Creating PDF files with Perl

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi Monks!
I am trying to creating PDF files using "HTML::HTMLDoc", that seems to be the easiest one to accomplish this using Perl. But with few issues. If you look at the code I am posting here I have a very simple HTML code that I am converting into PDF, but when I run the code the PDF is blank, the only thing that shows is the image, it displays in the new created PDF file, the rest of the code doesn't. Have anyone here worked with this before that could show me where the problem is? My other issue is that I would like to add into my PDF file a field that I can edit from the PDF, like an input type="text" in a form, is that possible? OK thanks for looking and here is the code I am testing with:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use HTML::HTMLDoc;

my $htmldoc = new HTML::HTMLDoc();

$htmldoc->set_html_content(qq|
<html>
  <body>
    <br>PDF Test<br><br>
    <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="1">
    <tr>
    <td colspan="2" align="center"><img src="images/header.gif"></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <b>Phone Number: (123) 456-7897</b>
      </td>
      <td>Country Code: US</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td colspan=2>
      <b><div>Number: 00000000</div></b>
      </td>
    </tr>
     <tr>
        <td colspan="2"><b>First Name:</b> <input type="text" name="fi
+rst"></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td colspan="2"><b>Last Name:</b> <input type="text" name="last"
+></td>
    </tr>
    </table>     
    </body>
</html>
|);

my $pdf = $htmldoc->generate_pdf();

$pdf->to_file('test.pdf');
[download]

Thank you!

Comment on Creating PDF files with Perl Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Creating PDF files with Perl by moritz (Cardinal) on May 09, 2011 at 13:41 UTC
I am trying to creating PDF files using "HTML::HTMLDoc", that seems to be the easiest one to accomplish this using Perl. I found it easist to generate LaTeX files with Perl (for example with Text::Template), and run it through pdflatex. Your mileage might vary though. Perl 6 - second systems done right	[reply]
Re^2: Creating PDF files with Perl by holli (Abbot) on May 09, 2011 at 18:18 UTC
A similar approach is to use a templating solution, like Template-Toolkit to produce XSL-FO code, and run that trough a converter like FOP. That way one gets a better control over the layout of the resulting document. holli You can lead your users to water, but alas, you cannot drown them.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Creating PDF files with Perl by Anonymous Monk on May 09, 2011 at 18:38 UTC
Do you have any code sample from your previous posting?	[reply]
Re^4: Creating PDF files with Perl by holli (Abbot) on May 09, 2011 at 19:43 UTC
Re^2: Creating PDF files with Perl by Anonymous Monk on May 09, 2011 at 15:12 UTC
Would you have any sample code based in what is been posted here and based in what you are suggesting?	[reply]
Re: Creating PDF files with Perl by chrestomanci (Priest) on May 09, 2011 at 14:46 UTC
I have had success creating pdf files by first creating an svg document for each page, then converting to pdf using inkscape's svg2pdf tool, I then joined all the separate pdf files into one multi page document using pdftk On that occasion the SVG file was created via a template. You could also look into GD::SVG	[reply]
Re: Creating PDF files with Perl (CPAN-Review) by LanX (Saint) on May 10, 2011 at 13:21 UTC
Did you see Bart's negative review on CPAN? It includes alternative sample code achieved by RTFMing. Cheers Rolf PS: Bart++	[reply]
Re^2: Creating PDF files with Perl (CPAN-Review) by pklausner (Scribe) on May 11, 2011 at 15:01 UTC
In my experience, htmldoc frequently dies ungracefully on HTML syntax it cannot digest, even when it is perfectly valid. So the RTFM method needs extra error handling. I do not know HTML::HTMLdoc, but the other comments indicate to me, that the module gives no good feedback on any problem. Now to the actual question: a field that I can edit from the PDF, like an input type="text" in a form, is that possible? No. htmldoc does only^) simple HTML 3 and simple PDF, cf www.htmldoc.org ) I still find it useful when you have HTML in the first place and can clean up a bit before passing it on to htmldoc	[reply]
Re: Creating PDF files with Perl by ww (Archbishop) on May 09, 2011 at 19:43 UTC
And before you ask -- again -- for "sample code" from one of the responders, you might wish to RTFM.	[reply]
Re^2: Creating PDF files with Perl by Anonymous Monk on May 09, 2011 at 19:52 UTC
The reason is because all see here is people suggesting with no possible solution based on the person's code, and I see that this person posted some code sample for people to look at it, but come on, the answers here are no different than "Googling" for the topic been asked. Be reasonable, thats all!	[reply]
Re^3: Creating PDF files with Perl by holli (Abbot) on May 10, 2011 at 13:02 UTC
Due to popular demand ^^, here is a hello world example: use warnings; use strict; use Template; # create Template object my $ttt = Template->new(); # define template variables for replacement my $replacements = { name => "holli" }; my $template = join ("", <DATA>); # process input template, substituting variables and save it to disk $ttt->process( \$template, $replacements, "output.xml") \|\| die $templa +te->error(); #call fop and translate xml file to pdf system "d:\\fop-1.0\\fop.bat -fo output.xml -pdf output.pdf" __DATA__ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> <fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format"> <fo:layout-master-set> <fo:simple-page-master master-name="my-page"> <fo:region-body margin="1in"/> </fo:simple-page-master> </fo:layout-master-set> <fo:page-sequence master-reference="my-page"> <fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body"> <fo:block>Hello, [% name %]!</fo:block> </fo:flow> </fo:page-sequence> </fo:root> [download] Instead of running fop via system, you might also look at XML::ApacheFOP. holli You can lead your users to water, but alas, you cannot drown them.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Creating PDF files with Perl by ww (Archbishop) on May 10, 2011 at 11:59 UTC
I think my prior response was not unreasonable, given the appearance and reappearance of your (boilerplate) request for "sample code." Read the documentation for what's suggested here; read the docs that Google turns up. Don't ask, thinly disguised as a request for "sample code," that the Monks give you a complete solution. You'll learn a lot more from the docs and the effort to code your own solution.	[reply]
Re^4: Creating PDF files with Perl by ruzam (Curate) on May 10, 2011 at 15:26 UTC
Re^5: Creating PDF files with Perl by ww (Archbishop) on May 11, 2011 at 00:13 UTC


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