Introduction
ftw.pdfgenerator
is meant to be used for generating PDFs from structured
data using predefined LaTeX
_ views. It is not useful for converting
full HTML pages into LaTeX
_ / PDFs, although it is able to convert small HTML
chunks into LaTeX
_.
.. figure:: http://onegov.ch/approved.png/image
:align: right
:target: http://onegov.ch/community/zertifizierte-module/ftw.pdfgenerator
Certified: 01/2013
Requirements
ftw.pdfgenerator
requires a TeX distribution with a pdflatex
executable to be installed.
These TeX distributions are recommended:
- Mac OS:
MacTeX
_ - Linux / Unix:
TeX Live
_ - Windows:
MiKTeX
_
The package is compatible with Plone
_ 4.3 and 5.1.
Installing
Add ftw.pdfgenerator
to your buildout configuration:
::
[instance]
eggs =
ftw.pdfgenerator
Usage
The pdfgenerator uses LaTeX for generating the PDF. You need to provide a
layout and a view for your context for being able to create a PDF.
Real world examples
Some packages using ftw.pdfgenerator
:
Defining a layout
A layout is a multi adapter addapting context, request, builder
. You can
easily define a new layout using the mako
_ templating engine
(example: layout.py
):
::
>>> from example.conference.session import ISession
>>> from ftw.pdfgenerator.interfaces import IBuilder
>>> from ftw.pdfgenerator.interfaces import ICustomizableLayout
>>> from ftw.pdfgenerator.layout.customizable import CustomizableLayout
>>> from zope.component import adapts
>>> from zope.interface import Interface
>>> from zope.interface import implements
>>> class SessionLayout(MakoLayoutBase):
... adapts(ISession, Interface, IBuilder)
... implements(ICustomizableLayout)
...
... template_directories = ['session_templates']
... template_name = 'layout.tex'
...
... def before_render_hook(self):
... self.use_babel()
... self.use_package('inputenc', options='utf8')
... self.use_package('fontenc', options='T1')
Register the layout with zcml (example: configure.zcml
):
::
<configure
xmlns="http://namespaces.zope.org/zope"
xmlns:browser="http://namespaces.zope.org/browser">
<adapter factory=".layout.SessionLayout"
provides="ftw.pdfgenerator.interfaces.ILaTeXLayout" />
</configure>
Create a template as defined in SessionLayout.template_name
(example: session_templates/layout.tex
):
::
<%block name="documentclass">
\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}
</%block>
<%block name="usePackages">
${packages}
</%block>
<%block name="beneathPackages">
</%block>
<%block name="aboveDocument">
</%block>
\begin{document}
<%block name="documentTop">
% if logo:
${logo}
% endif
</%block>
${content}
<%block name="documentBottom">
</%block>
\end{document}
There are more methods on the layout, see the definition in
ftw.pdfgenerator.interfaces.ILaTeXLayout
.
Defining a LaTeX view
For every context for which a PDF is generated a LaTeX view (ILaTeXView
)
is rendered. The view is a multi adapter adapting context, request, layout
.
There is a view based on the mako
_ templating engine which can be extended
(example: views.py
):
::
>>> from example.conference.session import ISession
>>> from ftw.pdfgenerator.interfaces import ILaTeXLayout
>>> from ftw.pdfgenerator.interfaces import ILaTeXView
>>> from ftw.pdfgenerator.view import MakoLaTeXView
>>> from zope.component import adapts
>>> from zope.interface import Interface
>>> from zope.interface import implements
>>> class SessionLaTeXView(MakoLaTeXView):
... adapts(ISession, Interface, ILaTeXLayout)
... implements(ILaTeXView)
...
... template_directories = ['session_templates']
... template_name = 'view.tex'
...
... def get_render_arguments(self):
... return {'title': self.convert(self.context.Title()),
... 'description': self.convert(self.context.description),
... 'details': self.convert(self.context.details)}
Register the view with zcml (example: configure.zcml
):
::
<configure
xmlns="http://namespaces.zope.org/zope"
xmlns:browser="http://namespaces.zope.org/browser">
<adapter factory=".views.SessionLaTeXView"
provides="ftw.pdfgenerator.interfaces.ILaTeXView" />
</configure>
Create a template with the name defined in the class
(example: session_templates/view.tex
):
::
\section*{${title}}
% if description:
\small ${description}
% endif
\normalsize ${details}
Generating a PDF
When a layout and a view for the context are registered the PDF can be
generated by simply calling the view @@export_pdf
on the context.
