XLIM / XNIP Formats

Overview

This article describes the current definition of the XLIM file format as it is used with XMPie PersonalEffect applications: uProduce, uCreate Print, and uPlan.

The XLIM document format is created automatically when using uCreate Print within InDesign to "Save to server" or "Export Package" and selecting one of the XLIM formats instead of native InDesign format.

As well as using InDesign and uCreate Print to create XLIM documents, it is also possible to hand-code or programmatically create a XLIM document by using the information provided in this article.

XLIM vs XNIP

While XLIM can define the structure of an entire document, XNIP can be used to create formatted text (including inline images) that can be imported into InDesign or XLIM documents with a Text File content object. Refer to the uCreate Print documentation for information on importing formatted text.

XNIP uses a subset of the XLIM file format definition as described in this article.

File encoding

When creating XLIM or XNIP as files, the files must be saved with UTF-16 encoding. For best results, use UTF-16 LE BOM (little-endian byte order mark).

Using XLIM files

When creating XLIM files with InDesign and uCreate Print, the XLIM document is stored as a resource within the InDesign document and is used on the uProduce server instead of the source InDesign document. This means that InDesign application can open the original source document, for example, to make changes to the design, and then resave/export in either InDesign or XLIM formats.

However, when manually creating the XLIM document, it cannot be opened by InDesign. It can be uploaded to the uProduce server as a document in an existing uProduce account/campaign, and used for print production in the usual ways. Note that it is not possible to upload a hand-coded XLIM file together with static resource images like you can when exporting a XLIM package from InDesign. Refer to Using images in XLIM and XNIP. A sample XLIM document is provided in Appendix F.

Using XNIP files

XNIP can be used by Text File content objects in the plan file in the same way as plain text, rich text and Adobe InDesign Tagged Text files. Refer to the uCreate Print documentation for information on importing formatted text.

XNIP files have the added benefit of being able to include images which is not possible with the other text file formats. A sample demonstrating the use of XNIP files as Text File assets is provided in Appendix F.

When using XNIP files with Text File content objects, the XNIP files should be included in the project’s Asset folder so they are available when called for production.

In addition to creating XNIP as a separate asset file, XNIP can also be created in the plan file using QLingo as described below. A sample of generating XNIP dynamically in the plan file is also provided in Appendix F.

Using XNIP in QLingo

In some cases, it is very useful to create XNIP in the plan file logic. This makes it possible to use recipient data source values to change either the appearance or content of the XNIP.

To create XNIP in the plan file, create a Text content object, and build the XNIP XML in the Text content object’s expression. Remember to escape double quote marks with the \ backslash character, and add line breaks by using \r\n. A sample plan file is provided in Appendix F.

Note: If you place content objects in the XNIP text, when you place the content object into the InDesign document, you need to Enable nested composition. Refer to the uCreate Print documentation for details.

Using images in XLIM and XNIP

Asset images

Variable or dynamic images can be used in XLIM and XNIP by using the fo:external-graphic node and adding the Graphic content object name in the role attribute, as documented later in this article. In this case, the images should reside in a uProduce Asset folder.

Resource images

Static or resource images that are not controlled by a Graphic content object, can be used in XLIM and XNIP by using the fo:external-graphic node and adding the Graphic content object name in the src attribute, as documented later in this article. In this case, the image must reside on the uProduce server, or a file location accessible using a file:// path structure. For example: src="url(file:///C|/Folder/image.jpg)"

Debugging XLIM problems by inspecting a valid XLIM file

Hand-coding a document design from scratch can be a daunting task. In many cases, it is helpful to start the document design in Adobe InDesign and save out a basic XLIM document that you want to start making changes to.

Or, if you get stuck with one element in your design not looking the way you want, it is useful to replicate the item in InDesign and save the document to XLIM so you can compare your problem code with the XLIM code that uCreate Print creates.

With uCreate Print version 25.3 or later, once the InDesign document is linked to a data source, plan, counter or manual definition, it is possible to save the document as XLIM. In InDesign, select Dynamic Content > Advanced > Save XLIM (For inspection only).

XLIM structure

fo:root  
> ucreate:prefs  
> fo:layout-master-set  
  > fo:simple-page-master  
  > fo:region-body  
  > ucreate:layer  
> ucreate:colors  
  > ucreate:color  
  > …  
> ucreate:char-styles  
  > ucreate:char-style  
  > …  
> ucreate:para-styles  
  > ucreate:para-style  
  > …  
> ucreate:table-styles  
  > ucreate:table-style  
  > …  
> ucreate:cell-styles  
  > ucreate:cell-style  
  > …  
> fo:page-sequence  
  > ucreate:guides  
  > …  
  > fo:flow  
  > fo:block-container  
  > fo:block  
  > fo:inline  
  > fo:external-graphic  
  > fo:table  
  > fo:table-column  
  > …  
  > fo:table-header  
  > fo:table-cell  
  > fo:block-container
  > fo:block  
  > fo:inline  
  > fo:external-graphic
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > fo:table-row  
  > fo:table-cell  
  > fo:block-container
  > fo:block  
  > fo:inline  
  > fo:external-graphic
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > fo:table-footer  
  > fo:table-cell  
  > fo:block-container
  > fo:block  
  > fo:inline  
  > fo:external-graphic
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  …  
  …  
  …  

