[reportlab-users] newbie help

[Anil]

Thanks for the help, all.

I want all the pages after 1st page to have 2 columns. I got that part
now by extending the BaseDocTemplate.

However, what I am not understanding is how to draw things on these otherPages.

The 2nd page should have a circle on the top right and so on *until*
the flow ends (or PageBreak). Then, the following page should have a
Rectangle and so son.

I think I can do all of this if I can have access to the Canvas in the
generate() method below. How do I access it? (if you have some
examples, that'll help)

Thanks again.



    def generate(self):
        buffer = StringIO()

        styles = getSampleStyleSheet()
        doc = PABTemplate(buffer, pagesize = letter)

        Story = [ Spacer(1, 2.0*inch) ]
        style = styles["Normal"]

        Story.append(PageBreak())
        Story.append(Paragraph("Frame one column, "*500,styles['Normal']))
        Story.append(PageBreak())

        doc.build(Story,
                  onFirstPage=self.firstPage,
                  onLaterPages=self.otherPages)

        pdf = buffer.getvalue()
        buffer.close()
        return pdf

    def firstPage(self, canvas, document):
        """Produce the first page of the invoice"""

        canvas.saveState()
        try:
            self.drawHeader(canvas, document)
            self.drawFooter(canvas, document)
        finally:
            canvas.restoreState()

    def otherPages(self, canvas, document):
        """Produce the first page of the invoice"""
        canvas.saveState()

        try:
            self.drawHeader(canvas, document, frontpage=False)
            self.drawFooter(canvas, document)
        finally:
            canvas.restoreState()