The PDF standard (portable document format, defined by Adobe) is a commonly accepted way for producing high-quality documents for printable output. By the usage of plug-in modules (Adobe Reader), the output can be displayed and printed in any browser.
Creating PDF is a standard issue when providing user interfaces through the browser. This is the reason why Application Designer introduced a couple of PDF services. The Application Designer ideas which are applied in the area of HTML-based GUIs for applications are transferred into the generation of PDF output:
High-quality output.
Simple usage but still making control possible in a fine granular way on low level.
Simple binding of PDF output to application data objects (adapters).
XML as base for defining templates.
This documentation is organized under the following headings:
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Introduction | General information on Application Designer's FOP (Formatting Objects Processor) services. |
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The First PDF Document | Explains the steps for creating a PDF document that is rendered inside the browser. |
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Page Layout Controls | Describes the controls used for the layout of a print form. |
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Container Controls | Describes the controls for table definitions. |
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Distance Controls | Describes the controls for keeping the distance in a table. |
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Text Output Controls | Describes the controls for the output of text. |
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Other Controls | Describes the controls for lists of data, and for style, image, barcode and new pages. |
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Printing | Explains how to produce paper printouts. |
Note:
An Application Designer form contains an arrangement of controls. The controls are
represented by XML tags with corresponding properties. Each control tag and
each tag property is described in this documentation. The descriptions can also
be reached by accessing the control wizards inside the Layout Painter.
