[reportlab-users] Doing multiple pages with variable data

[Mike Driscoll]

Hi Tim,

> Mike Driscoll wrote:

>   

>> I know this is probably a common question, but I'm not finding the

>> answer in the archives so far. I have a large dataset with varied

>> lengths of data. Basically, it will be a list of lists or a list of

>> dicts. Anyway, I don't really know how much will be able to fit per

>> page with my current requirements. What is the recommended way of

>> putting semi-random data onto multiple pages and getting it to break

>> correctly? Do I have to count the number of lines I've output somehow?

>>     

>

> I guess it depends on how much you need to do to the data.  Platypus is

> really good at managing documents that consist of a series of

> "flowables".  If your data can be arranged in a series of things of

> variable height that are page-wide, then what you ask is pretty easy. 

> You can just derive your own class from Paragraph and lay things out

> yourself.

>

> If you need spreadsheet-like functionality, where things need to break

> within cells and cells can be arbitrarily large, that's where things get

> really tricky.

>

>   


I noticed that Platypus is supposed to do what I want, but there doesn't 
seem to be many good examples. I have some annoying requirements due to 
the fact that the original was based on a Crystal Report. Basically, I 
have some boxed headers kind of like this (except I need three or more 
of these columns right next to each other horizontally):

-----------------------------------
*   Some Heading
*
*                 Hours      Amount
-----------------------------------
ct                24.00     456.84
h
# various other lines may follow
-----------------------------------
Another Heading
                                50.56
# various other lines may follow


It's a financial document, so I'll need the Amount column to have some 
underlines at specific junctures to indicate some kind of total. I may 
be able to use the weird example on Frames in the user guide. It looks 
like I can create Frames of a certain width and at a certain location on 
the page, but the docs don't say if I can leave the height to be 
calculated on the fly. If not, then this won't work either.

Anyway, if you or someone else on the list has a suggestion, that would 
be great. In the meantime, I'll continue trying to grasp how to set this 
up in my head and by messing with some down and dirty coding. Thanks!

- Mike