Table of contents

Appendices

3.1 Conceptual Procedure

This subsection contains a conceptual description of how formatting could work. This conceptual procedure does not mandate any particular algorithms or data structures as long as the result obeys the implied constraints.

The procedure works by processing formatting objects. Each object, while being processed, may initiate processing in other objects. While the objects are hierarchically structured, the processing is not; processing of a given object is rather like a co-routine which may pass control to other processes, but pick up again later where it left off. The procedure starts by initiating the processing of the fo:root formatting object.

Unless otherwise specified, processing a formatting object creates areas and returns them to its parent to be placed in the area tree. Like a co-routine, it resumes control later and initiates formatting of its own children (if any), or some subset of them. The formatting object supplies parameters to its children based on the traits of areas already in the area tree, possibly including areas generated by the formatting object or its ancestors. It then disposes of the areas returned by its formatting object children. It might simply return such an area to its parent (and will always do this if it does not generate areas itself), or alternatively it might arrange the area in the area tree according to the semantics of the formatting object; this may involve changing its geometric position. It terminates processing when all its children have terminated processing (if initiated) and it is finished generating areas.

Some formatting objects do not themselves generate areas; instead these formatting objects simply return the areas returned to them by their children. Alternatively, a formatting object may continue to generate (and return) areas based on information discovered while formatting its own children; for example, the fo:page-sequence formatting object will continue generating pages as long as it contains a flow with unprocessed descendants.

Areas returned to an fo:root formatting object are page-viewport-areas, and are simply placed as children of the area tree root in the order in which they are returned, with no geometrical implications.

As a general rule, the order of the area tree parallels the order of the formatting object tree. That is, if one formatting object precedes another in the depth-first traversal of the formatting object tree, with neither containing the other, then all the areas generated by the first will precede all the areas generated by the second in the depth-first traversal of the area tree, unless otherwise specified. Typical exceptions to this rule would be things like side floats, before floats, and footnotes.

At the end of the procedure, the areas and their traits have been constructed, and they are required to satisfy constraints described in the definitions of their associated formatting objects, and in the area model section. In particular, size and position of the areas will be subject to the placement and spacing constraints described in the area model, unless the formatting object definition indicates otherwise.

The formatting object definitions, property descriptions, and area model are not algorithms. Thus, the formatting object semantics do not specify how the line-breaking algorithm must work in collecting characters into words, positioning words within lines, shifting lines within a container, etc. Rather this specification assumes that the formatter has done these things and describes the constraints which the result is supposed to satisfy.