xsl-fo
Splitting page vertically in xslfo region-body and setting background color for one section
I have been trying from many hours to achieve a very simple use case in xslfo which is very similar to the one as described in this question css background color with floating elements. Below is a sample of the code that I have tried so far.
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="A4">
<fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">
<fo:block background-color="yellow">
<fo:float float="left">
<fo:block width="30%" background-color="red">Hello there
</fo:block>
</fo:float>
<fo:float float="right">
<fo:block width="70%" background-color="blue">Lorem Ipsum is
simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem
Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the
1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and
scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not
only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic
typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised
in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem
Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing
software like Aldus PageMaker including version
</fo:block>
</fo:float>
</fo:block>
<fo:block clear="both" />
</fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
Basically I am trying to split the main page into two vertical sections and then depending on the height of the section which has more content vertically, I would like the assign the left section a background color occupying this height. Something like this:
Similarly, if the left section's content had more height, I would be having green background for that vertical height of the left section.
Solution
You could do it with an fo:table:
<fo:table background-color="yellow">
<fo:table-column column-width="30.0%" />
<fo:table-column column-width="70.0%" />
<fo:table-body>
<fo:table-cell background-color="red">
<fo:block>Hello there </fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell background-color="blue">
<fo:block>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and
typesetting
industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard
dummy text ever
since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a
galley of type
and
scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It
has survived not only five
centuries, but also the leap into
electronic typesetting,
remaining
essentially unchanged. It was
popularised in the 1960s with the release
of Letraset sheets
containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more
recently
with desktop
publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including
version
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
Getting the text in the right places by using only floats isn't hard. The hard part is getting the background color of the shorter text to cover its entire side.
Floats, but some yellow background:
<fo:block-container background-color="yellow">
<fo:float float="left">
<fo:block-container width="30%" background-color="red"><fo:block>Hello there</fo:block>
</fo:block-container>
</fo:float>
<fo:float float="right">
<fo:block-container width="70%" background-color="blue"><fo:block>Lorem Ipsum is
simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem
Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the
1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and
scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not
only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic
typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised
in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem
Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing
software like Aldus PageMaker including version</fo:block>
</fo:block-container>
</fo:float>
</fo:block-container>
Using a fixed height on the shorter text and relying on overflow="hidden", as in the CSS question that you refer to, is a hack IMO. You can do that if you want:
<fo:block-container background-color="yellow" overflow="hidden">
<fo:block-container width="30%" background-color="red">
<fo:block>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting
industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever
since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and
scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five
centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining
essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release
of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently
with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including version
</fo:block>
</fo:block-container>
<fo:block-container width="70%" absolute-position="absolute" right="0" background-color="blue" height="300px">
<fo:block>Hello there </fo:block>
</fo:block-container>
</fo:block-container>
You can, however, combine both to get what you want:
<fo:block-container background-color="yellow" overflow="hidden">
<fo:float float="left">
<fo:block-container width="30%">
<fo:block-container absolute-position="absolute" background-color="red" />
<fo:block>Hello there</fo:block>
</fo:block-container>
</fo:float>
<fo:float float="right">
<fo:block-container width="70%">
<fo:block-container absolute-position="absolute" background-color="blue" />
<fo:block>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting
industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever
since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and
scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five
centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining
essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release
of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently
with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including
version</fo:block>
</fo:block-container>
</fo:float>
</fo:block-container>