Oracle XML Publisher (XDO)

Oracle XML Publisher is a Java-based product based on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). Specifically, XML Publisher utilizes the XSL-FO standard to transform XML data into a formatting object (FO). A formatting object contains both data and formatting information, and can be further transformed to an output format such as Portable Document Format (PDF).
XML Publisher uses data definitions and templates to produce output reports in the desired format. A data definition is a data source (or a combination of data sources) that either is XML or can produce XML. Examples include output from concurrent programs and Web services. A template is a report definition, which sets out how a report should look. The template layout can be user-specified. Supported templates currently include RTF, PDF Forms, and XSL.
Key features of XML Publisher include:

• Provides a template-based, easy-to-use publishing solution that enables end-users to develop and maintain report formats to suit specific business needs.
  
• Allows users to employ familiar desktop tools such as Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Word to create and maintain reports in their preferred format, and then use XML Publisher to convert these documents to the XSL-FO format.
  
• Offers a variety of options for published documents, such as multiple output formats, multiple languages, and multiple delivery options.

Core Components

The core components of XML Publisher are a Java-based set of publishing tools accessible via Java APIs from Oracle E-Business Suite or any Java-based application.

• FO Processor - The formatting object that results from the application of the XSL-FO template to the XML data is used by the FO Processor to generate the required output document. Currently the FO Processor only supports PDF as an output format; other formats such as HTML and RTF will be supported in future releases of XML Publisher.
  
• PDF Document Merger - The PDF Document Merger accepts XML data and a PDF document as input, and uses a mapping between the XML and the fields in the document to merge the data into the PDF document.
  
• PDF Form Processor - The PDF Form Processor is used to add attributes such as watermarks to a merged document.
  
• RTF Template Parser - Report templates can be created in the Rich Text Format (RTF) document format, and converted to an XSL-FO format that can be applied to XML data.

Template Manager

The Template Manager enables you to upload and maintain your templates and data sources. Key features include:

• Data Source Registration - Data sources that generate XML data can be registered with XML Publisher. These can be concurrent programs such as Oracle Reports, or BC4J objects that are able to generate XML data.
  
• Template Registration - Templates used to format report data must be registered with XML Publisher. They can then be applied to the report data to create the final published output. Supported template types include PDF, RTF, and XSL-FO.
  
• XML Publisher APIs - XML Publisher provides APIs to allow other Oracle E-Business Suite products to communicate directly with the underlying processes.