Thanks! I think for what I am doing, groff/tbl is a simpler solution. On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 4:45 PM John Gardner <gardnerjo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Use wkhtmltopdf if you need a graphics-intensive output (such as > background images, colour fills and client logos embedded beside each table > record). This was the format an agency I worked at required be churned out > fast, and it had to match what was presented by the webapp. Thankfully the > HTML/CSS was done, I was just impressed at how closely wkhtmltopdf's PDF > output matched what browsers showed with HTML/CSS > > *> 1. I figured HTML was just too loosey-goosey with the layout. I wanted > better control.* > > You'll need CSS for that. ;-) HTML is for content, CSS for presentation > and layout. > > > *> 2. I figured HTML didn't deal with paging and repeating page headers, > column titles, and page numbers on each page.* > > It does, actually. You just need to enclose your table's headers and > footers with <thead> and <tfoot>, respectively. > > I've mocked up a simple demo here <http://jsfiddle.net/srh39jv2/23/>. > Were that table long enough to span multiple pages, the header and footer > rows should repeat across pages (possibly with the caption appended, I > can't remember...) But this should give you an idea of how the PDF is paged > similarly to a proper HTML/CSS print-out. > > (I hope I've not siderailed this discussion too badly, haha) > > On 25 July 2018 at 05:09, Blake McBride <bl...@mcbride.name> wrote: > >> Thanks. I've seen a tool or two that converts HTML to PDF in the past >> but I immediately shied away from them for the following reasons. >> >> 1. I figured HTML was just too loosey-goosey with the layout. I wanted >> better control. >> >> 2. I figured HTML didn't deal with paging and repeating page headers, >> column titles, and page numbers on each page. >> >> Am I wrong? >> >> I have to say, groff/tbl fits the bill well. >> >> Thanks! >> >> Blake >> >> >> On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 1:15 PM John Gardner <gardnerjo...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi Blake, great to hear! Always nice to hear another Troff success >>> story. =) >>> >>> I know the feeling about finding decent PDF converters. The best one I >>> know of is wkhtmltopdf <https://wkhtmltopdf.org/>, which uses WebKit's >>> rendering engine to convert an HTML/CSS-enriched webpage into a >>> correctly-layered and paged PDF. Tables looked great and scaled perfectly >>> across pages. >>> >>> I strongly recommend wkhtmltopdf <https://wkhtmltopdf.org/> to anybody >>> else who finds themselves in need of a decent HTML-to-PDF converter. >>> >>> On 25 July 2018 at 03:26, Blake McBride <bl...@mcbride.name> wrote: >>> >>>> A few years ago I thought of a really, really good use for groff and >>>> tbl. >>>> Thought I'd share. >>>> >>>> I write (web-based) business applications. Often I have to generate >>>> reports which largely mean PDF files. In the past, I used some >>>> open-source >>>> PDF generation utilities. They worked, but what a nightmare! Handling >>>> paging and lining everything up took hours. >>>> >>>> Then, a few years ago, I thought of generating groff/tbl input instead >>>> and >>>> then calling those tools to generate the final PDF output. This made my >>>> ability to produce reports skyrocket. I have a deep love of troff but >>>> don't get to use it as much as I'd like. Now I'll be using it all of >>>> the >>>> time. >>>> >>>> This is a great use of groff et al. I will be using it all of the time >>>> now! >>>> >>>> Blake McBride >>>> >>> >>> >
