[xep-support] text-align default

[Michel Goossens]

I recently tried to produce PDF with XEP for a DocBook file that contained 
a table where I want to align entries in a column on the decimal point ".". 
In DocBook the table specification reads:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

<table>
<tgroup cols="3" align="char" charoff="50" char=".">
  <thead>
    <row>
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

With Norman Walsh' XSLT stylesheets to transform this into XSL-FO I 
obtain something like:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
<fo:table border-collapse="collapse" border-left-style="solid" 
          border-right-style="solid" border-top-style="solid" 
          border-bottom-style="solid" border-left-width="0.5pt" 
          border-right-width="0.5pt" border-top-width="0.5pt" 
          border-bottom-width="0.5pt" width="6in">
              <fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="33%"/>
              <fo:table-column column-number="2" column-width="33%"/>
              <fo:table-column column-number="3" column-width="33%"/>
              <fo:table-header>
                <fo:table-row>
                  <fo:table-cell padding-left="2pt" 
                     padding-right="2pt" 
                     padding-top="2pt" 
                     padding-bottom="2pt" 
                     text-align=".">

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On the XEP web site, in the document "XSL Formatting Objects in XEP 2.7", 
PDF version, page 8, entry 7.15.9, property name "text-align" 
(implemented=yes), footnote 16 at the bottom of that page says that 
"<string> values of text-align is not implemented".

Hence, when I run XEP 2.7 on the above formatting objects output, I get 
(several of) the following:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

{!line 183, column 126: Attribute "text-align" with value "." must have a 
value from the list 
"(start|center|end|justify|inside|outside|left|right|inherit)".}
Interrupted due to errors.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

and no output. If I use passivetex, the program does not stop, but merely 
ignores the alignment on the decimal point, using the "default" (left 
alignment). 

Therefore my suggestion is to adopt a similar behavior: in a case where 
it is not necessary to stop execution since no vital information is 
missing (like in text-align), let the program continue, issue a warning 
message when the item is not (yet) implemented, and use a sensible default 
(e.g., left alignment in LtR languages). I think that would be more
user-friendly than stopping the program forcing the user to edit the fo 
file to replace the text-align value. 

Greetings, mg

Dr. Michel Goossens              Phone:(+41 22) 767-4902
CERN, IT Division                Fax:  (+41 22) 767-8630
CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland   Email: michel.goossens at cern.ch

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