PDF Writers? 94
Saqib Ali asks: "I am looking for for some OpenSource PDF Writers/Creator. I found one, here. It can basically create PDFs out of common software Like OfficeSuite, Visio, Project or any other Windows Application that uses the Windows Printers. I know OpenOffice can also export to PDF. I am working on a project (fat client) where I need to dynamically create PDF reports from data stored in MySQL DB. I know I can use PHP to create PDFs, and also Apache's Cocoon (you can find an example document, here). Of course, I would like to investigate other OpenSource PDF writers as well. Do you know of any other PDF writers, that I can utilize or learn from by looking at the source-code?"
Jpedal (Score:1)
Basically this is a open source library for reading and writing pdfs.
Re:Jpedal (Score:2)
"What does it offer?
An easy way to open pdf files, extract images and extract the raw text. It can also generate a view of a page."
PDFCreator (Score:1)
It installs as a printer driver. From any windows app, just hit file:print.
Re:PDFCreator (Score:2)
I found one, here [sourceforge.net].
BTW, this is the one I use when I'm not using SO7, and I need a PDF.
PDF Writer (Score:1, Funny)
Education: Springfield Heights Institute of Technology, major Technical Writing (specialization - PDF writing), AA in Desktop Publishing
Work experience: PDF Writer, Smith & Wesson Law Offices (extensively wrote PDFs of legal brifs)
PDF Writer, MS Word writer, I.Scruuyu Medical Insurance (extensively wrote and proofread medical documents)
Additional skills: I like biking and modern mu
CUPS (Score:5, Informative)
I think it's included in RedHat 9.
Re:CUPS (Score:2)
Re:CUPS (Score:2)
It is truly time to kill postscript and standardize on PDF (good luck to Microsoft with their InfoPath).
Re:CUPS (Score:1)
When? Why? It's worked great for me for a decade, including documents of substantial size and complexity.
Re:CUPS (Score:2)
Plus PS files are much bigger than PDF files. If you ever encounter a PS file bigger than 2048MB you are in deep dodo. Can't produce PDF files from it without having to split
Re:CUPS (Score:1)
Small ones are, but not necessarily large ones - depends on what you're doing.
Sounds like the work you do is a lot of B&W where the bulk of data is text positioning.
My experience comes from the glossy magazine world (managed transfer to all-digital production at a magazine on almost every newsstand in the USA). Worked with documents of similar size to yours, but fewer pages I'm sure. Most of the data was color images, which don't necessarily get much
Re:CUPS (Score:2)
ghostscript as printer filter (if=) in printcap(5),
and use that printer to print from samba.
No need to manually throw it to ps2pdf for that.
I just can't find the posting now where I first
read about it.
fpdf.org (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.fpdf.org
PHP (Score:1)
Re:PHP (Score:1)
Keep in mind that PDFlib is non-free except for personal use.
Re:fpdf.org (Score:2)
It supports links and page breaks. those were 2 of my major requirements.
Re:fpdf.org (Score:2)
OpenOffice (Score:4, Informative)
I don't see any reason not to use it out of the box for such a purpose... or am I missing something?
Re:OpenOffice (Score:2)
Re:OpenOffice (Score:2)
OpenOffice doesn't keep links! (Score:2)
PDF Converters (Score:5, Informative)
Txt2pdf - http://www.sanface.com/txt2pdf.html
html2pdf - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/5247/
De
csv2pdf - http://freshmeat.net/projects/csv2pdf/
ascii2pdf - http://freshmeat.net/projects/ascii2pdf/
And a google directory reference: http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Softwar
Good luck!
Red.
Re:PDF Converters (Score:3, Informative)
Re:PDF Converters (Score:2)
GNU a2ps rocks! (Score:2)
Richard Stallman please note: this is a genuinely GNU project, so I'm calling it "GNU a2ps" with pleasure and satisfaction, but the Linux I use is either "Mandrake Linux 9.2" after the distributors who do some much work to get it all packaged and integrated right, or "GNU/SGI/BSD/KDE/Apache/Sun/IBM/{blah,blah,cows come home}/OSF/Linux", or just plain "Linux".
None of them do what I want (Score:2)
- automatic column sizing (like HTML)
- clean break between pages
- repeated header and footer on each page
None of the open source generators, none of the Commercial ones (including Adobe's expensive solution), and not even LaTeX with the longtable package will do this.
I guess I'm going to have to try some postscript generators like OpenOffice. PDF generation is evidently still in its infancy.
Re:None of them do what I want (Score:2)
XO? FO? (Score:2, Informative)
Back in the day I needed to turn some XML files into HTML files by applying an XSL transformation. I also found out that the same process can be done for making PDF files using something called FO (or was it XO?) from the Apache people (not the Indians)
I made XSL files with PDF-generating tags and then ran 'em through this Java library. Since out backend was made in Java anyway it was a perfect fit.