Recursive views
When extending from ftw.pdfgenerator.view.RecursiveLaTeXView
and inserting
the variable latex_content
in your template, the view automatically renders
all children for which a ILaTeXView
is found.
HTML to LaTeX conversion
ftw.pdfgenerator
comes with a simple but powerful HTML to LaTeX converter
which is optimized for the common WYSIWYG-Editors used in Plone.
The converter can be used:
- in views, using
self.convert(html)
- in layouts, using
self.get_converter().convert(html)
It uses regular expressions for the simple conversions and python
subconverters for the more complicated conversions. The converter is heavily
customizable.
Custom subconverters
Footnote
++++++++
Generate a footnote by wrapping any text in a span
with the
class footnote
. Specify the footnote text in the data-footnote
attribute.
Example:
::
<span class="footnote" data-footnote="text in footnote">text on the page</span>
Customizable layouts
When using multiple, independent addon packages using ftw.pdfgenerator
,
every package may implement a new, specific layout. This can be painful if
there is a need to customize all layouts and add a logo image for example.
For making this easier all customizable layouts can be customized with one
single adapter. This only works for layouts subclassing
ftw.pdfgenerator.layout.customizable.CustomizableLayout
. Those layouts
need to follow certain concepts and provide inheritable blocks in the mako
_
template. Ensure you follow the standards by subclassing and running the
tests from
ftw.pdfgenerator.tests.test_customizable_layout.TestCustomizableLayout
.
Implementing customization adapter is very simple when customizable layouts
are used. For example we change the logo image (assume the logo is at
custom/mylogo.png
):
::
>>> from ftw.pdfgenerator.customization import LayoutCustomization
>>> from ftw.pdfgenerator.interfaces import ILayoutCustomization
>>> from zope.interface import implements
>>>
>>> class MyCustomization(LayoutCustomization):
... implements(ILayoutCustomization)
...
... template_directories = ['custom']
... template_name = 'layout_customization.tex'
...
... def before_render_hook(self):
... self.add_raw_template_file('mylogo.png')
... self.layout.use_package('graphicx')
...
... def get_render_arguments(self, args):
... args['logo'] = r'\includegraphics{mylogo.png}'
... return args
It is also possible to change the template and fill predefined slots
(example: custom/layout_customization.tex
):
::
<%inherit file="original_layout" />
<%block name="documentTop">
my branding
</%block>
The layout customization adapter adapts context
, request
and the original
layout
.
Tables
ftw.pdfgenerator
is able to convert HTML-Tables to LaTeX. Since HTML and LaTeX
have completely different presentation concepts the convertion is limitted.
For getting the best results theese rules should be followed:
-
Define the width of every column. The table will be streched to the text width in
the defined proportions. Without defining the widths LaTeX is unable to insert
newlines dynamically.
-
Use relative widths (%).
-
Define table headings using <thead>
for long tables which may be splitted over
multiple pages.
CSS classes:
page-break
(
)
Force the
longtable
environment, allowing LaTeX to split up the table over
multiple pages.
no-page-break
(
)
Force the
tabular
environment, prohibiting LaTeX from splitting the table up
over multiple pages. If the table is longer than the page it is truncated - content
may be missing in this case.
border-grid
/ listing
(
)
Display the table in a grid: every cell has a border on every side.
notListed
(
)
When using a
<caption>
, do not list the table in the list of tables.
border-left
(
, | )
Display a border on the left side of the cell.
border-right (
| , | )
Display a border on the right side of the cell.
border-top (
| , | )
Display a border on the top side of the cell.
border-bottom (
| , | )
Display a border on the bottom side of the cell.
right (
| , | )
Right align the content of the cell.
left (
| , | )
Left align the content of the cell.
center (
| , | )
Center the content of the cell.
indent2 (
| , | )
Indent the content by 0.2 cm.
indent10 (
| , | )
Indent the content by 1 cm.
bold (
| , | )
Display cell contents in bold font.
grey (
| , | )
Display cell content with grey text color.
footnotesize (
| , | )
Display cell content with smaller font size (\footnotesize ).
scriptsize (
| , | )
Display cell content with smaller font size (\scriptsize ).
