Re^3: Image modules not returning or accepting GD::Image

assuming that having a PDF as output is non-negotiable

It is not essential that it uses a PDF - I hadn't considered any alternatives.

This a little side project. My partner has started looking after dogs here at home. UK legislation requires that Boomer, our office hound, and the visiting dogs have a "meet-and-greet" session to ensure they all get on. If they do, the owner has to sign to say they are happy for their dog(s) to be walked, fed, etc with Boomer. As the meet and greet is outside in a park, I've created a web system to guide the necessary questions then, with the help of Javascript canvas, the owner can sign the webpage and the signature gets uploaded along with pictures of their dogs. This part is to put that signature and dog pictures into a PDF that then gets emailed to then. So no, it doesn't have to be PDF but I cannot think of a format that would work quite as well.

There's a fairly steep learning curve with LaTeX but it is well worth it and will be a skill that you (Bod) can drawn on for a lifetime - at least it has been with me

Yes - LaTeX is on my radar. It has come up a couple of times as something that I need to investigate. The steep learning curve puts me off a bit, especially as I rarely work with PDFs programmatically. However, I have just started a new business partnership based around publishing so perhaps in future I will be doing more with dynamically generated PDFs.

On your recommendation hippo, I will push LaTeX up the list a bit...

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Re^4: Image modules not returning or accepting GD::Image by hippo (Bishop) on Dec 03, 2022 at 19:01 UTC
This part is to put that signature and dog pictures into a PDF that then gets emailed to [them]. So no, it doesn't have to be PDF but I cannot think of a format that would work quite as well. TBF, it sounds like a good use of PDF and I might go that way too. The obvious alternative is HTML email or perhaps even better email them a link with a unique code to a dynamic page on your site which produces the HTML. They can easily then print that off (or to PDF!) if they want. I have just started a new business partnership based around publishing so perhaps in future I will be doing more with dynamically generated PDFs. If you are moving into publishing then I would be even more strong in my recommendation to look seriously at LaTeX. Its styles and classes allow for templating of documents or entire books as you see fit and with human-readable source there is the option of generating the entire thing programmatically. More than half a lifetime ago* my classmates and I were given a course on LaTeX by our professor and while we could see the advantages he was espousing, the learning curve was indeed clearly steep. We continued to use various WYSIWYG alternatives (mostly DECWrite and/or Asterx - I did say it was a long time ago) to produce our periodic assignments but eventually I and one or two others started to get to grips with LaTeX and produced some decent reports with it. When the time came to write our dissertations the class was split pretty evenly between LaTeX and the other options. I was very glad that I chose LaTeX in the end. The fact that the source was plain text meant that I could work on it anywhere (Windows PCs, Linux PCs, Unix Workstations, the Vaxen - did I mention this was last millennium?) and it took up much less space so could be saved on even the smallest floppy. One of my friends on the course persisted with using MS Word of all things. One day it crashed on her, corrupting the file and she lost not only that day's work but almost a week's worth to the last safe backup. I can still remember that event clearly to this day and it has always reinforced my decisions to go with open, text-based systems whenever possible and eschew proprietary binary alternatives. I have never regretted it. OK, back to the topic. Go with LaTeX for all the reasons above. See some of the beautiful output it produces. Know that it builds on decades of work by Donald Knuth so you just know it's going to be stellar. Damn, I'm old. 🦛	[reply]
Re^5: Image modules not returning or accepting GD::Image by Bod (Parson) on Dec 05, 2022 at 22:50 UTC
If you are moving into publishing then I would be even more strong in my recommendation to look seriously at LaTeX Precisely why I mentioned the publishing project I've been doing some bedtime reading on LaTeX and it looks very worthwhile learning more. But, as you say, it does seem to have a steep learning curve! Christmas is just around the corner so perhaps that's the opportunity to have a play...	[reply]