It would be quite exciting if I was a geek and cared
Re:XO? FO? (Score:1)
ps2pdf (Score:4, Informative)
Then, run:
ps2pdf -r600 file.ps file.pdf
You can change the 600 to whatever resolution you wish.
If you're grabbing this from a database, you can simply output in text and use ascii2ps to create a pdf file.
Re:ps2pdf (Score:2)
Re:ps2pdf (Score:2)
Actually, PostScript doesn't support links anyway, so you'll lose them as soon as you printed to PS.
Re:ps2pdf (Score:2)
Re:ps2pdf (Score:2)
ps2pdf (Score:1)
You didn't specify OS, though I reckon it's probably an open source one. However, I'll post this anyway, in case it can help anyone:
Under Windows, you can add the driver for the "Apple Color LW 12/660 PS" printer, pointed at the FILE: port (i.e., it prints to a file). The resulting files are PostScript. You can then install GhostScript [wisc.edu] (either on its own or as part of Cygwin [cygwin.com]) and use the ps2pdf utility to convert it to PDF. It's not very featureful (e.g., it can't generate document indices or anything),
Re:ps2pdf (Score:1)
PDF995 [pdf995.com] is a (non-open-source, ad-supported) application that sits between your Windows printer driver and ps2pdf, and streamlines the process. I love it... it's made out of open-source parts, but it's not open-source itself though. sorry. ^_^
Actually, PDF995 sounds a lot like PDFCreator; I'm gonna check PDFCreator out.
I guess the problem with a solution like PDF995, ps2pdf, and PDFCreator is that they're not complete tools that would bridge your gap between SQL queries and finished PDF... probably the be
Re:ps2pdf (Score:2)
Of course, doesn't allow for editing of the document, but all we needed was just a way for users to create PDFs.
Proprietary software is hard to learn from. (Score:2)
The questioner asked to:
Your reply discussed "[...] a (non-open-source, ad-supported) application [...]". I don't understand how this answers the question asked.
Re:Proprietary software is hard to learn from. (Score:1)
Whoops. didn't see the part where the questioner asked about being able to see the source code. I guess I just wanted to mention PDF995 to the world-at-large... actually, I knew that my answer wasn't gonna answer the guy's question... that's why I said "sorry" to him in my post.
Mod me OT if you like, but I was aware I was slightly OT in the first place.
Email the folks @ umich.edu (Score:1)
Re:Email the folks @ umich.edu (Score:1)
...makes PDF's out of common applications (Score:1)
This program reqires Microsoft Windows.
PE
Windows Apps? (Score:1)
- New/recent updates (no programs with limited support)
- Integrated fonts (fonts that stay with the PDF)
- Graphics compression
- Great quality output (line art stays where it should, etc)
- Easy-to-use UI (no command-line-only stuff)
- Reasonable cost (less than $69/user preferrably)
Anyone know of anythin
Re:Windows Apps? (Score:1)
Searching Google for "PDF printer" yields a few promising results. One is Expert PDF 2 [visagesoft.com]. The standard edition appears to include the integrated-font and graphic-compression features you want. I've never heard of it before.
On Windows 2000, I use RedMon [wisc.edu] in conjunction with Ghostscript [wisc.edu]. RedMon is a generic port redirector, but it includes instructions on piping Postscript output from any Windows program into Ghostscript, which can export PDFs.
I don't know what RedMon's support system is like, but on the other
Re:Windows Apps? (Score:2)
Re:Windows Apps? (Score:2)
Re:Windows Apps? (Score:2)
CutePDF Install Process: Fail VERY quickly (can't get through WZSE (Error 0 running SETUP.EXE)
Hand unzipped (nobody would think of this) into C:\cuteprintertemp.
Installer crashed my print spooler.
PDFCreator Install Process: I think it worked right, but I forget...
CutePDF: Ease of use (according to help file
Re:Windows Apps? (Score:1)
Open source, windows pdf writer driver. Just select print, PDFCreator, save.
PHP only versions (Score:2)
One I hear good things about is the R&OS pdf class [ros.co.nz].
Another I found was an HTML to PDF convertor from here [rustyparts.com].
I've not used either of those so YMMV.
Some of the PHP code sites have a few [phpclasses.org] as well.
XML - FO - PDF (Score:3, Interesting)
My current favorite for PDF generation is to build an XML [w3.org] document programatically. This document has no layout information, so I use Saxon [sourceforge.net] and an XSLT [w3.org] stylesheet to translate it to XSL Formatting Objects [w3.org]. From there, I use FOP [apache.org] to translate to PDF.
The best part is that the XML document contains the content, while the XSLT stylesheet describes how to make a document out of it. If I need a screen version all I have to do is write another stylesheet to translate to HTML.
Re:XML - FO - PDF (Score:2)
Re:XML - FO - PDF (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, it's a big task and not the "quick and dirty" method but it works really well and gives you exactly the results that you want if you want to put the time into it. The XML+XSLTT -> processor model is definately the way to for things that you expect to last a while into the future.