XNIP structure

fo:root  
> ucreate:prefs  
> ucreate:colors  
  > ucreate:color  
  > …  
> ucreate:char-styles  
  > ucreate:char-style  
  > …  
> ucreate:para-styles  
  > ucreate:para-style  
  > …  
> ucreate:table-styles  
  > ucreate:table-style  
  > …  
> ucreate:cell-styles  
  > ucreate:cell-style  
  > …  
> fo:block  
  > fo:inline  
  > fo:external-graphic  
  > fo:table  
  > fo:table-column  
  > …  
  > fo:table-header  
  > fo:table-cell  
  > fo:block-container  
  > fo:block  
  > fo:inline  
  > fo:external-graphic
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > fo:table-row  
  > fo:table-cell  
  > fo:block-container  
  > fo:block  
  > fo:inline  
  > fo:external-graphic
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > fo:table-footer  
  > fo:table-cell  
  > fo:block-container  
  > fo:block  
  > fo:inline  
  > fo:external-graphic
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
  > …  
> …  

Overview

Like other XML formats, XLIM and XNIP structures can be thought of as a hierarchy of components which, taken together, completely describe a set of documents to be printed. The XLIM hierarchy is structured as shown in the "XLIM structure" diagram, and XNIP in the "XNIP strcture" diagram.

Some of these components are XSL-FO elements, also known as formatting objects. These are designated by the fo: namespace.

Other elements are specific to uCreate, and are designated with the ucreate: namespace.

A XLIM description is delimited by the <fo:root>…</fo:root> tags, as shown below.

<?xml version=’1.0’ encoding=’utf-16’>
<fo:root xmlns:fo=http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format
               xmlns:ucreate="http://www.xmpie.com/ucreate">
…
</fo:root>

Within the fo:root element are all the other elements that make up the document definition. These are described below.

Types

  • Number: An unsigned long number either in decimal or hexadecimal format. Hexadecimal numbers start with ‘#’. Valid values are therefore: ‘10’ or ‘#1B’. Normally used as an ID for relating objects in the document.

  • Unit: A string that defines a certain measure, the unit may be of numerous types. A unit may be defined as a point value, a pica value, inch, millimeter, centimeter, point, pixel or percent (percent only where it specifically says so). The format of unit is dependent on the unit type. The following lists the possibilities (# stands for one or more digits, [-] refers to a negative amount and [.#] indicates that decimals are also possible.):

    1. Inches [-]#[.#]in

    2. Centimeters [-]#[.#]cm

    3. Millimeters [-]#[.#]mm

    4. Picas [-]#p#[.#]

    5. Pixels [-]#px

    6. Points [-]#[.#]pt

    7. Percent #%

  • String: A string, its format and permitted values (if used) are explained in the attribute descriptions below.

  • Matrix: An array of 6 double numbers defining a transformation matrix. This definition form is the same as PostScript a matrix definition.

  • URL: A string defining a URL. It is optionally OK to surround the URL string with the label "url(XXXX)" (where XXXX is the URL). For example:

    url(file:///C|/Folder/image.jpg)

    Note that file path must be accessible on the uProduce server file system.

  • Color: Either CMYK or RGB color, each component of the color may be defined as a 0-255 value or percent. The following are valid values:

    cmyk(0%, 70%,100%, 0%)

    rgb(255, 77, 0)

    rgb(255, 30%, 0)

    It is also possible to use names for colors, in which case the following values are given:

    Color Name

    CMYK values

    RGB values

    Aqua (Cyan)

    255,0,0,0

    0,255,255

    Black

    0,0,0,255

    0,0,0
    Blue

    255,200,0,0

    0,0,255

    Fuschia (Magenta)

    0,255,0,0

    255,0,255

    Gray

    0,0,0,128

    128,128,128

    Green

    219,53,255,16

    0,128,0

    Lime

    204,0,253,0

    0,255,0

    Maroon

    64,234,255,59

    128,0,0

    Navy

    255,237,28,8

    0,0,128

    Olive

    88,82,255,67

    128,128,0

    Purple

    130,243,20,0

    128,0,128

    Red

    0,255,255,0

    255,0,0
    Silver 0,0,0,64

    192,192,192

    Teal

    		250,53,132,24 0,128,128

    White

    0,0,0,0

    255,255,255
    Yellow 0,0,255,0

    255,255,0

    Once colors are defined by a ucreate:color element, it is possible for other elements to select the color by referring to the color's ID instead of specifying the color each time. For example: table-background-color="id(#5)"

Elements

fo:block

Description

Sub container of a fo:block-container. At least a single block must exist in a block-container if it has either text or graphic content. When the content is text (without inline elements) then each block stands for a paragraph (separated from others using a CR character).

All values that are marked as "inherit" (mostly font values and alignment) do their inheriting from the block-container values.

#pcdata sections inside the block are considered as static text which attributes (font, color etc.) are the block attributes. Special rules that relate to #pcdata text sections in XLIM are defined in Appendix C.

Model

fo:block (fo:inline, 
           #pcdata, 
           fo:external-graphic)*

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

text-align

No

String

Text alignment. May be one of:

  • start beginning of line (depending on writing direction).

  • end end of line (depending on writing direction).

  • left left aligned.

  • right right aligned.

  • center centered.

  • justify justified text.

  • inherit use value from block container.

