[reportlab-users] Getting started

[Tim Roberts]

Justin Fagnani-Bell wrote:

> The first is with small fields of text the are supposed to wrap to  

> two or three lines, like the street part of an address. Paragraph  

> seems to be the only built-in object that does wrapping, but I need  

> to make sure that it doesn't expand beyond two lines. I don't  

> immediately se a way to do that.

>   


It is not hard to do this by hand, and that way you get to control
exactly where the lines break.  For example, in pseudo-code:

    # Split on white space.
    words = line.split()
    line = ''
    for word in line.split():
        if canvas.stringWidth( ' '.join((line,word))) < fieldwidth:
            line += ' ' + word
        else:
            ... render line so far ...
            ... advance y pointer ...
            line = word


> The other issue is with the invoice line items. If there are too many  

> to fit on a page, then I need to create a second page that's  

> different that the first. I assume I'll need platypus for this, but  

> will it automatically paginate for me, and how can I tell it how much  

> space there is for line items on each page type? Basically the first  

> page has a different header and footer than other pages.

>   


It's a tough call.  I reach for Platypus only when I have something
that's really like desktop publishing -- when I have a document that
truly consists of flowables where the exact positioning doesn't matter
so much.  In almost all other cases, I do it by hand.  I maintain the Y
pointer myself, comparing it against the bottom value for this part of
the page, and then trigger a page flush when I reach it.  It's more
work, but I have more control.


> I'm also interested in hearing if there is an easier approach than  

> hand coding the layout in Python. I'd love to be able to design the  

> form with an SVG aware vector program and then fill it out and render  

> it to PDF with ReportLab. Is there any way to do such a thing?


Not today, but I suspect it's coming.


> If I could even specify the layout in a declarative form, like XML, but  

> hopefully a little nicer than XSL:FOP, and fill it out and render  

> with ReportLab, that would be better.

>   


This would be an excellent spot for Andy to pop in with an advertisement
for ReportLab's commercial products...

-- 
Tim Roberts, timr at probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.