[reportlab-users] ReportLab and "compositing" features

[Jon Bradley]

I've got a challenge to convert a project from FPDF (a PHP PDF  
library) to Django and Python.

I figured here would be the best place to ask questions - since this  
is the only PDF library I could locate (and was recommended from many  
django sites).

We've got an interactive "business card" type building application  
written in Flash (AS1 ... ugh - old code). I'm porting it to AS3 and  
Flash CS3 (possibly Flex 2/3).  The interface consists of a drag and  
drop model for adding images, text, and other content (background  
colors, etc). This is all the easy part, generally speaking.

Now, the PDF generation part I feel will be tricky. I'd like to know  
if the following is possible:

1. A content area defined as a canvas (say, a business card size area)
2. This canvas area acts as a clipping area for it's content - so  
that I can load and place images outside of the boundaries (so they  
bleed in).
3. Duplicate multiple canvases so that I can fill a page up that will  
match an avery template.

I've seen a ton of examples, and can see how to create the PDFs with  
relative ease. The tricky part with this is that all the images (clip  
art - eps, jpg, or png) and the text fields are layered on top of one  
another (like a photoshop composite). On top of that, the fonts used  
will need to be pretty dynamic, though I've read that's as simple as  
modifying the fonts to work with reportlab.

Any thoughts?

best,

jon