Default: "inherit".

text-align-last

No

String

Alignment of the last line of each paragraph in the box. Possible values are the same as for text-align. The default value is dependent on the value of text-align in the following manner: if the value of text-align is not "justify" then the value of text-align-last is the same. Otherwise, it is "left".

font-family

No

String

Font family name of the box’s default font. For example: "Times New Roman".

font-face

No

String

Font face name. Default: "Normal".

font-size

No

Unit

Font size for box default font. Default: 12 points.

font-weight

No

String

Either numeric or a weight name. If numeric, it must be a value between 100 and 900 (exclusive), where 400 means "Normal" and 700 means "bold". If value is a name, it may be one of:

  • normal

  • bold

  • inherit

Default: "normal".

font-style

No

String

Font style. May be one of:

  • normal

  • italic

  • oblique

  • backslant

  • inherit

Default: "normal".

ucreate:kerning

No

String

Kerning to apply to the character style. May be one of:

  • optical

  • metrics

  • none

text-tracking

No

Number

Tracking state. If specified and non-zero, indicates positive or negative tracking by percentage, up to 200% or down to -100%.

ucreate:font-ps-name

No

String

Hint for PostScript name of the default font.

font-full-name

No

String

Hint for full name of default font. May be used in case the weight and style do not convey the correct face name.

color

No

Color

Default font color. Default: black.

ucreate:cmyk-color

No

Color

Default font CMYK color. If present, override "color". Default: color.

ucreate:shade

No

Unit

Percent value of color of font. For example: "20%".

ucreate:lock

No

String

Controls uEdit Lock features. For more information, refer to Appendix E.

ucreate:fold-story

No

String

Enables the Suppress Trailing Spaces on Empty Content feature. May be of:

  • true to suppress spaces

  • false to not suppress spaces. Default: "false".

fo:block-container

Description

A box that contains graphics. Its contents may either be a picture or a text flow. A text flow may be constructed of text alone or text mixed with images (in which case it is called "text with inlines").

Model

fo:block-container (fo:block*)

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

left

No

Unit

Left edge position. Distance from left edge of the page. Default: 0 points.

top

No

Unit

Top edge position. Distance from top edge of the page. Default: 0 points.

width

No

Unit

Width of box. Default: 50 points.

height

No

Unit

Height of box. Default: 50 points.

role

No

String

Content type of the block container. May be one of:

  • text-static for static text without static inlines.

  • text-dynamic for dynamic text without static inlines, or static text with dynamic inlines.

  • graphic-static for static image or empty frame (border and/or fill only).

  • graphic-dynamic for a dynamic image. Default: "text-static".

text-align

No

String

Text alignment. May be one of:

  • start beginning of line (depending on writing direction).

  • end end of line (depending on writing direction).

  • left left aligned.

  • right right aligned.

  • center centered.

  • justify justified text. Default: "left".

text-align-last

No

String

Alignment of the last line of each paragraph in the box. Possible values are the same as for text-align. The default value is dependent on the value of text-align in the following manner: if the value of text-align is not "justify" then the value of text-align-last is the same. Otherwise, it is "left".

position

No

String

Position type. Currently the only allowed value is "absolute", which is also the default.

font-family

No

String

Font family name of the box’s default font. For example: "Times New Roman".

font-face

No

String

Font face name. Default: "Normal".

font-size

No

Unit

Font size for box default font. Default: 12 points.

font-weight

No

String

Either numeric or a weight name. If numeric, it must be a value between 100 and 900 (exclusive), where 400 means "Normal" and 700 means "bold". If value is a name, it may be one of:

  • normal

  • bold

  • inherit

Default: "normal".

font-style

No

String

Font style. May be one of:

  • normal

  • italic

  • oblique

  • backslant

  • inherit

Default: "normal".

ucreate:kerning

No

String

Kerning state.

text-tracking

No

Number

Tracking state. If specified and non-zero, indicates positive or negative tracking by percentage, up to 200% or down to -100%.

ucreate:font-ps-name

No

String

Hint for PostScript name of the default font.

font-full-name

No

String

Hint for full name of default font. May be used in case the weight and style do not convey the correct face name.

color

No

Color

Default font color. Default: black.

ucreate:cmyk-color

No

Color

Default font CMYK color. If present, override "color". Default: color.

ucreate:border-color

No

Color

Color of border. Default: transparent.

 

ucreate:cmyk-border-color

No

Color

Border CMYK color. If present, override "ucreate:border-color". Default: "ucreate:border-color".

background-color

No

Color

Background color. Default: transparent.

ucreate:cmyk-background-color

No

Color

Background CMYK color. If present, override "background-color". Default: "background-color".

ucreate:shade

No

Unit

Percent value of color of font. For example: "20%".

ucreate:border-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of border color.

ucreate:border-weight

No

Unit

Box border weight. Default: 0 points (no border)

ucreate:layer-id

No

Number

Layer ID. Should match one of the layers defined by ucreate:layer element. If missing, the document’s first layer is treated as this object’s layer.

ucreate:transformation

No

Matrix

Transformation matrix to be applied to this box (to create rotation, skew, etc.). The translation components of this matrix (last 2 numbers) are always ignored, and the top-left values of this box are used to determine the box position.

id

No

Number

ID for this box. Required only for text frames that are linked in the same story. Currently not supported by PE production.

ucreate:parent-id

No

Number

ID for the parent story, if the box is a text frame linked with other frames. Currently not supported by PE production.

ucreate:copy-fitting

No

String

Copy fitting algorithm string. See Appendix B for specification.

fo:external-graphic

Description

A reference to an external graphic image. May be a static reference or dynamic image for an ADOR element.

