It is possible to define different page layouts for different pages. This can be done in two possible ways, either by assigning different page masters to different page sequences, or by using a page-master-alternatives element which chooses from a set of simple-page-master elements based on criteria such as the current page number.
7.2.1 Using different page masters for each page sequence
Using a different page master for each page sequence is useful when you can clearly divide the document into distinct sections. For example, this manual has a different page master for the front cover and for the pages in the table of contents. The page masters for this are shown in Figure 7-5.
Figure 7-5:
Two page masters<layout-master-set>
<simple-page-master master-name="front-page" margin="1.5cm" page-height="297mm"
page-width="210mm">
<region-body region-name="body" margin="0.75cm 0.5cm 0.75cm 3cm"/>
<region-before region-name="header" extent="2.5cm"/>
<region-after region-name="footer" extent="1cm"/>
<region-start extent="1cm" background-color="#eeeeee"/>
</simple-page-master>
<simple-page-master master-name="toc-page" margin="1.5cm" >
<region-body column-count="1" region-name="body" margin="0.75cm 0.5cm 1cm 3cm"
margin-left="2cm" margin-right="1.5cm" />
<region-before region-name="header" extent="1cm"/>
<region-after region-name="footer" extent="0.75cm"/>
<region-start extent="2cm" />
<region-end region-name="end" extent="1.5cm" />
</simple-page-master>
</layout-master-set>
Content is allocated to the two sections of the document using two separate page-sequences, as shown in Figure 7-6.
Figure 7-6:
Allocating content to two page masters
<page-sequence master-reference="front-page">
<flow flow-name="body">
<block>
content that appears in the body of the front page
</block>
</flow>
</page-sequence>
<page-sequence master-reference="toc-page">
<flow flow-name="body">
<block>
content that appears in the table of contents
</block>
</flow>
</page-sequence>
Ibex PDF Creator Developers Guide
40 Page Layout
When using this approach content from one flow always appears on pages with the same layout. Flowing content across different page layouts is described in the next section.
7.2.2 Using page master alternatives
Often it is desirable to have content flow continuously across pages with different layouts. This is done in the Ibex manual, where the pages are laid out like this:
first page of chapter has no page header
page number is on the right of the footer even numbered page has a page header
page number is on the left of the footer odd numbered page has a page header
page number is on the right of the footer The three page masters are shown in Figure 7-7.
Figure 7-7:
Page masters for three different layouts
<simple-page-master master-name="chapter-odd-no-header">
<region-body region-name="body" margin="2.5cm 2.5cm 2.5cm 4.0cm"/>
<region-after region-name="footer-odd" extent="1.5cm" display-align="before"/>
</simple-page-master>
<simple-page-master master-name="chapter-even">
<region-body region-name="body" margin="2.5cm 2.5cm 2.5cm 4.0cm" column-count="1"/>
<region-before region-name="header-even" extent="1.5cm" display-align="after"/>
<region-after region-name="footer-even" extent="1.5cm" display-align="before"/>
</simple-page-master>
<simple-page-master master-name="chapter-odd">
<region-body region-name="body" margin="2.5cm 2.5cm 2.5cm 4.0cm"/>
<region-before region-name="header-odd" extent="1.5cm" display-align="after"/>
<region-after region-name="footer-odd" extent="1.5cm" display-align="before"/>
</simple-page-master>
To make content from a single flow element span multiple pages with different page layouts we use a page-sequence-master element as shown in Figure 7-8. This element contains arepeatable-page-master-alternativeselement, which in turn contains a set of conditional-page-master-referenceelements.
When formatting content from apage-sequence which has flow-name="chapter", Ibex looks at each of the conditional-page-master-reference elements and chooses which one will be active for the current page. This is done by evaluating conditions specified with the page-position attribute. As a page is created, each conditional-page-master-reference is considered in turn, starting from the first one. The first one found whose conditions are satisfied will determine the page master for the
Ibex PDF Creator Developers Guide
current page.Since alternatives are considered in the order in which they appear in the FO, the order in which the alternatives are listed is important.
