Re: PDF to XSL-FO

One business problem would be to transform already existing pdf document to
xml.  FO could be the first step to getting it into an xml schema for the
organization.  I would benefit from such a tool.

Thanks
Noel

-- Original Message -----
From: "W. Eliot Kimber" <eliot@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 10:01 AM
Subject: Re:  PDF to XSL-FO

Mark Seaborne wrote:
> Just wondering if there are any tools to convert pdf to XSL-FO? I did
> a quick Google search, but couldn't find anything obvious.

This is, I think, an FAQ. The short answer is "no, it can't really be

done".

My question: why would you need this? What business problem would going
from PDF to FO solve?

Do you mean generating an FO instance from a PDF document or do you mean
generating an XSLT style sheet that will generate an FO instance?

I suppose one could, in theory, generate an FO instance that exactly
reflects the formatting represented by the PDF data, but it would be
very difficult to do and couldn't be done without either using the Adobe
PDF library or re-implementing interpretation of the formatting
instructions in the PDF. But the resulting FO would just be a more
verbose, less complete version of the original PDF. It wouldn't be good
for much except turning back into PDF again.

Cheers,

Eliot
--
W. Eliot Kimber, eliot@xxxxxxxxxx
Consultant, ISOGEN International

1016 La Posada Dr., Suite 240
Austin, TX  78752 Phone: 512.656.4139

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