Keeping line breaks in PDF output channel in a table cell

Author: liam_davison
Publication Date: 8/4/2015 14:42

FirstSpirit version 5.1.316.66338

I am having difficulty with tables in the PDF output channel. If a table cell contains line breaks (<br /> in the HTML), these line breaks are ignored in the PDF version of the page. This is a problem when displaying addresses in tables. It is easier to explain with some pictures:

The table as it appears in the WebEdit client:

The table as it appears in a PDF:

I can think of two possibilities:

- a problem with the Unicode to FOP Entities conversion channel, possibly removing the <br> characters

- a problem with the FOP instructions. I have tried adding linespace-treatment="preserve", white-space-treatment="preserve" to the

<fo:block padding="0mm"

margin="0mm">

$CMS_VALUE(#content)$

</fo:block>

, but this hasn't helped.

Here is the PDF channel for the Table Section Template: (we are not using the table format template, I think)

<CMS_HEADER>

<CMS_FUNCTION name="define" resultname="fr_cell_align">
<CMS_CDATA_PARAM name="source">
<![CDATA[
$CMS_IF(#style.isNull)$
$CMS_IF(!#cell.align.isEmpty)$
text-align="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.align)$"
$CMS_ELSE$
text-align="left"
$CMS_END_IF$
$CMS_ELSE$
text-align="left"
$CMS_END_IF$
]]>
</CMS_CDATA_PARAM>
</CMS_FUNCTION>

<CMS_FUNCTION name="Table" resultname="fr_st_table">
<CMS_PARAM name="tableData" value="st_table" />
<CMS_NODE_PARAM name="tableFormat">

<HEADERSPEC>
<![CDATA[
<fo:table
table-layout="fixed"
width="100%"
border-width="0.3mm"
border-style="solid"
border-color="#A9A9A9"
border-collapse="collapse">

$CMS_FOR(cols, [1..#table.cols])$
<!-- This sets the width of the Columns -->
<fo:table-column column-width="$CMS_VALUE(168/#table.cols)$mm"/>
$CMS_END_FOR$
<!-- table-body is the container for the Table Rows and Cells -->
<fo:table-body>$CMS_VALUE(#content)$</fo:table-body>

</fo:table>
]]>
</HEADERSPEC>

<ROW number="ALL">
<![CDATA[
<!-- Defines each Table Row -->
<fo:table-row>
$CMS_VALUE(#content)$
</fo:table-row>
]]>
</ROW>

<!-- Table Header -->
<CELL row="0" col="ALL">
<![CDATA[
$CMS_IF(st_header_required)$
<fo:table-cell
$CMS_IF(!#cell.colspan.isEmpty && #cell.colspan > 0)$
number-columns-spanned="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.colspan)$"
$CMS_END_IF$

$CMS_IF(!#cell.rowspan.isEmpty && #cell.rowspan > 0)$
number-rows-spanned="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.rowspan)$"
$CMS_END_IF$

border-width="0.3mm"
border-style="solid"
border-color="#A9A9A9"
background-color="#000"
color="#FFFFFF"
border-collapse="collapse"
$CMS_VALUE(fr_cell_align)$
padding="1mm"
min-height="4mm">

<fo:block-container
padding="0mm"
margin="0mm"
overflow="hidden"
font-weight="bold"
font-size="8px">

<fo:block>$CMS_VALUE(#content)$</fo:block>
</fo:block-container>
</fo:table-cell>
$CMS_ELSE$
<fo:table-cell
$CMS_IF(!#cell.colspan.isEmpty && #cell.colspan > 0)$
number-columns-spanned="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.colspan)$"
$CMS_END_IF$

$CMS_IF(!#cell.rowspan.isEmpty && #cell.rowspan > 0)$
number-rows-spanned="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.rowspan)$"
$CMS_END_IF$

border-width="0.3mm"
border-style="solid"
border-color="#A9A9A9"
background-color="#FFFFFF"
border-collapse="collapse"
padding="1mm"
$CMS_VALUE(fr_cell_align)$
font-size="8px"
min-height="4mm">

<fo:block padding="0mm"
margin="0mm">
$CMS_VALUE(#content)$
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
$CMS_END_IF$
]]>
</CELL>

<!-- Odd Rows in all Columns -->
<CELL row="odd" col="ALL">
<![CDATA[
<fo:table-cell
$CMS_IF(!#cell.colspan.isEmpty && #cell.colspan > 0)$
number-columns-spanned="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.colspan)$"
$CMS_END_IF$

$CMS_IF(#cell.rowspan > 1 && #table.cols != #cell.colspan)$
number-rows-spanned="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.rowspan)$"
$CMS_END_IF$

border-width="0.3mm"
border-style="solid"
border-color="#A9A9A9"
$CMS_IF(st_header_required)$
background-color="#FFFFFF"
$CMS_ELSE$
background-color="#D9D9D9"
$CMS_END_IF$
border-collapse="collapse"
padding="1mm"
$CMS_VALUE(fr_cell_align)$
font-size="8px"
min-height="4mm">

<fo:block padding="0mm"
margin="0mm">
$CMS_VALUE(#content)$
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
]]>
</CELL>

<!-- All Rows -->
<CELL row="ALL" col="ALL">
<![CDATA[
<fo:table-cell

$CMS_IF(!#cell.colspan.isEmpty && #cell.colspan > 0)$
number-columns-spanned="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.colspan)$"
$CMS_END_IF$

$CMS_IF(#cell.rowspan > 1 && #table.cols != #cell.colspan)$
number-rows-spanned="$CMS_VALUE(#cell.rowspan)$"
$CMS_END_IF$

border-width="0.3mm"
border-style="solid"
border-color="#A9A9A9"
$CMS_IF(st_header_required)$
background-color="#D9D9D9"
$CMS_ELSE$
background-color="#FFFFFF"
$CMS_END_IF$
background-color="#FFFFFF"
border-collapse="collapse"
padding="1mm"
$CMS_VALUE(fr_cell_align)$
font-size="8px"
min-height="4mm">

<fo:block padding="0mm"
margin="0mm">
$CMS_VALUE(#content)$
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
]]>
</CELL>

</CMS_NODE_PARAM>
</CMS_FUNCTION>
</CMS_HEADER>

$-- This actually places the table on the PDF --$
<fo:block space-after="3mm" space-before="3mm">
$CMS_IF(!st_table_caption.isEmpty)$
$CMS_VALUE(st_table_caption)$
$CMS_END_IF$

$CMS_IF(!st_headline.isEmpty)$
<fo:block space-after="2mm">
<fo:inline font-size="9pt"
font-weight="bold"
color="#000">
$CMS_VALUE(st_headline.convert)$
</fo:inline>
</fo:block>
$CMS_END_IF$

$-- Show the whole table using fr_st_table --$
$CMS_VALUE(fr_st_table)$

$CMS_IF(!st_underline.isEmpty)$
$CMS_VALUE(st_underline)$
$CMS_END_IF$

$CMS_VALUE(st_table_format_text)$
</fo:block>

For reference, here is the table in the Java client. Our editors never use the Java client though:

Tags: fop, line_break, pdf, tablecell