Technologies
APP supports processing of marked-up text such as SGML, XML and HTML natively, using a JavaScript based Formatting Object Model API and/or its own proprietary scripting languages and established technologies such as Perl, XPath and Unicode. Its rules-based engine allows the stylesheet builder to automate demanding page make-up tasks and run them in a 'lights out' server mode.
APP applies text and page formatting properties with any chevron delimited mark-up such as SGML or XML or non well formed markup. APP 'templates' are stylesheets that comprise page layouts, text formatting styles and scripting.
Scripting is used to automate and apply conditions to the publishing process. Traditionally this was done using 'macros', which are low-level system commands. In later versions a JavaScript FOM API was introduced which can be used as automation scripting and powerful inline conditional processing. When using XML, a template can employ XPath or match-statement contexts to specify the exact conditions to which style is applied through the parser. Such conditions can also be configured for SGML and other tagged data using proprietary tools called showstrings.
Principal outputs are PostScript and PDF, although APP also provides a number of alternative output drivers. APP provides a WYSIWYG view of pages in the Desktop version, which can be used to manipulate pages after automated composition, or to build templates.
In computing, the term Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is used to refer to a family of languages used to transform and render XML documents.
XSLT is a language originally designed for transforming XML documents into other XML documents, or other formats such as HTML for web pages, plain text or XSL Formatting Objects, which may subsequently be converted to other formats, such as PDF, PostScript and PNG. Support for JSON and plain-text transformation was added in later updates to the XSLT 1.0 specification.
DocBook is a semantic markup language for technical documentation. It was originally intended for writing technical documents related to computer hardware and software, but it can be used for any other sort of documentation.
The Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (DSSSL) is an international standard developed to provide stylesheets for SGML documents.
Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online content. Desktop publishing software can generate page layouts and produce text and image content comparable to the simpler forms of traditional typography and printing. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and other organizations to self-publish a wide variety of content, from menus to magazines to books, without the expense of commercial printing.
QuarkXPress is desktop publishing software for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on macOS and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc. in 1987 and is still owned and published by them.
Typesetting is the composition of text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging physical type in mechanical systems or glyphs in digital systems representing characters. Stored types are retrieved and ordered according to a language's orthography for visual display. Typesetting requires one or more fonts. One significant effect of typesetting was that authorship of works could be spotted more easily, making it difficult for copiers who have not gained permission.
XSL-FO is a markup language for XML document formatting that is most often used to generate PDF files. XSL-FO is part of XSL, a set of W3C technologies designed for the transformation and formatting of XML data. The other parts of XSL are XSLT and XPath. Version 1.1 of XSL-FO was published in 2006.
Database publishing is an area of automated media production in which specialized techniques are used to generate paginated documents from source data residing in traditional databases. Common examples are mail order catalogues, direct marketing, report generation, price lists and telephone directories. The database content can be in the form of text and pictures but can also contain metadata related to formatting and special rules that may apply to the document generation process. Database publishing can be incorporated into larger workflows as a component, where documents are created, approved, revised and released.
In computing, FOSI is a stylesheet language for SGML and, later, XML. FOSI was developed by the US Department of Defense to control the pagination and layout of SGML and XML technical data. FOSI stylesheets are themselves written in SGML, an approach that would later be adopted by XSL. FOSI was implemented by, among others, Datalogics, Arbortext and X.Systems. FOSI is documented in the book Practical FOSI for Arbortext Editor (©2015) by Suzanne Napoleon.
In graphic design, page layout is the arrangement of visual elements on a page. It generally involves organizational principles of composition to achieve specific communication objectives.
XML Professional Publisher (XPP) is an automated XML based publishing system that was developed out of a proprietary typesetting system.
In computing, the two primary stylesheet languages are Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). While they are both called stylesheet languages, they have very different purposes and ways of going about their tasks.
A web template system in web publishing allows web designers and developers to work with web templates to automatically generate custom web pages, such as the results from a search. This reuses static web page elements while defining dynamic elements based on web request parameters. Web templates support static content, providing basic structure and appearance. Developers can implement templates from content management systems, web application frameworks, and HTML editors.
Oracle XML Publisher (XMLP) is an Oracle Corporation technology originally developed to solve the reporting problems faced by Oracle applications. Osama Elkady from the Applications Technology Group and Tim Dexter from the Financials Group were the main drivers for the product. It was first released with Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 in 2003. Since then it has been integrated into most of Oracle Products including JD Edwards EnterpriseOne application 8.12 and PeopleSoft Enterprise 9, and as a standalone version, XML Publisher Enterprise with no dependency on Oracle Applications. When XML Publisher became part of the Oracle BI Enterprise Edition Suite it was re-branded as Oracle BI Publisher.
XMLStarlet is a set of command line utilities (toolkit) to query, transform, validate, and edit XML documents and files using a simple set of shell commands in a way similar to how it is done with UNIX grep, sed, awk, diff, patch, join, etc commands.
XQuery is a query and functional programming language that queries and transforms collections of structured and unstructured data, usually in the form of XML, text and with vendor-specific extensions for other data formats. The language is developed by the XML Query working group of the W3C. The work is closely coordinated with the development of XSLT by the XSL Working Group; the two groups share responsibility for XPath, which is a subset of XQuery.
A processing instruction (PI) is an SGML and XML node type, which may occur anywhere in a document, intended to carry instructions to the application.
An XML transformation language is a programming language designed specifically to transform an input XML document into an output document which satisfies some specific goal.
Datalogics is a computer software company formed in 1967 and based in Chicago, IL. The company licenses software development kits for working with PDF and other document file types. They have previously developed their own typesetting and database publishing software. Since 1996, Datalogics has also acted as a channel for several SDKs from Adobe Systems. These include the Adobe PDF Library, Adobe Experience Reader Extensions, Adobe Content Server, Adobe InDesign Server, Adobe PDF Converter, Adobe PDF Print Engine and Adobe Reader Mobile SDK. In 2022, Datalogics launched a new business unit called pdfRest, an API toolkit for PDF processing.
