[reportlab-users] EuroPython 2014 is over

[Andy Robinson]

Dinu, thank you for this - the badges look really nice!

As you know, EuroPython clashed with a family vacation of mine, as
well as a very busy period for us at work.  But in a couple of years
my kids will have (I hope) moved on, summers will be more free, and I
look forward to attending these again and contributing as we used to
ten years ago.   Until then, ReportLab would be very happy to provide
a hosted web service to create any badges or documents needed for any
future Python events, if people contact us early enough.

It works best if people say to us, well in advance,  "here is the data
(json? XML?, HTML?), and here is how I want it to look...".   We are
then free to use a lot of features we can't release, as well as our 14
years of experience, to create something which can accept a simple
HTTP request and create the needed document.

Was there a decision on the date and location for the next one?  I
would google for it, but am constrained by very poor bandwidth this
week...

- Andy

On 29 July 2014 17:09, Dinu Gherman <gherman at darwin.in-berlin.de> wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> this is just to say that the EuroPython Conference 2014 in Berlin is now history (July 21-27 2014). It was a huge success as you can see by reading comments on Twitter:
>
> https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23europython%20OR%20%23ep14%20OR%20%40europython
>
> I'm sure there will be more blog posts appearing, soon.
>
> ReportLab-wise there was no talk or announcement, but at least the package was used for creating the badges for 1226 attendees (new record!). I've put an example here for those curious enough (the code should scan fine):
>
> http://dinu-gherman.net/badge-dg-ep14.jpeg
>
> It uses a subclass of reportlab.graphics.barcode.qr.QrCodeWidget to make colourful round dots and has a text block in the middle composed of different subblocks which might not always be there (like the one with tags), if people didn't provide the info. It was just a bit more difficult to layout dynamically than I thought at the beginning, even with stuff like reportlab.platypus.flowables.KeepInFrame. So in the end it used a two-pass approach, which could be made better from an algorithmic point of view, but now that the event is over it will probably take some time before the code will be worked on, again.
>
> There was also a 200 page paper programme/brochure, which should have been created rather automatically from some XML, but the design turned out to be a last minute blocker for the tool (something based on PDF reactor, I think) and the poor designer had to relayout a lot manually with InDesign, so the programme got printed late and was available only in the afternoon of day 1. I'll see if I can get this available, online, too.
>
> As it turned out the blocker was some vector graphic background/margin ornaments in SVG/PDF which could not be used with the workflow/tool as planned. I'm pretty sure RML and bare-bones RL could have done it, but it was much too late to change...
>
> Anyway, it was a fantastic event, and it's a pity I have not seen more of the people who came to the very first EuroPython 2002 in Charleroi, Belgium. I've seen Marc-Andre Lemburg and was very happy to see John Pinner, again, too!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dinu
>
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Andy Robinson
Managing Director
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