Links
Copyright
This package is copyright by 4teamwork <http://www.4teamwork.ch/> _.
ftw.pdfgenerator is licensed under GNU General Public License, version 2.
.. _LaTeX: http://www.latex-project.org/
.. _Plone: http://www.plone.org/
.. _MacTeX: http://www.tug.org/mactex/2011/
.. _Tex Live: http://www.tug.org/texlive/
.. _MiKTeX: http://www.miktex.org/
.. _mako: http://www.makotemplates.org/
Changelog
1.6.10 (2021-05-06)
- Use a cookie instead of session storage to store the debug mode state. [mathias.leimgruber]
1.6.9 (2020-03-11)
- Add support for converting hexadecimal XML/HTML entities [Nachtalb]
1.6.8 (2020-02-11)
- Don't use reference_catalog for uid look up, since it does not exist anymore in plone 5. [mathias.leimgruber]
1.6.7 (2020-02-03)
- Don't use session storage anymore - does not work with plone 5 for anonymous users. [mathias.leimgruber]
1.6.6 (2020-01-17)
- Fix unicode error (when unicode and non-unicode strings are joined). [busykoala]
1.6.5 (2019-10-29)
- Fix escaping of underscore in hyperlink labels. [jone]
1.6.4 (2019-03-26)
- Robustified URL conversion. [Rotonen]
1.6.3 (2019-01-07)
- Drop support for plone 4.2. [njohner]
- Handle vertical tab special character. [njohner]
1.6.2 (2018-09-13)
- Fix escaping issues for dash characters in hyperlink labels. [jone]
1.6.1 (2018-05-18)
-
Fix encoding error by passing charset hint to BeautifulSoup when converting tables. [lgraf]
-
Add Plone 5 compatibility. [phgross]
-
Fixed exporting the zip and latex for pdfs who are setting the pdf title. [phgross]
1.6.0 (2017-03-03)
1.5.0 (2016-06-08)
- Implement URL converter for supporting hyphenation in URLs. [jone]
1.4.1 (2016-03-30)
1.4 (2016-03-02)
- Added footnote subconverter.
[lknoepfel]
1.3.8 (2015-12-11)
1.3.7 (2015-04-13)
1.3.6 (2015-03-20)
- Workaround for too long makeindex argument causing buffer overflow.
[jone]
1.3.5 (2015-02-19)
- PDF Builder: fix pdflatex after making index.
When references are used in the index, e.g. the index title is in the TOC,
more than one rerun is required after making the index.
[jone]
1.3.4 (2014-09-30)
-
Add a quoted_umlauts method to the converter.
The method converts all umlauts to the quoted notation.
[jone]
-
Index: sort German umlauts correctly by including umlaut.ist.
For this to work properly all \index{} entries must escape umlauts
with quotes, e.g. h"oflich .
[jone]
1.3.3 (2014-07-24)
- Fix PDF rendering bug when having underscores in internal hyperlinks.
[jone]
1.3.2 (2014-06-11)
-
Improve table layouting.
- Increase vertical padding of table cells.
- Add line break and vertical space after all tables.
[jone]
1.3.1 (2014-06-02)
- Fix backslash LaTeX to use
\textbackslash instead of \\ .
This fixes problems with backslash in certain environments such as tables.
[jone]
1.3.0 (2014-03-04)
- Run makeindex when
*.idx files were created during PDF build.
This allows to create indexes easily just by using the latex commands.
The builder takes care that the index is built and the PDF rebuilt properly.
[jone]
1.2.10 (2014-02-05)
- LaTeX: use math mode for asterisks (*), so they get no longer swallowed.
[jone]
1.2.9 (2014-01-17)
-
Update French translations.
[jone]
-
Hyperlinks in footnotes: use \url instead of manual hyphenation hints.
This fixes that "" is visible in footer urls with certain hyperref
package versions.
[jone]
-
Table: fix error where rowspan cells made other cells swap rows.
[jone]
-
Tables: fix width of cells spanning multiple columns.
This is especially visible when they are centered.
