Can anybody recommend a free XML to PDF or RTF converter?

[cranioscopical]

mouser recently implemented a mod that allows the export of personal messages. Out of curiosity I tried it out. It works very nicely. The result is a large chunk of xml.

Does anybody know of a free solution to convert xml into, say, PDF or RTF or even just plain text?


Better yet a free application that would display the .xml in a manner similar to that in the forums...

[timns]

There are some freeware XML editors out there. One such is XML Edit Pro

Probably the easiest way to get some basic cleanup would be a large and clever search-and-replace job to clean out the tags.

Alternatively I'd offer to do this for you, but since it's PM's, I'd probably have to work blindfolded for the sake of your privacy

[Ath]

That's where XSLT comes in
It may be like using a hauler-truck to do the weekly shopping-mall trip, but hey, it's free: http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/index.html

[cranioscopical]

Probably the easiest way to get some basic cleanup would be a large and clever search-and-replace job to clean out the tags.

I can manage that — didn't want to re-invent the wheel

I'd offer to do this for you, but since it's PM's, I'd probably have to work blindfolded for the sake of your privacy

Thanks for the offer! I'm particularly well suited to the task; I've been working in the dark for years now.

[cranioscopical]

That's where XSLT comes in
It may be like using a hauler-truck to do the weekly shopping-mall trip, but hey, it's free: http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/index.html

Thanks for the tip. I took a look at that. Steam hammers and walnuts spring to mind at first glance. I'll see what I can do with it.

[mouser]

It looks like at first glance that that tool will require some serious configuration to convert an xml file to a nice output.

Sure would be nice to have something automated that maybe could read an xml file and make some reasonable assumptions in order to generate a nice looking layout.. or maybe use a kind of gui tool to let you configure the arrangements of fields for pretty printing..

[timns]

It looks like at first glance that that tool will require some serious configuration to convert an xml file to a nice output.

Sure would be nice to have something automated that maybe could read an xml file and make some reasonable assumptions in order to generate a nice looking layout.. or maybe use a kind of gui tool to let you configure the arrangements of fields for pretty printing..

Sounds like a pledge opportunity!

[timns]

...which I could step up for unless anyone else fancies doing it. Let's try and co-ordinate this stuff in case several people give it a go... 

[Ath]

It looks like at first glance that that tool will require some serious configuration to convert an xml file to a nice output.

Sure would be nice to have something automated that maybe could read an xml file and make some reasonable assumptions in order to generate a nice looking layout.. or maybe use a kind of gui tool to let you configure the arrangements of fields for pretty printing..

Quess there is a tool for that already. Didn't look close lately (researched it a bit about 5 - 7 years ago), but I wouldn't start a project without finding all the tools for creating either FOP layouts or full-blown XSLT layouts.

[f0dder]

Slightly OT, but still related: I've been wanting to look into DocBook for the next school project, because frankly .doc sucks when you're collaborating and doing more than ~50 pages. But all the XSLT and FOP stuff is disheartening, looks like it's easier to go for LaTeX :/

[Ath]

XSLT and FOP is useful for presenting (structured) data, generated elsewhere, not being produced/modified from a wordprocessor or something like it. So you're correct in selecting (LaTeX/Any document management system) for maintaining your docs.

[f0dder]

XSLT and FOP is useful for presenting (structured) data, generated elsewhere, not being produced/modified from a wordprocessor or something like it. So you're correct in selecting (LaTeX/Any document management system) for maintaining your docs.

I just don't really like the LaTeX syntax or the toolset (it doesn't feel "natural" on Windows), and DocBook sounds decent - but when I see it mentioned, it's almost always also involving xslt and fop :/

[rjbull]

I'd be interested to know if anyone has tried Treeline.  Features list includes, amongst much else:

    * Stores almost any type of information, including plain text, HTML, numbers, dates, times, booleans, URLs, etc.
    * The tree structure helps keep things organized.
    * Each node can have several fields that form a mini-database.
    * Several node types, with different sets of fields, can be included in one file.
    * The node format, including fields, output lines and tree-view icon, can be defined for each node type.
[...]
    * TreeLine files are XML by default, but there are options for automatically compressing or encrypting the files.
[...]
    * File Import and Export The data can be exported to HTML.
    * An XSLT file can be exported to work with the XML TreeLine files.
    * Tab-delimited tables and tab-indented text files can be imported and exported. Plain text files and Treepad files can be imported.
    * Mozilla and XBEL format bookmark files can be imported and exported.
    * Generic XML files can be imported and exported, allowing TreeLine to function as a crude XML editor.
    * ODF text documents can be imported and exported as outlines.
    * Batch file conversions can be done from a command line interface.

[marcopolo2]

mouser recently implemented a mod that allows the export of personal messages. Out of curiosity I tried it out. It works very nicely. The result is a large chunk of xml.

Does anybody know of a free solution to convert xml into, say, PDF or RTF or even just plain text?


Better yet a free application that would display the .xml in a manner similar to that in the forums...

Try  a program called Advanced XML Converter http://www.lisisoft.com/tools/xml-to-pdf.html, it is free but like all free products might be a bit limiting.

The first product on the list (see url above is called Liquid XML Studio, you can take a look at that one if you like but it's not free.

[javacoder]

Try this XML to PDF converter, its a cloud based API that i am using and very satisfied with this tool.