NAME

SYNOPSIS

  use PDF::FromHTML::Template;

  my $pdf = PDF::FromHTML::Template->new({
     file => 'some_template.xml',
  });

  $pdf->param(%my_params);

  print "Content/type: application/pdf\n\n", $pdf->get_buffer;

  $pdf->write_file('some_file.pdf');

DESCRIPTION

PDF::FromHTML::Template is a PDF layout system that uses the same data structures as HTML::Template.

OVERVIEW

PDF::FromHTML::Template uses an XML document as the template. However, the XML is not completely compliant. The only difference (that I'm aware of) is that any node can have any parameter. (This prevents the creation of a DTD.) The reason for this is to allow scoping by parents for parameters used by children. (More on this later.)

Each node in the document corresponds to an object, with each parameter mapping (mostly) 1 to 1 to an object attribute. Parent-child relationships are strictly preserved. Each parent provides a scope (similar to variable scope) to its children. (This is why any node can have any parameter.) If a child needs the value of a parameter and it doesn't have that value as an attribute, it will ask its parent for the value. If the parent doesn't have it, it will ask its parent, and so on.

METHODS

•

"new( [$opts] )"

This will create a new instance of PDF::FromHTML::Template. $opts is an optional hashref that can contain the following parameters:

• "parse( $file )"

  This will parse the XML template into the appropriate datastructure(s) needed for PDF::FromHTML::Template to function.

• "parse_xml( $file )"

  This is a deprecated synonym for "parse()".

• "param( key =" value, [ key => value, ... ] )>

  This will set the parameters that PDF::FromHTML::Template will use to merge the template with. This method is identical to the HTML::Template or Template Toolkit method of the same name.

• "write_file( $filename )"

  This will write the rendered PDF to the file specified in $filename.

• "get_buffer()"

  This will return the rendered PDF stringified in a form appropriate for returning over an HTTP connection.

• "output()"

  This is a synonym for "get_buffer()" provided for HTML::Template compatibility.

• "register( ... )"

  XXX

USAGE

1 The root node is called PDFTEMPLATE

2 There must be at least one PAGEDEF (which does not have to be a direct child of the PDFTEMPLATE node)

3 All rendering elements (include FONT tags) must be within a PAGEDEF node

4 There must be a FONT tag as an ancestor of every TEXTBOX node

5 Within a PAGEDEF, there can only be one HEADER node and one FOOTER node

For more information about each node, please see the POD for that class.

WWW CAVEATS

The second is that you have to determine how wide you want your text to be. One of the most common activities is to take a tabular report and covert it to a PDF. In HTML, the browser handles text width for you. Right now, there isn't a TABLE tag (though work is being done on it). So, you have to layout out your TEXTBOX nodes by hand. (See the EXAMPLES for some ideas on this.) That said, it really isn't that hard. TR/TH tags convert to ROW tags easily, and TD tags are basically TEXTBOX tags. Add a few width="20%" (or whatever) and you're fine.

BUGS

LIMITATIONS

I am aware that PDFlib will not compile under AIX or Cygwin. These are problems that PDFlib has acknowledged to me.

AUTHOR/MAINTAINER

Taken over after v0.05 by Rob Kinyon (rob.kinyon@iinteractive.com)

CONTRIBUTORS

• Audrey Tang

  Provided the impetus to move to PDF::Writer (which she also wrote).

• Michael Kiwala

  Aided in the design and testing of the transition from Dave Ferrance's version.

• Nathan Byrd

  Provided nearly all the initial doublebyte expertise.

Additionally, there is a mailing list at <http://groups.google.com/group/PDFTemplate>

COPYRIGHT

SEE ALSO