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

I have two questions, hoping someone can help:

I am retrieving data from SQl Server in a array. Prior, while fetching the data, I was printing this data onto a text file. Instead of printing to text file, I'd like to print to PDF. How can I do that? (I can print a line of text using the pdf::api2 module, but I am having difficulties printing from an array)

Now the second question is, the data returned has unique account numbers by summary level. I like these account numbers to be a hyperlinks on the pdf. So if user clicks on account number #12345 - I want to get that value (12345) and run a SP that will give me details about that accountnumber and then output the details onto another pdf page. Once again, I can create the hyperlinks using an annotation object for static text, but what about dynamic text?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Array of Text to PDF
by holli (Abbot) on Apr 13, 2005 at 21:23 UTC
    For creating PDF I happily use FOP and the XSL-FO namespace.
    In a nutshell, XSL-FO is a xml-dialect that describes the visual appearence of a document on paper.
    FOP is a open source tool to translate the XSL-FO to various output formats, including pdf.
    To create the FO-document you basically have two possibilities:
    • create xml from your data and apply a xslt-stylesheet to it
    • create the xsl-fo document directly via print or a templating engine
    I didn't use linking from FO yet, but itrc it should be supported.


    holli, /regexed monk/
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Re: Array of Text to PDF
by jZed (Prior) on Apr 13, 2005 at 21:37 UTC
    Personally, I just generate HTML from the database (or pod, or ...), and use HTMLDOC to convert to PDF. That link has a GPL version, so ignore the pricing info.
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Re: Array of Text to PDF
by artist (Parson) on Apr 14, 2005 at 06:32 UTC
    When you print from an array, you just have to set different 'y' co-ordinates. Annotation object can also take dynamic text. See the question Hyperlinks in PDF, I recently asked.
    --Artist
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Re: Array of Text to PDF
by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Apr 14, 2005 at 13:04 UTC
    (I can print a line of text using the pdf::api2 module, but I am having difficulties printing from an array)

    First off, if you want us to help you, you'll need to give us a little more information. Maybe you're having issues with handling arrays. It happens to the best of us. Next time, posting the smallest snippet that demonstrates the problem will go a long way ...

    You could use PDF::Template for both issues. (Well, you could if Weblinks were containers and not elements. *sighs*) 

    use strict;

use PDF::Template;

my @array = (
    'Line 1',
    'Line 2',
    'Line 3',
    'Line 4',
);

my $some_url = "http://...";

my @data = map {
    {
        line => $_,
        url => $some_url . $_,
    }
} @array;

my $template = PDF::Template->new( file => 'foo.xml' );

$template->param(
    LOOPY => \@data,
);

$template->write_file( 'foo.pdf' );

--------
foo.xml
--------

<pdftemplate>
  <pagedef>
    <font name="Courier" h="8">
      <loop name="loopy">
        <row>
          <textbox w="100%" text="$line" />
        <row>
      </loop>
    </font>
  </pagedef>
</pdftemplate>

    [download]

    My wife's blog

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[d/l]
Re: Array of Text to PDF
by ghenry (Vicar) on Apr 14, 2005 at 07:02 UTC

    What about using PDF::API2?

    Walking the road to enlightenment... I found a penguin and a camel on the way.....
    Fancy a yourname@perl.me.uk? Just ask!!!
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