Re: [lmi] One PDF line prints on top of another

[Greg Chicares]

On 2018-02-18 00:13, Vadim Zeitlin wrote:
[...]
>  I didn't have any problems with reproducing it, thanks as always for the
> instructions. However the bad news is that I don't think there is any
> simple to fix the problem. Currently all pages except the ones containing
> the tables are supposed to fit on a single page and there is no provision
> for pagination in the code. It could, of course, be added, but it's not
> quite trivial because it can't be done in the same simple way as for the
> tables and would need a different approach.
> 
>  But if it's not acceptable to arrange things so that they fit on each of
> the 3 notes pages manually, this is still the only thing to do...
Yes, this is the only thing to do, so it must be done. Every intended
number and word must be printed: we can't overprint some lines on top
of the footer, or fail to print other lines altogether because there
wasn't enough room for them on the page.

I can force FOP to run here...

JAVA_HOME=$(dirname $(dirname $(dirname $(readlink -f $(whence java))))) \
  /opt/lmi/third_party/fop-0.20.5/fop.sh \
 -fo "/opt/lmi/bin/old/XYZZY.fo.xml" \
 -pdf "/opt/lmi/bin/old/XYZZY.pdf"

to see how FOP handles the proprietary product for which I first noticed
this anomaly. It seems to treat the first two "Explanatory Notes" pages
as "flowable"--IOW, the first page has everything through the first line
of this column definition...

  IRR on Surrender Value: The interest rate [...] to generate the cash

and the second page starts with the end of that sentence:

  surrender value.

  Mortality Charges: The [...]

and then the "Separate Account" section begins later on that same page.
(That's not good typography: that IRR footnote occupies only two lines,
and they shouldn't be spread across two pages.)

The MST files have that "Separate Account" section at the beginning of a
distinct template file, 'reg_d_indiv_notes2.mst'. The FOP output seems
to flow the text represented by these two MST templates:
  reg_d_indiv_notes1.mst
  reg_d_indiv_notes2.mst
over two pages--and, if only one page is needed, it still prints two,
the second page being blank except for its header and footer. [To see
that, change the 'sample' product files as described yesterday, but
without adding the Dickens text: i.e., change LedgerType to 6 (six),
but use the original, largely empty footnotes; then examine the FOP
output.] I think that's a defect of the XSL template: there should be
no blank page.

Both MST and FOP start a new page for the text represented by
  reg_d_indiv_notes3.mst
There may be some sort of principle behind this. The NAIC illustration
reg (the templates whose current names begin 'reg_' but not 'reg_d')
does require that the signature section ("Certification") appear on
the same page as the Numeric Summary. For illustration-reg output,
that's a formal regulatory requirement, so it must be met. And in
that context it does make sense: the Numeric Summary distills the
rest of the illustration, and printing it above the signatures makes
it very clear what has been signed even if only that page is kept by
one of the signatories.

However, for other ledger types, including the 'reg_d' variants, we
see the signatures combined with a "Tax Disclosures" section, which
certainly does not represent the distilled essence of the policy.
No law or regulation would require that particular combination on a
separate page. Maybe that's just a careless accident, or maybe it's
desired for some unknown reason by someone in a corporate department;
I'll have to look into that. Still, there is a solid reason to have
any signatures on a separate page, combined with the Numeric Summary
when it exists: the reason is that the signed page may need to be
removed and kept in a file as proof that the signatures were obtained.

Inforce illustrations generally don't print the signature section
(and Section 11(C) of the NAIC illustration reg specifically says it
is not required in that case). In that case, there's no regulatory
requirement that the Numeric Summary be on its own distinct page.
We might simply find it convenient to put the Numeric Summary on a
page of its own, regardless. AFAICT, that's what the XSL does, and
I don't imagine we should add any special MST logic to do otherwise.