--- Chris Bowditch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Glen Mazza wrote: > > > also the issue of the damage done to the FOP's > > reputation as a whole should it ship with > renderers > > that operate only partially or incorrectly. > > Well, FOP already has renderers in this state: PCL > and Text. >
Yes, but that was before I joined the team. ;) I think we had someone from Ant mentioning the problem of having too many unsupported tasks, and how it hurt the project: users clamoring "add this task!" "add that task!" but not supporting it afterwards, when libraries got old or other changes occurred. (As an aside, do we even need Text for 1.0? Somehow I think a stylesheet alone can do that, as it could for HTML. I'd like us to have fewer renderers, but higher quality instead, or somehow have half-done/partly-supported renderers in a staging area of some type, not put into "core" FOP until they're in solid shape and well-supported.) > I believe Demand for AFP is there. We certainly have > customers who want it. > And the fact so many people have written their own > AFP Renderers in house > confirms this. > Good point. Thanks for your endorsement of this render type--this certainly carries weight with me. > Even if we never get round to committing > Pete's AFP Renderer, at > least if it is available as a Patch in bugzilla, its > a better starting point > than the external one by Hansuli Anderegg. > Sure--as long as we have the logic, we can use it in the future, after the 1.0 Renderer architecture is settled. Personally, I'm not sure right now if the Renderers will have more methods/fewer/different, etc., so converting now may require messy future changes at this moment. (I'm still in the middle of the FO's.) I think we should emphasize converting (from 0.20.5) first the logic for PDF, AWT, PS, and PCL. But if you'd like to take a look at AFP out of personal interest, I would have no problem with it. Indeed, it would be great if we could start better understanding the differences between the 0.20.5 and 1.0 renderers--that knowledge will be enormously beneficial in moving all the other renderers over relatively quickly. Thanks, Glen
