FOray
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FOray: Module Documentation
Introduction
Because of its modular design, FOray can be thought of as a set of open-source modules useful for developers who write document processing applications. Although FOray’s reference application is an XSL-FO application, many of FOray’s components are independent of that standard, and can be successfully used in other document processing schemes.
The purpose of this page is to briefly describe the FOray modules and the dependencies between them.
aXSL
FOray has adopted the aXSL (API for XSL) view of document processing. In a nutshell, this philosophy views document processing not as a monolithic task, but as a set of discrete modules with well-defined interfaces between them. This means that very few FOray modules have dependencies on other FOray modules. Instead, they depend on aXSL interfaces, the implementations of which may or may not be other FOray modules. This modular design not only makes improving one module a simpler, cleaner, and less-risky task, but also allows developers to mix-and-match the "best-of-breed" modules that may be available.
Summary of Modules
The following table lists each FOray module:
| Module Name | Repository module | Description | Dependencies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universal modules (needed by all others) | |||
| libraries | lib | Pre-compiled jars for Logging, Apache Xalan, aXSL, etc. | None. |
| FOrayCommon | foray-common | Low-level utilities that contain features used by, or potentially used by, more than one FOray module. These tend to be things that we wish were part of the Java distribution. | Libraries. |
| Standalone Modules | |||
| FOrayPS | foray-ps | Classes for parsing/interpreting PostScript files as input. | Universals. |
| FOrayXML | foray-xml | XML utility classes for things like pretty-printing XML output. | Universals. |
| FOrayFont | foray-font | An axslFont-compliant module for handling fonts. | Universals, FOrayXML. |
| FOrayHyphen | foray-hyphen | Hyphenates words in various languages. | Universals. |
| FOrayGraphic | foray-graphic | An axslGraphic-compliant module for handling graphics, both bitmapped images and vector drawings. | Universals |
| FOraySpeech | foray-speech | An axslSpeech-compliant module integrating document processing with speech processing. | Universals |
| FOrayText | foray-linebreak | Handles line-breaking chores. | Universals. |
| FOrayPDF | foray-pdf | Classes for building a PDF file from scratch. | Universals. |
| FOrayMIF | foray-mif | Classes for building a MIF file (Adobe FrameMaker) from scratch. | Universals. |
| Document Processing Modules | |||
| FOrayFOTree | foray-fotree | Classes for parsing an XSL-FO file and making its contents available. | Universals. |
| FOrayAreaTree | foray-areatree | Classes representing a formatted document. | Universals. |
| FOrayOutput | foray-output | Classes that convert an FOTree into an output document. This is useful for output formats like MIF and RTF that do their own layout. | Universals. |
| FOrayRender | foray-render | Classes that convert an AreaTree into an output document. This is useful for output formats that require layout to be done for them. | Universals, FOrayOutput. |
| Layout Systems | |||
| FOrayLayout | foray-layout | Abstractions useful for any layout system. | Universals. |
| FOrayPioneer | foray-pioneer | The original open-source XSL-FO layout system. It is “eager” and therefore not very sophisticated. | Universals, FOrayLayout. |
| Applications | |||
| FOrayCore | foray-core | XSL-FO processing application, using any set of aXSL components. | Universals. |
| FOray | foray-app | XSL-FO processing application, using FOray modules. | Universals, FOrayGraphic, FOrayFont, FOrayHyphen, FOrayText, FOrayPDF, FOrayFOTree, FOrayAreaTree, FOrayLayout, FOrayPioneer, FOrayOutput, FOrayRenderer, FOrayCore. |
Why do some FOray modules have dependencies on other FOray modules?
- FOrayCommon is a utility module, kind of a miscellaneous bag of tools, and it specifically exists to allow all of the FOray modules to use the same basic tools. It is not really intended for use as an independent package.
- FOrayXML is also a utility-type package, and also is not intended for use as an independent package.
- The relationship between FOrayOutput and FOrayRender is that of a superentity to a subentity. Output options that use FOrayOutput are allowed to see the FO tree, but, because there is no Area tree, they are not allowed to see it. Ouput options that use FOrayRender are allowed to see only the Area tree, never the FO tree that may or may not be behind the Area tree. So the concepts are similar, but are separated within FOray to ensure that the client modules do not see more than they should. FOrayRender has dependencies on FOrayOutput that amount to code shared between them, and it hides the ability to see anything in the FO tree.
- The relationship between FOrayLayout and any layout engine (FOrayPioneer, for example) is also in the nature of a superentity to a subentity. It exists to allow some code reuse between various layout engines.
All other dependencies of one FOray module on another are, as a matter of policy, forbidden. Instead the corresponding aXSL interface is used.
Building a Module
Although each FOray module has its own build script, the preferred way to build FOray modules is to use the main build script, which can intelligently build any subset of FOray that is needed. See Building a Subset of FOray for details.