So I have this project for work, and I am trying to decide which approach might be better. Any comments or feedback you can offer is much appreciated.

At work, there are some existing Perl scripts which dump a ton of data out of a database, add in some pre-written text, and compiles it into a handbook (850+ pages) in LaTeX and spits out a PDF. The goal here is to eliminate LaTeX from the process.

I had originally planned to make my modifications spit out a Word 2007 .docx file, which could then be easily modified as needed and saved to a PDF if desired. I've been playing around with the Template Toolkit module, and have confirmed that this is something I should be able to do without too many headaches. Also, the organization here has a standard Word template for engineering docs like this. I'm sure I could re-create it in a PDF, but I already have it in Word.

The other option is to remove the middleman and just go straight to PDF. To this end, I've been researching PDF modules on CPAN, and so far PDF::Create is looking like a good option. PDF::API2 was looking good (or at least powerful), but the lack of any real documentation is quite the turnoff. If I go this route, whatever PDF module I use needs to support bookmarks - in a document this big (850+ pages), there's a ton of them.

So my question to you, dear Monks: if this project were deposited on your desk, which path would you choose? What do you see as being the pros/cons of each? Anything else I haven't mentioned that you think I should not overlook?

Thanks a million!
Kaiti

In reply to Seeking Comments & Feedback on Word/PDF project by jedikaiti

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.