[jone]
1.2.8 (2013-10-21)
-
Make hyphens before commas non-breakable.
[jone]
-
Use non-breaking spaces for some more abbreviations.
[jone]
-
Remove HTML comments when converting HTML to LaTeX.
[jone]
-
Use non-breaking spaces and en-dashes for formatting swiss currency.
[jone]
1.2.7 (2013-05-24)
- Table width calculation: treat "px" the same as widths without measure units.
[jone]
1.2.6 (2013-04-17)
- Update package classifiers.
[jone]
1.2.5 (2013-01-24)
-
Use local text formatting commands, such as \textbf instead of {\bf }. #13
[jone]
-
onegov.ch approved: add badge to readme.
[jone]
-
Declare missing dependencies.
[jone]
-
Make layout annotatable.
This allows to store certain informations while building the PDF.
[jone]
-
Plone 4.3 compatibility.
[jone]
1.2.4 (2012-08-21)
-
Tables: fix wrong indentation when using combined css classes
"right" and "bold".
[jone]
-
Tables: support width definition in "style" attribute of cells. #10
[jone]
-
Fix ampersand escaping in urls. #11
[jone]
-
Templating: fix template lookup for five based browser views which
are wrapped into a meta class.
[jone]
-
List conversion: handle empty list items.
- Removing them in ordered and unordered lists.
- Keep them in definition lists, since two tags result in one item.
[jone]
1.2.3 (2012-06-13)
1.2.2 (2012-06-11)
-
Improve support for mathematic characters (utf8 and html-entities).
[jone]
-
Table: support "summary" attribute as caption (TinyMCE support).
[jone]
-
Handle hyphenation characters and entities.
[jone]
-
Hyperlinks: handle underscores and hash keys in urls.
[jone]
-
Fix centering of table captions which used to affect contents beneath.
[jone]
-
Fix quotation marks around bold text.
[jone]
1.2.1 (2012-05-10)
- Table converter: fix TypeError when using colspan without defining any widths.
[jone]
1.2 (2012-05-09)
-
HTML to LaTeX: escape $ charactor. Otherwise it enables math-mode.
[jone]
-
Tables: use seperate caption implementation for non-floating environments.
[jone]
-
Tables: fix border collapse bug when using rowspan.
[jone]
-
Tables: calculate widths properly respecting \tabcolsep.
[jone]
-
Tables: support plone css classes (grid, listing, vertical).
[jone]
1.1.2 (2012-05-02)
1.1.1 (2012-04-30)
-
Listing converter: limit nested lists to four levels since LaTeX has this limit.
[jone]
-
Listing converter: fix bug when nested lists are not within a item.
[jone]
-
Add provide_request_layer util method to directly provide an interface on the request
[eschmutz]
1.1 (2012-03-22)
-
Improve testing speed by using ftw.testing .
[jone]
-
Add table converter css classes:
indent2 -> indent the content 0.2cm
indent10 -> indent the content 1cm
bold -> display content with bold font
grey -> Display cell content with grey text color.
footnotesize -> Display cell content with smaller font size.
scriptsize -> Display cell content with smaller font size.
[jone]
-
Listing converter: cleanup bad html in case when lists are nested without list items.
FCKEditor somehow produces that sometimes.
[jone]
-
Implement customizable layouts.
[jone]
1.0.2 (2012-03-08)
-
Table converter: add css classes for aligning cells ("right", "center", "left").
[jone]
-
Table converter: add cell-border functionality, using css classes "border-right",
"border-left", "border-top" and "border-bottom".
[jone]
-
Table converter: improve grid border, add classes "border-grid" and "listing" for enabling grid borders.
[jone]
-
Table converter: use "tabular" for small tables. #3
[jone]
1.0.1 (2012-03-05)
- Add use_babel function to layout, enabling the preferred language.
[jone]
1.0b2 (2012-02-28)
- Added missing MANIFEST.in.
[phgross]
1.0b1 (2012-02-24)
-
Added a "debug-pdf" view, enabling the pdf debug mode temporarily.
[jone]
-
Added some French translations
[ttschanz]
-
Implement hyperlink converter.
[jone]
-
Implement convertion of definition lists.
[jone]
-
Rename as_pdf view to export_pdf.
[jone]
|
---|