Model

fo:external-graphic Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

src

No

URL

URL of image. Used for static images. The URL may optionally be contained in a URL label. For example: url(file:///C|/Folder/image.jpg).

role

No

String

Graphic ADOR name. The string format is "graphic-ador:<AdorName>". For example: "graphic-ador:Phone Image".

content-width

No

Unit

Either percent or point or "scale-to-fit". When percent this will mean that the image width should be scaled by this value. If it is a non-percent unit then the image width should be scaled to this value (in which case the image width dimension should be read from the image file and the scale applied should be the division of the image width and this value). Content width scaling is overridden by the ucreate:transformation attribute.

content-height

No

Unit

See content-width, but with respect to image vertical dimension.

scaling

No

String

One of:

  • uniform

  • non-uniform

  • inherit

Default: "uniform". If "uniform", both dimensions are scaled proportionally. This affects only content-width and content-height scaling. If ucreate:transformation is specified, it overrides this value.

ucreate:transformation

No

Matrix

Transformation matrix from image space to box space. May be used for defining rotation, scale, skew for the image. The matrix translation vector (the 2 last items in the array) is the distance vector (in points) between the bottom left corner of the image and the bottom left corner of the container page item. When Transformation matrix is defined, the scaling, content-width and content-height attributes are IGNORED. Default: the Unit matrix. Current PE production does not support transformation for inline images.

ucreate:fitting-mode

No

String

Allowed for dynamic images. Defines automatic fitting for variable image sizes. If specified, the transformation matrix is applied before fitting. (e.g. if it’s rotated then the fitting is done on the rotated image). May be one of:

  • content-to-frame fit the image size to the frame.

  • frame-to-content fit the frame to the image.

  • center-in-frame move the image inside its container so that it’d be positioned in its center.

  • content-proportionally like "content-to-frame" but with both dimensions scaled by the same measure (the minimum of the two)

  • proportional+centered scaled proportionally to fit the frame and center the result.

  • maintain-transformation: See section below.

Maintain Transformation

The value "maintain-transformation" for the ucreate:fitting-mode attribute of an external image signify that the image transformation (either defined by ucreate:transformtion or content-width/height) should remain the same for all images that are instances of the dynamic image ADOR.

The form of the string value in the case of maintain-transformation is as follows:

maintain-transformation:<reference-point-name>,(<reference-point-coordinates>)

The reference point name and coordinates define a point on the image bounds that after fitting should be positioned in the exact spot defined by the reference point. For example, if the value is:

maintain-transformation:top-left,(0pt,114pt)

it means that top left corner of the image should be at the (0, 114) position of the box relative to the box bottom left for all instances of the image ADOR defined for this external graphic element.

fo:flow

Description

Within the context of a fo:page-sequence, contains the collection of page elements for this sequence. Each page element is a mark on the page and it might be a container of graphics (block container) or a simple shape (line). The order of elements inside the flow determines their order of drawing. This is especially important in determining Z-order overlapping resolution.

Model

fo:flow (fo:block-container, 
line)*

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

flow-name

No

String

Flow-of-elements kind. Must be "xsl-region-body".

fo:inline

Description

Signals a change in the block style, or used for defining a text ADOR.

The first case happens when a certain section of text inside a block is of a different font, color or alignment. In this case an fo:inline element will contain the different text and its attributes will hold the relevant style values.

In the second case the attributes of the inline (e.g. role) stand for the ADOR name. Special rules that relate to #pcdata text sections in XLIM are defined in Appendix C.

Model

fo:inline (#pcdata)

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

text-align

No

String

Text alignment. May be one of:

  • start beginning of line (depending on writing direction).

  • end end of line (depending on writing direction).

  • left left aligned.

  • right right aligned.

  • center centered.

  • justify justified text.

  • inherit use value from block container

Default: "inherit". Changes in alignment within a block container are not supported by current PE production.

text-align-last

No

String

Alignment of the last line of each paragraph in the box. Possible values are the same as for text-align. The default value is dependent on the value of text-align in the following manner: if the value of text-align is not "justify" then the value of text-align-last is the same. Otherwise, it is "left". Changes in alignment within a block container are not supported by current PE production.

font-family

No

String

Font family name of the box’s default font. For example: "Times New Roman".

font-face

No

String

Font face name. Default: "Normal".

font-size

No

Unit

Font size for box default font. Default: 12 points.

font-weight

No

String

Either numeric or a weight name. If numeric, it must be a value between 100 and 900 (exclusive), where 400 means "Normal" and 700 means "bold". If value is a name, it may be one of:

  • normal

  • bold

  • inherit

Default: "normal".

font-style

No

String

Font style. May be one of:

  • normal

  • italic

  • oblique

  • backslant

  • inherit

Default: "normal".

ucreate:kerning

No

String

Kerning state.

text-tracking

No

Number

Tracking state. If specified and non-zero, indicates positive or negative tracking by percentage, up to 200% or down to -100%.

ucreate:font-ps-name

No

String

Hint for PostScript name of the default font.

font-full-name

No

String

Hint for full name of default font. May be used in case the weight and style do not convey the correct face name.

color

No

Color

Default font color. Default: black.

ucreate:cmyk-color

No

Color

Default font CMYK color. If present, override "color". Default: color.

ucreate:shade

No

Unit

Percent value of color of font. For example: "20%".

role

No

String

Text ADOR name. A string of the following format: <textAdorType>:<textAdorName>". <textAdorType> may be either "text-ador", when the ADOR is a Text ADOR, or "textfile-ador" when the ADOR is a Text File ADOR (pointer to a text asset). <textAdorName> is the name of the Text ADOR. For example: "text-ador:Firstname"

fo:layer

Description

A document layer. The document layer serves as a collection of page elements. The layer may be defined to be invisible (either using dynamic values by definition of ADORs, or statically).

