Prince XML
Encyclopedia
Prince is a proprietary software program that converts XML
and HTML
documents into PDF
files by applying Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS). It is developed by YesLogic, a small company based in Melbourne, Australia.
, Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS), Scalable Vector Graphics
(SVG), and arbitrary XML
. This first version was a command-line program that supported Microsoft Windows
and Linux
; there was no graphical user interface
for Windows yet.
In subsequent releases, CSS support was steadily extended until it was comparable with web browsers such as Opera
and Mozilla Firefox
. As of January 2007, Prince surpassed common web browsers in support for paged media, CSS selectors, and generated content, including advanced facilities such as language-dependent hyphenation
dictionaries. It has also been expanded to support additional platforms—the latest offering include packages for the Apple Mac, Freebsd
, and Solaris platforms.
In December 2005, Prince 5.1 passed the Acid2
test from the Web Standards Project
. It was the third user agent
to pass the test, after Safari
and Konqueror
.
The latest release of Prince is Prince 8.0, released in September 2011.
Prince was developed using the Mercury functional logic programming language.
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
and HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
documents into PDF
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
files by applying Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
(CSS). It is developed by YesLogic, a small company based in Melbourne, Australia.
History
In April 2003, Prince 1.0 was released, with basic support for XHTMLXHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
, Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
(CSS), Scalable Vector Graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
(SVG), and arbitrary XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
. This first version was a command-line program that supported Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
; there was no graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
for Windows yet.
In subsequent releases, CSS support was steadily extended until it was comparable with web browsers such as Opera
Opera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
and Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
. As of January 2007, Prince surpassed common web browsers in support for paged media, CSS selectors, and generated content, including advanced facilities such as language-dependent hyphenation
Hyphenation algorithm
A hyphenation algorithm is a set of rules that decides at which points a word can be broken over two lines with a hyphen...
dictionaries. It has also been expanded to support additional platforms—the latest offering include packages for the Apple Mac, Freebsd
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
, and Solaris platforms.
In December 2005, Prince 5.1 passed the Acid2
Acid2
Acid2 is a test page published and promoted by the Web Standards Project to expose web page rendering flaws in web browsers and other applications that render HTML. Named after the acid test for gold, it was developed in the spirit of Acid1, a relatively narrow test of compliance with the Cascading...
test from the Web Standards Project
Web Standards Project
The Web Standards Project is a group of professional web developers dedicated to disseminating and encouraging the use of the web standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium, along with other groups and standards bodies....
. It was the third user agent
User agent
In computing, a user agent is a client application implementing a network protocol used in communications within a client–server distributed computing system...
to pass the test, after Safari
Safari (web browser)
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...
and Konqueror
Konqueror
Not to be confused with the Conqueror web browser.Konqueror is a web browser and file manager that provides file-viewer functionality for file systems such as local files, files on a remote ftp server and files in a disk image. It is a core part of the KDE desktop environment...
.
The latest release of Prince is Prince 8.0, released in September 2011.
Prince was developed using the Mercury functional logic programming language.
See Also
- CSSToXSLFO a Public Domain Java utility which can convert an XML document, together with a CSS2 style sheet, into an XSL-FO document, which can then be converted into PDF, PostScript, etc. with an XSL-FO-processor.