Refer to the para in chapter context in the Arbortext-path/samples/ALD/Blocks/Rotation/blockRotation.xml sample file. The context includes a set of conditions based on the value of the role attribute in the associated stylesheet. . Each condition references a different property set.

For example, the condition IF attribute “role” = “90” of the para in chapter context references the rotate 90 property set. That property set rotates a block by 90 degrees clockwise. The relevant code in that property set is given below.

Here you have set the block orientation property for the fBlock object. Using the constant ORIENT_90 will rotate the block by 90 degrees clockwise. Use ORIENT_180 or ORIENT_270 to rotate by 180 degrees and 270 degrees clockwise, respectively. Note that if a block is rotated by 180 degrees, its content will appear upside down.

If you are rotating a block so that it will appear vertically on the page, it is a good idea to provide a width to the block. This will manifest itself as a vertical height limit once the block has been rotated, and prevents the block from occupying the whole of the available vertical space on a page. Refer to the next entry in the code in the rotate 90 property set:

Here you have added a width property to the fBlock object. This property is specified in the form of the fColumnWidth datatype object, which represents a length value used in a block or table. This datatype accepts relative, percent, measure, or ruleWidth settings. The code phrase from the property set provides a measure for the width.