Model

fo:layer Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

id

Yes

Number

Layer ID, used for reference by page elements. The ID may be an unsigned long decimal number or a hexadecimal number, in which case it should be prefixed by a ‘#’ sign (e.g., #7B).

ucreate:name

No

String

Label for the layer, to be displayed by design application.

color

No

Color

Color of layer to be displayed by design application.

Visibility

No

String

Specifies whether the layer (and its elements) is displayed.

May be one of:

  • visible

  • hidden

Default: "visible".

ucreate:uivisibility

No

String

Specifies whether the layer is available via the Layers Panel.

May be one of:

  • visible

  • hidden

Default: visible.

role

No

String

Visibility ADOR name. The ADOR name must be a name of a visibility ADOR. The field format should be "visibility-ADOR:<ADORName>". For example: "visibility-ADOR:CarClient".

fo:layout-master-set

Description

Master definitions for document and layer specifications. This contains a single master defining page dimensions and a variable number of layers defined for the document elements.

Model

fo:layout-master-set (fo:simple-page-master, 
ucreate:layer*)

Attributes

None.

fo:page-sequence

Description

A single page description.

Model

fo:page-sequence (fo:flow? 
ucreate:guides*)

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

master-reference

Yes

String

Reference to the fo:simple-page-master that defines the page dimensions. This must match the master-name of exactly one fo:page-master element

id

No

Number

Spread1 ID that corresponds to this page. The ID may be an unsigned long decimal number or a hexadecimal number, in which case it should be prefixed by a ‘#’ sign (e.g., #7B). Currently only single page spreads are supported. Therefore this ID, if specified, should be unique.

ucreate:media

No

String

Media selection for this spread (Spread is an InDesign concept relating to a collection of pages). The string may represent a static value, in which case it will be the string label of the selected media (e.g., "FrontPaper"). Alternatively, it may represent a dynamic value, in which case it will hold the name of the matching ADOR following a "media-ADOR:" label. For example: "media-ADOR:BookletPaper".

role

No

String

Visibility ADOR for page. The format should be "visibility-ADOR:<ADOR name>, where <ADOR name> is the visibility ADOR that attaches to this page.

fo:region-body

Description

Defines region body and internal margins.

Note: Optional, and currently unimportant.

Model

fo:region-body Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

margin-top

No

Unit

Default: 0 points. Currently not supported by PE production.

margin-bottom

No

Unit

Default: 0 points. Currently not supported by PE production.

margin-left

No

Unit

Default: 0 points. Currently not supported by PE production.

margin-right

No

Unit

Default: 0 points. Currently not supported by PE production.

fo:root

Description

Root element of XLIM.

Model

fo:root (ucreate:prefs?,
        fo:layout-master-set?,
        fo:page-sequence?)

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

xmlns:fo

Yes

URL

XSLFO namespace definition; Must be "http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format".

xlmns:ucreate

Yes

URL

uCreate namespace definition; Must be "http://www.xmpie.com/ucreate".

fo:simple-page-master

Description

Master page definition for the document pages. Defines page dimensions and margins.

Model

fo:simple-page-master (fo:region-body?)

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

master-name

Yes

String

Name used for referencing by page-sequence elements. This name must be the same as the value of the master-reference attribute of the single page-sequence-element.

page-height

No

Unit

Height of page; Default: 792 points.

page-width

No

Unit

Width of page; Default: 612 points.

margin-top

No

Unit

Default: 0 points. Currently not supported by PE production.

margin-bottom

No

Unit

Default: 0 points. Currently not supported by PE production.

margin-left

No

Unit

Default: 0 points. Currently not supported by PE production.

margin-right

No

Unit

Default: 0 points. Currently not supported by PE production.

ucreate:cell-style

Description

Defines a cell style to be used in the document.

Model

ucreate:cell-style Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

id

Yes

Number

Cell style id specified as decimal or hexadecimal number.

ucreate:name

No

String

Cell style name to display in interface of design program. Names must be unique.

margin-top

No

Unit

Height of top margin.

margin-bottom

No

Unit

Height of bottom margin.

margin-left

No

Unit

Width of left margin.

margin-right

No

Unit

Width of right margin.

table-background-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors to use for cell background (overriding the background color defined by the table style for this cell only).

ucreate:table-background-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of cell background color. For example: "20%" (overriding the background shade defined by the table style for this cell only).

ucreate:edge-top-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors to use for top edge.

ucreate:edge-top-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of top edge color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:edge-top-style

No

String

Currently the only available option is "solid". Other line styles are not supported.

ucreate:edge-top-width

No

Unit

Width of top edge.

ucreate:edge-top-gap-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined inucreate:colors to use for top edge gap.

ucreate:edge-bottom-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors to use for bottom edge.

ucreate:edge-bottom-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of bottom edge color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:edge-bottom-style

No

String

Currently the only available option is "solid". Other line styles are not supported.

ucreate:edge-bottom-width

No

Unit

Width of bottom edge.

ucreate:edge-bottom-gap-color

 

 

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors to use for bottom edge gap.

ucreate:edge-left-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors to use for left edge.

ucreate:edge-left-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of left edge color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:edge-left-style

No

String

Currently the only available option is "solid". Other line styles are not supported.

ucreate:edge-left-width

No

Unit

Width of left edge.

ucreate:edge-left-gap-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors to use for left edge gap.

ucreate:edge-rightcolor

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors to use for right edge.

ucreate:edge-right-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of right edge color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:edge-right-style

No

String

Currently the only available option is "solid". Other line styles are not supported.

ucreate:edge-right-width

No

Unit

Width of right edge.

ucreate:edge-right-gap-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors to use for right edge gap.

ucreate:rotation-angle

No

Number

A number indicating the angle to rotate text in the cell. Default "0".

ucreate:cell-clip

No

String

Should cell contents be clipped if they don’t fit.

