[kwlug-disc] XML / XSL / XSD/ XSLT 'development' 'environment' / 'gui'?

[Steve Izma]

On Wed, Dec 04, 2013 at 04:32:20PM -0500, unsolicited wrote:
> Subject: [kwlug-disc] XML / XSL / XSD/ XSLT 'development' 'environment' /
>  'gui'?
> 
> I'm using AbstractSpoon's ToDoList
> (http://www.abstractspoon.com/tdl_resources.html) - one of the only
> todolists / tools I know of out there that does (infinite) subtasks.
> Runs under wine. (At least mostly.)
> 
> It stores its lists in xml (.tdl files), has provided schema (.xsd)
> files, a number of stylesheets (.xsl), and will allow one to execute
> the transform and produce an output file, e.g. .html.
> ...
> 
> I guess I'm looking for an 'xml report writer'. Is there such a
> beastie?

I've been typesetting from XML documents since about 1999 and
from SGML since the late 80s. As long as the XML is well-formed,
I just use a python script to convert it to groff input text,
then run it through groff with a set of macro (tmac) files to
produce PostScript or PDF output. The only complicated part is
adjusting the tmac files for the kind of output you need; the
python part is simple. But the tmac code requires a lot of
expertise. I'm willing to get together with you to see if I could
help you solve this, if you're interested.

I use this system mostly for books. But if the XML represents
highly structured data (like a database or a table), then things
are a lot easier. In fact, I find it much easier to print a
spreadsheet by saving it as .csv and running it through a python
and groff pipeline than to use the spreadsheet's built-in (awful)
formatting facilities.

	-- Steve

-- 
Steve Izma
-
Home: 35 Locust St., Kitchener N2H 1W6    p:519-745-1313
Work: Wilfrid Laurier University Press    p:519-884-0710 ext. 6125
E-mail: sizma at golden.net or steve at press.wlu.ca

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