Using RenderX XSL FO Technology for Large Report Formatting

Free White Paper

This paper presents concepts that can be applied to create a solution for very large report formatting. The concepts can be applied in parallel such that one can realize the creation of huge output documents with 100,000+ pages at very high performance. The paper briefly discusses the underlying technologies employed in production of printable output from XML data (Transformation, Formatting, and Generation), as well as the XEPOUT format and how manipulations with it can be used to achieve high speed, large report formatting.

VDPMill, the Document Factory, is a software application that can perform all the necessary steps, without the need to write any custom software code. VDPMill has a Joiner which controls the Splitter and Formatter, so it understands document order and can execute RenderX XEP by sending individual internal structures to a running XEP engine (or even multiple threads of XEP engine for simultaneous multi-format output).

The techniques described in this white paper are suited for producing huge print files for such applications as a monthly statement run where the input is essentially something like 50,000 two page invoices - all in one XML file or in separate XML files. Typically, in such document collections, one does not even have page numbering that continues from document to document.

The use of such techniques is governed by the nature of the document. These techniques should not be used for producing a huge manual or textbook where such things as PDF bookmarks, back of book indexes and intra-document cross-references are used. Such constructs currently require the whole document in memory to keep track of links.

Your free copy of the white paper is available here for download (PDF).