May be of:

  • true to clip the contents or

  • false to not clip.

ucreate:cell-first-baseline

No

String

Sets the baseline.

May be one of:

  • ascent

  • cap-height

  • leading

  • x-height

  • fixed

ucreate:cell-min-baseline-offset

No

Unit

Unit of measure to offset the cell text baseline.

ucreate:para-style

No

Number

ID of the paragraph style to apply to text in the cell.

ucreate:based-on-style

No

Number

Name of another cell style on which this cell style is based. All attributes from the based-on-style will apply unless overridden by attributes defined in this style.

ucreate:cell-styles

Description

Container for ucreate:cell-style elements.

Model

ucreate:cell-styles (ucreate:cell-style*)

Attributes

None

ucreate:char-style

Description

Defines a character style to be used in the document.

Model

ucreate:char-style Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

Id

Yes

String

Character style ID specified as a decimal or hexadecimal number.

Color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

font-family

No

String

Font family name of the box’s default font. For example: "Times New Roman".

font-size

No

Unit

Font size for box default font. Default: 12 points.

font-weight

No

String

Either numeric or a weight name. If numeric, it must be a value between 100 and 900 (exclusive), where 400 means "Normal" and 700 means "bold". If value is a name, it may be one of:

  • normal

  • bold

  • inherit

Default: "normal".

ucreate:font-ps-name

No

String

Hint for PostScript name of the default font.

ucreate:font-face-name

No

String

Hint for full name of default font. May be used in case the weight and style do not convey the correct face name.

ucreate:name

No

String

Character style name to display in interface of design program. Names must be unique.

ucreate:underline

No

String

Indicates if the character style includes a definition for underline. May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default: "false".

ucreate:underline-offset

No

Unit

Underline offset distance.

ucreate:underline-weight

No

Unit

Underline weight. Default: 0 points (no underline).

ucreate:underline-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

ucreate:underline-color-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of underline color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:strike-through

No

String

Indicates if the character style includes a definition for Strikethrough. May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default: "false".

ucreate:strike-through-offset

No

Unit

Strikethrough offset distance.

ucreate:strike-through-weight

No

Unit

Strikethrough weight. Default: 0 points (no Strikethrough).

ucreate:strike-through-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

ucreate:strike-through-color-shade

 

Unit

Percent value of strikethrough color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:based-on-style

No

String

Name of another character style on which this character style is based. All attributes from the based-on-style will apply unless overridden by attributes defined in this style.

ucreate:kerning

No

String

Specifies the kerning to apply to the character style. May be one of:

  • optical

  • metrics

  • none

ucreate:char-styles

Description

Container for ucreate:char-style elements.

Model

ucreate:char-styles (ucreate:char-style*)

Attributes

None

ucreate:color

Description

Defines a color to be used in the document.

Model

ucreate:color Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

id

Yes

Number

Color ID, specified as decimal or hexadecimal number.

color

No

String

Color value, specified as "rgb(r, g, b)", where r is the percentage of red colorant, g is the percentage of blue colorant, and b the percentage of blue colorant. For example: "rgb(14.44%, 25.17%, 55.94%)"

ucreate:cmyk-color

No

String

CMYK color, specified by colorant percentages or by pre-defined color names as shown in the table above. For example: "cmyk(100%, 90%, 10%, 0%)"

ucreate:name

No

String

Color name to display in interface of design program. Names must be unique.

ucreate:spot-color

No

String

Indicates if the defined color is a spot color. May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default: "false"

ucreate:colors

Description

Container for ucreate:color elements.

Model

ucreate:colors (ucreate:color*)

Attributes

None.

ucreate:contentobject

Description

Defines a content object (ADOR) to be used in the document.

Model

ucreate:contentobject Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

role

Yes

String

A string of the following format: <textAdorType>:<textAdorName>". <textAdorType>. For example: "text-ador:Firstname".

ucreate:contentobjects

Description

Container for ucreate:contentobject elements.

Model

ucreate:contentobjects (ucreate:contentobject*)

Attributes

None.

ucreate:guide

Description

Vertical or horizontal guides, as instantiated in the design application.

Model

ucreate:guide Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

color

Yes

Color

Guide color.

top

No

Unit

Distance from top edge of page. (Horizontal guide only.)

left

No

Unit

Distance from left edge of page. (Vertical guide only.)

ucreate:parent-id

No

Number

If specified, flags this as a page guide.

ucreate:threshold

No

Unit

The UI zoom at which this guide is visible, as a percentage.

ucreate:guides

Description

A container for ucreate:guide elements, representing a feature of the design application.

Model

ucreate:guides (ucreate:guide*)

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

ucreate:parent-id

Yes

Number

ID of the page associated with these guides. This attribute is used to determine if any of the guides it contains are spread guides or page guides.

ucreate:threshold

Yes

Unit

The UI zoom at which a guide is visible, expressed as a percent value. This serves as the default for the guides included in this collection.

ucreate:line

Description

A line mark on the page.

