What are those errors when using "barcode.fo" example in FOP to generated a PDF file?

FOP comes with an example XSL-FO file, barcode.fo, which shows how to generate barcodes in PDF. But it has a number errors, if you use the "fop" command to convert it into a PDF file:

\fyicenter>cd \local\fop-2.2\fop

\local\fop-2.2\fop>fop examples\fo\advanced\barcode.fo \temp\barcode.pdf
...
... org.apache.fop.events.LoggingEventListener processEvent
WARNING: Font "Barcode,normal,400" not found. Substituting with 
"any,normal,400".
...

This is not really a warning. It is an error. FOP could not find the "Barcode" font. We need to provide the FOP configuration file that specify where the font file is:

\local\fop-2.2\fop>fop -c examples\fo\advanced\bar.conf.xml 
   examples\fo\advanced\barcode.fo \temp\carcode.pdf
...
java.lang.RuntimeException: java.io.FileNotFoundException: 
\local\fop-2.2\examples\fo\advanced\examples\fo\advanced\K3.xml 
(The system cannot find the path specified)
  at org.apache.fop.fonts.LazyFont.load(LazyFont.java:130)
  at org.apache.fop.fonts.LazyFont.getAscender(LazyFont.java:233)
  at org.apache.fop.fonts.Font.getAscender(Font.java:118)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.BlockLayoutManager.initialize
     (BlockLayoutManager.java:82)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.AbstractLayoutManager.getChildLM
     (AbstractLayoutManager.java:118)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.FlowLayoutManager.getNextKnuthElements
     (FlowLayoutManager.java:128)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.FlowLayoutManager.getNextKnuthElements
     (FlowLayoutManager.java:69)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.PageBreaker.getNextKnuthElements
     (PageBreaker.java:252)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.AbstractBreaker.getNextBlockList
     (AbstractBreaker.java:643)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.PageBreaker.getNextBlockList
     (PageBreaker.java:178)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.PageBreaker.getNextBlockList
     (PageBreaker.java:158)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.AbstractBreaker.doLayout
     (AbstractBreaker.java:384)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.PageBreaker.doLayout(PageBreaker.java:112)
...

Now the path name of metrics file, \local\fop-2.2\examples\fo\advanced\examples\fo\advanced\K3.xml, is wrong. We need to modify the FOP configuration file and try it again:

\local\fop-2.2\fop>copy examples\fo\advanced\bar.conf.xml 
   examples\fo\advanced\bar-original.conf.xml

\local\fop-2.2\fop>edit examples\fo\advanced\bar.conf.xml 
...
      <fonts>
        <font metrics-url="K3.xml" kerning="no" embed-url="K3.ttf">
...

\local\fop-2.2\fop>fop -c examples\fo\advanced\bar.conf.xml 
   examples\fo\advanced\barcode.fo \temp\carcode.pdf
...
java.lang.RuntimeException: org.apache.fop.apps.FOPException: 
Missing metrics-version attribute - please regenerate the font 
metrics file with a more recent version of FOP.
org.xml.sax.SAXException: Missing metrics-version attribute - 
please regenerate the font metrics file with a more recent 
version of FOP.
  at org.apache.fop.fonts.LazyFont.load(LazyFont.java:125)
  at org.apache.fop.fonts.LazyFont.getAscender(LazyFont.java:233)
  at org.apache.fop.fonts.Font.getAscender(Font.java:118)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.BlockLayoutManager.initialize
     (BlockLayoutManager.java:82)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.AbstractLayoutManager.getChildLM
     (AbstractLayoutManager.java:118)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.FlowLayoutManager.getNextKnuthElements
     (FlowLayoutManager.java:128)
  at org.apache.fop.layoutmgr.FlowLayoutManager.getNextKnuthElements
     (FlowLayoutManager.java:69)
...        

The metrics file located properly now. But it is outdated. See the next tutorial on how to regenerate the metrics file.

The same example is provided in FOP 2.2, 2.1, and 2.0.

 

⇒ Generate K3.xml Metrics File in FOP

⇐ Run simplecol.fo Example in FOP

⇑ FOP Commands and Examples

⇑⇑ FAQ for FOP (Formatting Object Processor)