I did not found an explicit question like the following:
I want to convert XML to PDF preserving tabspace (ASCII 009) in XSL-FO.
My <fo:block /> looks like this:
<fo:block linefeed-treatment="preserve" white-space-collapse="false" white-space-treatment="preserve">
<xsl:value-of select="orderText" />
</fo:block>
With this configuration I can preserve line breaks and normal spaces but no tab-space. I tried many attributes from this post: Preserving whitespace in PDF after XSL transform but it still doesn't work. If I put in this:
Forename: John
Surname: Smith
I get this:
Forename: John
Surname: Smith
For Information:
In my XSL-FO I use a Layout-Master for formatting the page. Maybe this could be the problem. This is the complete XSL-File.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.1" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:ext="http://exslt.org/common" xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0" omit-xml-declaration="no" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:preserve-space elements="orderText" />
<!-- If we see an envelope, we create an FO document -->
<xsl:template match="/tiff">
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:simple-page-master master-name="simpleA4" page-height="29.7cm" page-width="21cm"
margin-top="1.5cm" margin-bottom="2cm" margin-left="2cm" margin-right="2cm">
<fo:region-body margin-top="10mm" margin-bottom="5mm" />
<fo:region-before region-name="header" />
<fo:region-after region-name="footer" />
</fo:simple-page-master>
</fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="simpleA4">
<fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body" text-align="justify" font-size="11pt">
<!-- This will call generate stream headers (if applicable) -->
<fo:block font-weight="bold" font-size="12pt" space-after="7mm">
<xsl:text>Informationen zum Auftraggeber</xsl:text>
</fo:block>
<fo:block space-after="7mm">
<fo:table>
<fo:table-body>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Auftragsnummer</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="orderId" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Erstellt von</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="creator" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Erstellt am</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="createDate" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Verwendete mTAN</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="mTAN" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
</fo:block>
<fo:block font-weight="bold" font-size="12pt" space-after="7mm">
<xsl:text>Informationen zum Kunden</xsl:text>
</fo:block>
<fo:block space-after="7mm">
<fo:table>
<fo:table-body>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>ZAD-Kundennummer</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="customerId" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Name</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="surname" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Vorname</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="forename" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
</fo:block>
<fo:block font-weight="bold" font-size="12pt" space-after="7mm">
<xsl:text>Informationen zum Vertrag</xsl:text>
</fo:block>
<fo:block space-after="7mm">
<fo:table>
<fo:table-body>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Versicherungsscheinnummer</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="vsnr" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Bestandsart</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="ba" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>Konzerngesellschaft</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block><xsl:value-of select="kg" /></fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
</fo:block>
<fo:block font-weight="bold" font-size="12pt" space-after="7mm">
<xsl:text>Auftragstext</xsl:text>
</fo:block>
<fo:block linefeed-treatment="preserve" white-space-collapse="false" white-space-treatment="preserve">
<xsl:value-of select="orderText" />
</fo:block>
</fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
XSL-FO does not handle tabs other than being whitespaces. A tab does not have a specific width, and there are not "tab stops" defined in the blocks.
Positioning in XSL-FO is done through block, and position properties. It looks like what you want here, is to use an extra column and split the value in 2: the first part in one cell, the second part in the other.