When the first page of the chapter is being created, the page-position="first" condition is true, so the first conditional-page-master-reference will be chosen because it has page-position = "first". This has master-reference = "chapter-odd-no-header", so the simple-page-master with master-name = "chapter-odd-no-header" becomes the active page master for the first page of the chapter.
When the second page of the chapter is being created, the page-position="first" is no longer true so the conditions on the next conditional-page-master-reference will be evaluated.
Although not shown in this example, other attributes such as blank-or-not-blankcan be used to control the selection of one of the alternatives.
Figure 7-8:
The page-sequence- master element
<page-sequence-master master-name="chapter" >
<repeatable-page-master-alternatives>
<conditional-page-master-reference page-position="first"
master-reference="chapter-odd-no-header"/>
<conditional-page-master-reference odd-or-even="odd"
master-reference="chapter-odd"/>
<conditional-page-master-reference odd-or-even="even"
master-reference="chapter-even"/>
</repeatable-page-master-alternatives>
</page-sequence-master>
42 Page Layout
region-before
region-body
This page layout is created with the XML below. Note that by default the region-start and region-end regions extend the full height of the page and the region-before and region-after regions are narrowed so as not to overlap the side regions. See the following page for an example where the precedence attribute is used to change this.
<simple-page-master master-name="region-example-1">
<region-body margin="2.5cm" region-name="body"
background-color="#eeeeee"/>
<region-before extent="2.5cm" region-name="header"
background-color="#dddddd"/>
<region-after extent="2.5cm" region-name="footer"
background-color="#dddddd"/>
<region-start extent="2.5cm" region-name="start"
background-color="#aaaaaa"/>
<region-end extent="2.5cm" region-name="end"
background-color="#aaaaaa"/>
</simple-page-master>
region-before region-example-1-margins
region-after region-body
This page layout is created with the XML below. Note that by default the region-start and region-end regions extend the full height of the page and the region-before and region-after regions are narrowed so as not to overlap the side regions. See the following page for an example where the precedence attribute is used to change this.
This layout differs from the previous page in that the simple-page-master has the margin attribute set to
"2.5cm". This creates a margin of 2.5cm around the entire page, and regions are positioned with respect to the rectangle created by the margins, not with respect to the edges of the paper.
<simple-page-master
master-name="region-example-1M" margin="2.5cm">
<region-body margin="2.5cm"
region-name="body"
background-color="#eeeeee"/>
<region-before extent="2.5cm"
region-name="header"
background-color="#dddddd"/>
<region-after extent="2.5cm"
region-name="footer"
background-color="#dddddd"/>
<region-start extent="2.5cm"
region-name="start"
background-color="#aaaaaa"/>
<region-end extent="2.5cm"
region-name="end"
background-color="#aaaaaa"/>
</simple-page-master>
44 Layout examples
region-before
region-body
This page layout is created with the XML below. Note that the region-before and region-after regions have precedence="true" so they extend the full width of the page and the side regions are reduced in height to the regions do not overlap.
<simple-page-master master-name="region-example-1">
<region-body margin="2.5cm" region-name="body"
background-color="#eeeeee"/>
<region-before extent="2.5cm" region-name="header"
precedence="true" background-color="#dddddd"/>
<region-after extent="2.5cm" region-name="footer"
precedence="true" background-color="#dddddd"/>
<region-start extent="2.5cm" region-name="start"
background-color="#aaaaaa"/>
<region-end extent="2.5cm" region-name="end"
background-color="#aaaaaa"/>
</simple-page-master>
46 Layout examples
Chapter 8
Text Formatting
Text is created in the output document using theblockelement.
The simplest possible block is shown in Figure 8-1.
Figure 8-1:
A simple block<block>hello world</block>
This creates a paragraph in the output document which has the default font (which is helvetica) and the default alignment (which is left).
The sections below describe elements and attributes used to control the formatting of text.