Define.pdf can be a great supplement to define.xml for multiple reasons.
Apache FOP software (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/) can beautifully render the define.xml to define.pdf when used with proper stylesheet file. We have developed a stylesheet file xml2fo.xsl by modeling it based of CDISC’s stylesheet: define2-0-0.xsl. By using xml2fo.xsl, the generated define.pdf looks almost identical to corresponding define.xml, when viewed via standard stylesheet provided by CDISC in define v2.0 package. CDISC’s stylesheet render xml to xhtml, whereas xml2fo.xsl renders xml file to ‘fo’ format. FO (formatting objects) is an intermediate file format and users don’t need to dig into its technical details since, Apache FOP can directly use this xsl file to render xml to pdf.
Apache FOP is an open-source free Java application that converts XML and XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) files to PDF or other printable formats. It can be downloaded from http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/. Any version 2.0 compliant define.xml can be used to create corresponding define.pdf using presented technique.
Define.pdf can be a great supplement to define.xml for multiple reasons.
Apache FOP software (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/) can beautifully render the define.xml to define.pdf when used with proper stylesheet file. We have developed a stylesheet file xml2fo.xsl by modeling it based of CDISC’s stylesheet: define2-0-0.xsl. By using xml2fo.xsl, the generated define.pdf looks almost identical to corresponding define.xml, when viewed via standard stylesheet provided by CDISC in define v2.0 package. CDISC’s stylesheet render xml to xhtml, whereas xml2fo.xsl renders xml file to ‘fo’ format. FO (formatting objects) is an intermediate file format and users don’t need to dig into its technical details since, Apache FOP can directly use this xsl file to render xml to pdf.
Apache FOP is an open-source free Java application that converts XML and XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) files to PDF or other printable formats. It can be downloaded from http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/. Any version 2.0 compliant define.xml can be used to create corresponding define.pdf using presented technique.
Further details & related files can be requested at info@nimble-cr.com.
To find sample define.xml & define.pdf, checkout our other posts with sample CDISC submission data packages at our website: www.nimble-cr.com