Persian, Arabic or Hebrew FO output, need to get writing-mode=rl-tb

    Posted 11-07-2006 07:58
    Hi Kia,
    It would help if you mentioned what XSL-FO processor you are using. If it is FOP, then you are out of luck, because FOP doesn't support writing-mode properties that enable you to publish Hebrew or Arabic.

    If you use RenderX's XEP or Antenna House's XSL Formatter, then you can publish Hebrew and Arabic, and it is easier than you think. The Unicode ranges for those languages identify the glyphs as needing to be set right-to-left, so the formatter will do so automatically without having to set writing-mode or use bidi-override.

    Bob Stayton
    Sagehill Enterprises
    DocBook Consulting
    bobs@sagehill.net





  • 2.  Re: [docbook-apps] Persian, Arabic or Hebrew FO output, need to get writing-mode=rl-tb

    Posted 11-07-2006 13:42

    Hi Bob,

    thank for your answer! Actually I am working on a patch for Apache FOP
    so that fop
    will be able to create well-formated Persian, Arabic or Hebrew output files.
    My aim is to have open source documentation system for languages like
    Arabic
    with complex text layout writing system.

    On my FOP trunk version, I can create Arabic PDF files
    like this one
    http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/~kiat/fop/TestOutPut.pdf
    but I should have in my FO files the correct writing system. The problem
    is not just having the correct shapes
    and glyphs but it should be able to apply Bidi Algorithm on each paragraph.

    Antenna House's XSL Formatter needs also to have writing-mode="rl-tb":

    <fo:block-container
    writing-mode="rl-tb"
    font-family="Tahoma"
    language="ar">
    <fo:block>

    Arabic Arabic Arabic

    </fo:block>
    </fo:block-container>

    Can I control this by my customizing layer? Is this implemented
    depending on writing-mode "dir" attribute?

    Kindest regards,

    Kia Teymourian

    Bob Stayton wrote:
    > Hi Kia,
    > It would help if you mentioned what XSL-FO processor you are using. If
    > it is FOP, then you are out of luck, because FOP doesn't support
    > writing-mode properties that enable you to publish Hebrew or Arabic.
    >
    > If you use RenderX's XEP or Antenna House's XSL Formatter, then you
    > can publish Hebrew and Arabic, and it is easier than you think. The
    > Unicode ranges for those languages identify the glyphs as needing to
    > be set right-to-left, so the formatter will do so automatically
    > without having to set writing-mode or use bidi-override.
    >
    > Bob Stayton
    > Sagehill Enterprises
    > DocBook Consulting
    > bobs@sagehill.net <mailto:bobs@sagehill.net>
    >
    >
    >
    >
    Original Message


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