How to have column-count="2" only in some part of the page (XSL-FO)

Question

I want column-count="2" to have only in some part of the page.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <!DOCTYPE fo:root [
    <!ENTITY nbsp "&#160;">
     ]>
    <fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
    <fo:layout-master-set>
       <fo:simple-page-master master-name="A4"
            page-width="21cm" 
            page-height="29.7cm" >
       <fo:region-body 
            margin-bottom="1.5cm" 
            margin-right="2cm" 
            margin-left="2cm" 
            margin-top="1.5cm"
            column-count="2"/>
   </fo:simple-page-master>
   <fo:simple-page-master master-name="NOCOLUMN"
            page-width="21cm" 
            page-height="29.7cm" >
       <fo:region-body 
            margin-bottom="1.5cm" 
            margin-right="2cm" 
            margin-left="2cm" 
            margin-top="1.5cm"/>
   </fo:simple-page-master>
 </fo:layout-master-set>

<fo:bookmark-tree>
  <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec0">
    <fo:bookmark-title>Adding Fonts to FOP</fo:bookmark-title>
  </fo:bookmark>

  <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec1">
    <fo:bookmark-title>Adding additional Type 1 fonts</fo:bookmark-title>

    <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec1-1">
      <fo:bookmark-title>Generating a font metrics file</fo:bookmark-title>
    </fo:bookmark>
    <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec1-2">
      <fo:bookmark-title>Register the fonts within FOP</fo:bookmark-title>
    </fo:bookmark>
  </fo:bookmark>

  <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec2">
    <fo:bookmark-title>Adding additional TrueType fonts</fo:bookmark-title>

    <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec2-1">
      <fo:bookmark-title>Generating a font metrics file</fo:bookmark-title>
    </fo:bookmark>
    <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec2-2">
      <fo:bookmark-title>TrueType collections</fo:bookmark-title>
    </fo:bookmark>
    <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec2-3">
      <fo:bookmark-title>Register the fonts within FOP</fo:bookmark-title>
    </fo:bookmark>

  </fo:bookmark>

 <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec3">
    <fo:bookmark-title>Embedding fonts in the PDF</fo:bookmark-title>
  </fo:bookmark>

 <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec4">
    <fo:bookmark-title>Example embedding MSGothic</fo:bookmark-title>

   <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec4-1">
      <fo:bookmark-title>Setup CLASSPATH</fo:bookmark-title>
   </fo:bookmark>

   <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec4-2">
      <fo:bookmark-title>Create the metrics file</fo:bookmark-title>
   </fo:bookmark>

   <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec4-3">
      <fo:bookmark-title>Edit msgothic.xml</fo:bookmark-title>
   </fo:bookmark>

   <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec4-4">
      <fo:bookmark-title>Register the font with FOP</fo:bookmark-title>
   </fo:bookmark>
 </fo:bookmark>

 <fo:bookmark internal-destination="sec5">
    <fo:bookmark-title>Japanese Examples</fo:bookmark-title>
 </fo:bookmark>
</fo:bookmark-tree>

 <fo:page-sequence master-reference="NOCOLUMN">

  <fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">
   <fo:wrapper  font-family="Times" font-size="12pt" text-align="justify">
   <fo:block id="sec0"
             text-align="center"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             font-size="18pt"
             color="#0050B2" space-after.optimum="6pt">
       Adding Fonts to FOP
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     When building PDF files, FOP normally supports only the base 14 font
     package defined in the Adobe PDF specification. That includes the
     following fonts: Helvetica, Times, Courier, Symbol and ZapfDingbats.
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     Font support in FOP can be extended by the addition of font metric
     files (written in XML) created from Adobe Type 1 fonts and Truetype
     fonts. No other font types (Type 3, etc.) are supported at this time.
   </fo:block>
 </fo:wrapper>
   </fo:flow>

</fo:page-sequence>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="A4">

  <fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">
    <fo:wrapper  font-family="Times" font-size="12pt" text-align="justify">
   <fo:block id="sec1"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             font-size="14pt"
             color="#0050B2"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
     Adding additional Type 1 fonts
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt" >
     As mentioned above you need an XML file containing font metrics to
     be able to use an additional font. FOP contains a tool that can generate
     such a font metrics file from a PFM file, which normally comes with the
     font file.
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block id="sec1-1"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt" >
     Generating a font metrics file
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt" >
      Run the class <fo:inline font-family="Courier">org.apache.fop.fonts.apps.PFMReader</fo:inline>
       to generate the XML file.
      <fo:block font-family="Courier" font-size="10pt"
                space-before.optimum="6pt" space-after.optimum="6pt" margin-left="6pt" text-align="start">
        java org.apache.fop.fonts.apps.PFMReader pfm-file xml-file
      </fo:block>
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt" margin-left="6pt">
     Note: The tool will construct some values (FontBBox, StemV and ItalicAngle) based
     on assumptions and calculations which are only an approximation to the real values.
     FontBBox and Italic Angle can be found in the human-readable part of the PFB file.
     The PFMReader tool does not yet interpret PFB files, so if you want to be correct,
     you may have to adjust the values in the XML file manually. The constructed values
     however appear to have no visible influence.
   </fo:block>


