ftw.pdfgenerator 1.2

Real world examples

Some packages using ftw.pdfgenerator:

• ftw.meeting has a PDF export of the meeting minutes: https://github.com/4teamwork/ftw.meeting/tree/master/ftw/meeting/latex

• ftw.book produces a PDF of the book recursively: https://github.com/4teamwork/ftw.book/tree/master/ftw/book/latex

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.

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.

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)

• Add convert_plain method to converter and view. [phgross]

• Add encode_htmlentities utils function. [phgross]

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]