Creation of PDF

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

Hello Monks,

I am asked to generate nice looking PDF files from test-reports which are given in XML style.

On CPAN there are some PDF libraries available i.e. PDF::Create.

I found also the DocBook stuff on internet, for DocBook I have to get the XML TestReport into a kind of "DocBook-Style". But the DocBook toolchain is a bit complex I feel, and users got to have the toolchain installed (normally they only have perl installed).

For a big TestResult the text formatting in the CPAN PDF lib seems not to be that easy and I do not know the limitations, so it would be fine if I could change the layout of DIN A4 from portrait to landscape.

Does anyone have some experience with PDF creation and can recommend me some libs or tools which go together well with perl? Any recommendations are highly welcome!

Best regards
Tobias

Comment on Creation of PDF Download Code

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Re: Creation of PDF by karlgoethebier (Abbot) on Jun 05, 2013 at 08:05 UTC
Consider using <oXygen/>. Think about this: DocBook Sucks DocBook Is Cool Please see also: dblatex. Update: XSLT. Update 2: «But the DocBook toolchain is a bit complex...» Nothing but the truth, it's my favorite candidate for the "Greatest Shit I Was Forced To Do In My Live" award. Next candidate is a customized Oracle setup...;-) Regards, Karl «The Crux of the Biscuit is the Apostrophe»	[reply]
Re^2: Creation of PDF by tobias_hofer (Friar) on Jun 05, 2013 at 08:57 UTC
I will have a closer look on XSLT and dblatex. Thanks a lot! Tobias	[reply]
Re: Creation of PDF by rnewsham (Curate) on Jun 05, 2013 at 10:47 UTC
I have had some success creating pdf documents with HTML::HTMLDoc. It provides an interface to htmldoc http://www.htmldoc.org/. It does not appear to be actively maintained, or as fully featured as I would like, but it is simple and effective.	[reply]
Re: Creation of PDF by eco (Acolyte) on Jun 05, 2013 at 07:31 UTC
Depending on requisites, you may also consider going through Perl->LaTeX->PDF. best -- ecocode	[reply]
Re^2: Creation of PDF by tobias_hofer (Friar) on Jun 05, 2013 at 08:02 UTC
LaTeX is definitely an option. Also a LaTeX template could be used for simply putting test results into it... I will check this! Thanks a lot!	[reply]
Re^2: Creation of PDF by choroba (Cardinal) on Jun 05, 2013 at 07:34 UTC
Please, do not put your answer into the signature part. For some monks (e.g. me) it is unreadable. لսႽ† ᥲᥒ⚪⟊Ⴙᘓᖇ Ꮅᘓᖇ⎱ Ⴙᥲ𝇋ƙᘓᖇ	[reply]
Re: Creation of PDF by kcott (Archbishop) on Jun 05, 2013 at 19:50 UTC
G'day Tobias, While it's been a few years since I used it, I found PDF::API2::Simple allowed me to create PDFs quickly with a minimal learning curve. It aggregates a PDF::API2 object which you can acces via the pdf method. You'll need this for more advanced/complex features such as changing orientation: `$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' use PDF::API2::Simple; my $pdf = PDF::API2::Simple::->new(); $pdf->pdf->page->rotate(90); '` [download] Of course, you can dive in at the deep end and use `PDF::API2` from the outset. -- Ken	[reply] [d/l] [select]