   <fo:block id="sec1-2"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt" >
      Register the fonts within FOP
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     Edit conf/userconfig.xml and add entries for the font if the fonts section, ie:
     <fo:block font-family="Courier" font-size="10pt"
      space-before.optimum="6pt"
      white-space-collapse="false" margin-left="6pt" text-align="start">
<![CDATA[
<font metrics-file="cyberbit.xml" kerning="yes" embed-file="C:\WINNT\Fonts\Cyberbit.ttf">
  <font-triplet name="Cyberbit" style="normal" weight="normal">
</font>]]></fo:block>
   </fo:block>


   <fo:block id="sec2"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             font-size="14pt"
             color="#0050B2"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
     Adding additional TrueType fonts
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     Adding Truetype fonts is almost identical to the process of adding type 1 fonts.
     The main difference is in the first step.
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block id="sec2-1"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt" >
     Generating a font metrics file
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     As mentioned above you need an XML file containing font metrics to be able to use
     an additional font. FOP contains a tool that can generate such a font metrics file
     from your truetype font file.
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     Create metrics for the fontfile. We'll use MS Gothic as an example:

      <fo:block  font-family="Courier" font-size="10pt"
                space-before.optimum="6pt" space-after.optimum="6pt" margin-left="6pt" text-align="start">
        java org.apache.fop.fonts.apps.TTFReader C:\WINNT\Fonts\msgothic.ttf msgothic.xml
      </fo:block>
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block id="sec2-2"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt" >
     TrueType collections
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     TrueType collections (.ttc files) contains more than one font. To create metrics
     for a ttc file you must specify the font in the collection with the -ttcname
     option to TTFReader.
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     To get a list of the fonts in a collection, just start the TTFReader as if it
     were a normal truetype file (without the -ttcname option). It will then display
     all the font names and exit with an Exception.
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     Example on generating metrics for a .ttc file:
      <fo:block font-family="Courier" font-size="10pt"
                space-before.optimum="6pt" space-after.optimum="6pt" margin-left="6pt" text-align="start">
        java org.apache.fop.fonts.apps.TTFReader -ttcname "MS Mincho" msmincho.ttc msminch.xml
      </fo:block>
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block id="sec2-3"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt" >
     Register the fonts within FOP
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     Same as for <fo:basic-link internal-destination="sec1-2" color="blue">
     <fo:inline text-decoration="underline">Type&nbsp;1&nbsp;fonts</fo:inline></fo:basic-link>.
   </fo:block>


   <fo:block id="sec3"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             font-size="14pt"
             color="#0050B2"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
     Embedding fonts
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
     Font embedding is enabled in the userconfig.xml file. Start Fop with -c userconfig.xml
   </fo:block>


   <fo:block id="sec4"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             font-size="14pt"
             color="#0050B2"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
     Example embedding MSGothic
   </fo:block>

  <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
    This example will use the Microsoft Gothic TrueType font. This is the font used to render this examples
    given in the last section of this file. If you don't have it installed,
    you can download an installer at <fo:basic-link color="blue"
      external-destination="ftp://ftp.cc.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/ie3lpkja.exe">
      <fo:inline text-decoration="underline">ftp://ftp.cc.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/ie3lpkja.exe</fo:inline>
    </fo:basic-link>.
  </fo:block>

   <fo:block id="sec4-1"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
    Setup your classpath to run FOP:
   </fo:block>
     <fo:block font-family="Courier" font-size="10pt"
      space-before.optimum="6pt"
      white-space-collapse="false" margin-left="6pt" text-align="start">
C:\Fop-0.18.1> set CLASSPATH=fop.jar;lib\xerces-1.2.3.jar;lib\xalan-2.0.0.jar;lib\batik.jar
     </fo:block>


   <fo:block id="sec4-2"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
    Create the metrics file:
</fo:block>

     <fo:block font-family="Courier" font-size="10pt"
      space-before.optimum="6pt"
      white-space-collapse="false" margin-left="6pt" text-align="start">
C:\Fop-0.18.1> java org.apache.fop.fonts.apps.TTFReader c:\WINNT\Fonts\msgothic.ttf msgothic.xml
TTF Reader v1.1.1

Reading /home/camk/cjkv/msgothic.ttf...