Model

ucreate:line Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

ucreate:x1

Yes

Unit

Horizontal distance of the line start point from the left edge of the page.

ucreate:y1

Yes

Unit

Vertical distance of the line start point from the top edge of the page.

ucreate:x2

Yes

Unit

Horizontal distance of the line end point from the left edge of the page.

ucreate:y2

Yes

Unit

Vertical distance of the line end point from the top edge of the page.

ucreate:border-color

No

Color

Color of border. Default: transparent.

ucreate:cmyk-border-color

No

Color

Border CMYK color. If defined, override ucreate:border-color. Default: ucreate:border-color.

ucreate:border-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of border color.

ucreate:border-weight

 

No

Unit

Box border weight. Default: 0 points (no border)

ucreate:layer-id

No

Number

Layer ID. Should match one of the layers defined by ucreate:layer element. If missing, the document’s first layer is treated as this object’s layer.

ucreate:para-style

Description

Defines a paragraph style to be used in the document.

Model

ucreate:para-style Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

id

Yes

Number

Paragraph style id specified as decimal or hexadecimal number.

color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

font-size

No

Unit

Font size for box default font. Default: 12 points.

ucreate:name

No

String

Paragraph style name to display in interface of design program. Names must be unique.

ucreate:underline

No

String

Indicates if the character style includes a definition for underline. May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default: "false".

ucreate:tracking

No

Number

Tracking state. If specified and non-zero, indicates positive or negative tracking by percentage, up to 200% or down to -100%.

ucreate:text-position

No

String

Text position. May be one of:

  • normal

  • superscript

  • subscript

  • superior

  • inferior

  • numerator

  • denominator

Default: "normal".

ucreate:space-before

No

Unit

Space before the paragraph.

ucreate:space-after

No

Unit

Space after the paragraph.

ucreate:tab-stops

No

String

Tab stops can be defined on the paragraph style. Refer to Appendix D for more information.

ucreate:left-indent

No

Unit

Left indent. For example: "5pt"

ucreate:right-indent

No

Unit

Right indent. For example: "5pt"

ucreate:first-line-indent

No

Unit

First line indent. For example: "-5pt"

ucreate:underline

No

String

Permitted values: "true" or "false". Indicates if the character style includes a definition for underline. Default: "false".

ucreate:underline-offset

No

Unit

Underline offset distance.

ucreate:underline-weight

No

Unit

Underline weight. Default: 0 points (no underline).

ucreate:underline-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

ucreate:underline-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of underline color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:strike-through

No

String

Indicates if the paragraph style includes a definition for strikethrough. May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default: "false".

ucreate:strike-through-offset

No

Unit

Strikethrough offset distance.

ucreate:strike-through-weight

No

Unit

Strikethrough weight. Default: 0 points (no strikethrough).

ucreate:strike-through-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

ucreate:strike-through-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of strikethrough color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:strike-through-gap-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

ucreate:strike-through-gap-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of strikethrough gap color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:based-on-style

No

String

Name of another paragraph style on which this paragraph style is based. All attributes from the based-on-style will apply unless overridden by attributes defined in this style.

ucreate:kerning

No

String

Specifies the kerning to apply to the character style. May be one of:

  • optical

  • metrics

  • none

ucreate:para-styles

Description

Container for ucreate:para-style elements.

Model

ucreate:para-styles (ucreate:para-style*)

Attributes

None.

ucreate:prefs

Description

The ucreate:prefs element contains information defining the documents style and variable behavior. Specifically, this is contained in two URL-quoted XML strings given in the first two attributes. The attributes are described in detail below.

Model

ucreate:prefs Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

ucreate:plan-xml

No

string

URL-quoted XML string describing the document’s data sources, variable objects and rules. Described in Appendix A.

ucreate:doc-prefs-xml

No

string

URL-quoted XML string describing the document’s variability. Described in detail in Appendix B.

ucreate:version

Yes

number

Indicates the version of XLIM format to which the structure adheres.

ucreate:table-style

Description

Defines a table style to be used in the document.

Model

ucreate:table-style Empty

Attributes

Attribute

Required

Type

Description

id

Yes

Number

Table style id specified as decimal or hexadecimal number.

ucreate:name

No

String

Table style name to display in interface of design program. Names must be unique.

ucreate:header-use-body-style

No

String

True specifies to use the defined body style for the header row(s). May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default "false".

ucreate:header-style

No

Number

ID of the cell style to apply to the table header row(s).

ucreate:body-style

No

Number

ID of the cell style to apply to the table body row(s).

ucreate:footer-use-body-style

No

String

True specifies to use the defined body style for the footer row(s). May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default "false".

ucreate:footer-style

No

Number

ID of the cell style to apply to the table footer row(s).

border-bottom-style

No

String

Currently the only available option is "solid". Other line styles are not supported.

border-bottom-width

No

Unit

Width of bottom table border.

ucreate:border-bottom-gap-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

border-top-style

No

String

Currently the only available option is "solid". Other line styles are not supported.

border-top-width

No

Unit

Width of top table border.

ucreate:border-top-gap-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

border-left-style

No

String

Currently the only available option is "solid". Other line styles are not supported.

border-left-width

No

Unit

Width of left table border.

ucreate:border-left-gap-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

border-right-style

No

String

Currently the only available option is "solid". Other line styles are not supported.

border-right-width

No

Unit

Width of right table border.

ucreate:border-right-gap-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors. Default: black.

ucreate:start-row-background-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors for first row of alternating row colors. Default: black.

ucreate:start-row-background-count

No

Number

Number of rows to apply first color to.

ucreate:start-row-background-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of first row background color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:end-row-background-color

No

Color

Name or ID of a color defined in ucreate:colors for second row of alternating row colors. Default: black.

ucreate:end-row-background-count

No

Number

Number of rows to apply second color to.

ucreate:end-row-background-shade

No

Unit

Percent value of second row background color. For example: "20%".

ucreate:left-column-use-body-style

No

String

True indicates to apply a different style to the left-most column. May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default: "false".

ucreate:left-column-style

No

Number

Name or ID of a cell style defined in ucreate:cell-styles to apply to the left-most column.

ucreate:right-column-use-body-style

No

String

True indicates to apply a different style to the left-most column. May be one of:

  • true

  • false

Default: "false".

ucreate:right-column-style

No

Number

Name or ID of a cell style defined in ucreate:cell-styles to apply to the tight-most column.

ucreate:based-on-style

No

Number

Name of another table style on which this table style is based. All attributes from the based-on-style will apply unless overridden by attributes defined in this style.

ucreate:table-styles

Description

Container for ucreate:table-style elements.