Re:XML - FO - PDF (Score:1)
Type of output (Score:2)
Any OS/X app which can print can write PDFs. (Score:2)
Re:Any OS/X app which can print can write PDFs. (Score:1)
I run that on my aging beige G3 and miss the functionality that I have on W2K with Adobe Acrobat. My Acrobat is way out of date, too, now, at 4.0 but I refuse to throw more money at them.
Re:Any OS/X app which can print can write PDFs. (Score:1)
FOP (Score:2)
There's also a TeX to PDF converter called pdftex [tug.org].
And, of course, pdf is really just a wrapper around Postscript so its pretty easy to convert Postscript to PDF.
Use Mozilla convert HTML to PDF (Score:2)
Ghostscript (Score:2)
iText and/or JFreeReport (Score:1)
Also, JFreeReport [jfree.org] is an open-source Java reporting library that makes it easy to generate reports in various formats - PDF, HTML, CSV, Excel, plain text.
Re:iText and/or JFreeReport (Score:1)
Brian
Sure (Score:2)
This is the open-source version. It requires you to use and OSI-approved license on your app. PHP uses a version of PDFLib. We use the commercial version of PDFlib to produce reports like this sample report [panoramicfeedback.com].
Panda [stillhq.com]
Panda is GPLed. I haven't tried it.
These libraries should give you total control over your output. I'm not sure if you want that degree of power, considering you have to do a lot of work yourself. Note also the total lack of support for importing vector images in both (this is
Laytex (Score:1)
good luck mano
Ruby PDF Writing (Score:1)
-austin
Use it as a 'form' and embed replacement strings (Score:1)
Generate a template in your WYSIWYG editor of choice, export to PDF. And then edit the PDF with a text editor and insert @@@VAR_1@@@ type srtings as approiate. Then use something as simple as sed to replace them all.
Hmm.. Maby not, looking at a few pdfs taht I happen to have lying around the important part is encoded somehow.. Fuckers. Ok, do the same, generating a template as PS, do the subsutition on the template PS and then ps2pdf....
There are so many solutions... (Score:3, Insightful)
In PHP I use pdf-php [sourceforge.net], which is simple and straightforward. I've used this to produce invoices for a non-profit that I voluntarily did a membership system for in PHP.
If I want to mailmerge a document I would just use OpenOffice 1.1 - it does both parts perfectly well.
There are heaps of "printer driver" approaches as well, and of course there is Ghostscript, which has been doing this for many years.
Any KDE program (Score:2)
Re:Any KDE program (Score:2)
RTFA.
Not sure if this helps (Score:2)
If you have access to OS X... (Score:1)
Voila, the cheapest way to save to PDF, because its free!
Re:If you have access to OS X... (Score:1)
More to the point, its pretty depressing when people are willing to have raging rows over another's product choice.
TeX! (Score:2, Troll)
dvipdfm is well documented and FREE, so you should be able to see how to create a PDF file. Of course, the PDF file format is also well documented by Adobe. That
Python's ReportLab (Score:2)
I personally have had very good luck with ReportLab [reportlab.org]. If you would like to use Python, look no further.
This is so-o-o simple.... (Score:2)
Anything.. (Score:2)
Now.. most programs that allow you to print, can also print to a file,
and you get a postscript file. As part of ghostscript, there is the
ps2pdf tool. So, e.g. making a pdf of say.. www.slashdot.org is a nobrainer.
Other "creators" include OpenOffice.org 1.1 and later.
LyX
And you can ofcourse write Docbook documents, or TeX documents and
easily transform them to pdf.
ps2pdf? (Score:2)
AFAIK, ps is widely supported under linux. ps2pdf comes with the ghostscript package.
PDF995 (Score:1)
PDF::API2 (Score:1)
http://search.cpan.org/~areibens/PDF-API2-0.3r77/M ANIFEST [cpan.org]
It's pretty readable and the basic text output and font metrics all work. It's very easy to produce output with from Perl, so you can very rapidly prototype your reports and see what the resulting PDF contains.
You can also tweak it a bit and disable the PDF stream compression feature so you can really see what'ts going on.
There are several parts of the package that aren't co
Reportlab (Score:2)
Plus, being open source, it's easy to read the code.
The format... (Score:2)
Use Scribus' PDF engine (Score:1)
Tinker around the source and you should be able to extract necessary pieces from there.
Mac OS X (Score:1)
ReportLab is Perfect For This (Score:2)
Seriously, if you don't know Python, this is definitely a reason to learn. I've written dozens of tiny systems that pull data from PostgreSQL (MySQL is just as easy) to create special reports for clients. I've also done two fairly large and flexible formats.
The nicest thing about ReportLab is that it gives you primitives like tables, paragraphs, pages, and the like rather than just a drawing library. You also get various chart primitives
JAVA based solution! (Score:1)
http://pdfbox.org/
PDFCreator (Score:1)
Use apple color ps in windows (Score:2)
Print any document using the new printer. Chage the file extension to 'ps' from 'prn' then use Ghostscript and GSView to view and convert the ps file to pdf.