Number of glyphs in font: 13104
Postscript format 3
Creating xml font file...

Creating CID encoded metrics
Writing xml font file msgothic.xml...

This font contains no embedding license restrictions

     </fo:block>


   <fo:block id="sec4-3"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
    Edit the msgothic.xml file and set the <fo:inline font-family="Courier">font-name</fo:inline>
    to "MSGothic".
  </fo:block>

   <fo:block id="sec4-4"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
      Edit conf/userconfig.xml and add the following to the &lt;fonts&gt; section:
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block font-family="Courier" font-size="10pt"
      space-before.optimum="6pt"
      white-space-collapse="false" margin-left="6pt" text-align="start">
<![CDATA[
<font metrics-file="msgothic.xml" kerning="yes"
     embed-file="C:\WINNT\Fonts\msgothic.ttf">
  <font-triplet name="MSGothic" style="normal" weight="normal"/>
</font>
]]>
    </fo:block>

  <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt">
    Now you can use MSGothic in your .fo files by setting font-family="MSGothic". You'll need to
    start FOP specifying the config file as in this example:
     <fo:block font-family="Courier" font-size="10pt"
      space-before.optimum="6pt"
      white-space-collapse="false" margin-left="6pt" text-align="start"
>java -jar fop.jar -c conf/userconfig.xml -fo myfo.fo -pdf mypdf.pdf</fo:block>
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block id="sec5"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             font-size="14pt"
             color="#0050B2"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
      Examples from <fo:basic-link color="blue" external-destination="http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/j_jmdict.html">
       <fo:inline text-decoration="underline">JMDict</fo:inline></fo:basic-link> Japanese glossary:
   </fo:block>

</fo:wrapper>
   <fo:table table-layout="fixed" width="100%">
      <fo:table-column column-width="50mm"/>
      <fo:table-column column-width="50mm"/>
      <fo:table-column column-width="50mm"/>
      <fo:table-header>
        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-weight="bold" font-family="Helvetica">Japanese (kanji or kanadzukai)</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-weight="bold" font-family="Helvetica">English</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-weight="bold" font-family="Helvetica">German</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>
      </fo:table-header>
      <fo:table-body>
        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">うん</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>"yeah" or "uh huh"</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>

        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">アウタースペース</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>outer space</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>

        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">スペースクラフト</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>spacecraft</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>

        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">スペースシャトル</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>space shuttle</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>

        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">著わす</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>"to write", "to publish"</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>veröffentlichen</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>

        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">電子出版</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>electronic publishing</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>
        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">五輪</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>the Olympics</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>Olympische Spiele</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>

        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">空港</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>airport</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>Flughafen</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>
        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">チューリッヒ</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>Zurich</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>Z&#252;rich</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>

        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">コロラド</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>Colorado</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>

        <fo:table-row>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block font-family="MSGothic">コロラドスプリングス</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block>Colorado Springs</fo:block></fo:table-cell>
          <fo:table-cell ><fo:block></fo:block></fo:table-cell>
        </fo:table-row>


      </fo:table-body>
    </fo:table>

</fo:flow>

</fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>

e.g here the first two block should have one column where as other block should span across two columns. When I use two simple-page-master, the two column goes to the next page, leaving the space in the first page.

Answer 1

You may use the layout 'A4' throughout (the one with two columns). For a block to span both columns you have to add

    span="all"

to the formatting objects. See http://cnx.org/content/m43650/latest/. This works fine with your example.

<fo:page-sequence master-reference="A4"> 
  <fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">
   <fo:wrapper  font-family="Times" font-size="12pt" text-align="justify">
   <fo:block id="sec0"
             text-align="center"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             font-size="18pt"
             color="#0050B2" space-after.optimum="6pt"
             span="all">
       Adding Fonts to FOP
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt" span="all">
     When building PDF files, FOP normally supports only the base 14 font
     package defined in the Adobe PDF specification. That includes the
     following fonts: Helvetica, Times, Courier, Symbol and ZapfDingbats.
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt" span="all">
     Font support in FOP can be extended by the addition of font metric
     files (written in XML) created from Adobe Type 1 fonts and Truetype
     fonts. No other font types (Type 3, etc.) are supported at this time.
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block id="sec1"
             font-family="Helvetica"
             font-weight="bold"
             font-size="14pt"
             color="#0050B2"
             space-after.optimum="6pt"
             space-before.optimum="12pt">
     Adding additional Type 1 fonts
   </fo:block>

   <fo:block space-after.optimum="6pt" >
     As mentioned above you need an XML file containing font metrics to
     be able to use an additional font. FOP contains a tool that can generate
     such a font metrics file from a PFM file, which normally comes with the
     font file.
   </fo:block>