We need to implement a fully open source PDF generator that supports all of our platforms (Windows, Linux). Currently our mix is fully or half closed-source (Crystal Reports, Fast Reports, SQL Server Reporting Services) and none of these is supported on all platforms.
The only viable solution that supports a full range of PDF functionalities is Apache(tm) FOP - a print formatter driven by XSL formatting objects (XSL-FO) and an output independent formatter.
What’s great here:
- It’s based on XSLT, which is also ORIGAM’s first class citizen
- It supports the whole PDF standard, including e-signatures
- It’s mature and very stable
- It’s supported by Apache
Downsides:
- No graphical designer
The goal is to implement this as an alternative report processor. Since we have XSLT built-in, we can produce the XSL-FO markup using our transformations. The renderer itself should be an independent service (Docker container) that has XSL-FO as input and returns a ready made PDF.