Model

ucreate:table-styles (ucreate:table-style*)

Attributes

None

Appendix A - ucreate:plan-xml

The ucreate:plan-xml element contains mainly the definition of the original data source, and the definitions of any content objects created from that source, either directly or via a rule.

Appendix B - Copy Fitting String

The copy fitting string used in a block-container definition defines the fitting algorithms that should be applied to solve problems of overflow and underflow. The format of this string is as follows:

Operation , Method (,Algorithms specifications)*

"Operation" may be one of these values: "underflow", "overflow", "over-and-underflow". This value specifies when copy fitting should be applied either when the box text is underflow, overflow or in both cases.

"Method" may be one of these values: "cycle", "one-step-each", "exhaustive". The only supported values is "cycle", for which the algorithms defined are looped and, in each loop, a single step in each algorithm is tested.

"Algorithms specifications" is a comma-separated sequence of one or more strings in the following format:

<name>:<step>%:<max>%:<min>%

"name" stands for an algorithm name, which may be one of: "font-size", "horizontal-scale" or "auto-leading". Currently XLIM production supported only "font-size" and "auto-leading". Each of the other values (step, max and min) is a percentage value (defining the step size for each iteration, the max and min values).

For example, the following string:

overflow, cycle, font-size:1%:125%:75%, horizontal-scale:1%:125%:75%

defines a copy fitting handling in case of overflow that runs iteratively and, in each step, executes one step of font size algorithm and one step of horizontal scale algorithm. Each of the algorithms uses a step value of 1%, a maximum value of 125% and minimum value of 75% (meaning 50 steps each). Font size algorithm will decrease the font size from a 125% value to 75% hoping to find on the way a value that will cause the box not to overflow, and Horizontal Scale algorithm will do the same but with respect to the text horizontal width by method of scaling.

Appendix C - Special Characters

Within either fo:inline element or a fo:block element, #pcdata used as static text. In order to overcome some XML issues the following characters are converted to a matching string sequence. Tab and Space are only converted when they are leading. Notice that no carriage returns are defined because carriage returns result in the opening of a new block and are dropped from the text (the parser should automatically realize that a carriage return is due when a block other than the first in a block container is started):

Character

Converted to

Indent to here (used in bullets aligning)

&#x07;

Tab

&#x09;

Line Feed (LF)

&#x0A;

Space

&#x20;

Quote

&quot;

Ampersand

&amp;

Apostrophe

&apos;

Less then (<)

&lt;

Greater then (>)

&gt;

Appendix D – Tab stops

Tab stops can be defined on ucreate:para-style elements using the ucreate:tab-stops attribute. Tab stops are defined by specifying three values: alignment, position and leaders. For example:

"(alignment:right,position:44pt,leaders(.))"

Alignment and leader values are optional. For example, this is a valid Tab stop:

"(position:20mm)"

Multiple tab stops can be defined like this:

"((position:30pt),(alignment:right,position:95pt,leaders(_)))"

Permitted values

Alignment: left, center, right. (Default: left)

Leaders: String. In most cases, you would use characters such as .-_ (full stop, dash, underscore).

Position: Unit.

Appendix E – uEdit Lock settings

uStore includes a feature called uEdit that allows shoppers to modify the document design in a web browser during the order process. If you are creating a XLIM document for use with uStore and uEdit, the ucreate:lock attribute allows you to lock different aspects of each block in the design allowing you to maintain control of certain design elements and allow customers to only modify the objects you allow.

Note that the ucreate:lock attribute is not relevant for XNIP and will be ignored.

The value of the attribute is a pipe (|) separated string of values representing the actions to lock, starting with the XLIM version which should be set to v2.

For example, the following locks the rotation, size and position of the block, put permits other changes like the content and appearance of the block:

ucreate:lock="v2 | rotation | dimension | location"

Lock value

Description

Object settings

box-create

Prevents the creation of new text or graphic blocks.

box-delete

Prevents the deletion of text or graphic blocks.

rotation

Prevents rotation of the selected block.

dimension

Prevents changing the size of the selected block.

location

Prevents moving the selected block.

Content settings

add-content-objects

Prevents the adding content objects to the selected block.

remove-content-objects

Prevents the deletion of content objects from the selected block.

text

Prevents the editing of text within the selected block.

graphic

Prevents replacement of the graphic in the selected block.

content-rotation

Prevents rotation of the content within the selected block.

content-dimension

Prevents scaling the content within the selected block.

content-location

Prevents the change of position of the content within the selected block.

Appearance settings

background-color

Prevents changing the background color of the selected block.

stroke

Prevents changing either the stroke color or weight of the selected block.

stroke-color

Prevents changing the stroke color of the selected block.

stroke-weight

Prevents changing the stroke weight of the selected block.

text-attributes

Prevents changing the text attributes of the selected block.

Appendix F - Sample Files

Sample XLIM document

Sample of XNIP files used as assets

Sample of XNIP created in uPlan