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Catalyst-View-PDF-API2-0.03
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/ Catalyst::View::PDF::API2

NAME

Catalyst::View::PDF::API2 - Create PDF files from Catalyst using Template Toolkit templates

VERSION

Version 0.03

SYNOPSIS

Create a PDF::API2 view:

 script/myapp_create.pl view PDF PDF::API2

In MyApp.pm, add a configuration item for the template include path:

 __PACKAGE__->config('View::PDF' => {
   INCLUDE_PATH => __PACKAGE__->path_to('root','pdf_templates')
 });

In your controller:

 $c->stash->{pdf_template} = 'hello_pdf.tt';
 $c->forward('View::PDF');

In root/templates/hello_pdf.tt:

 [% pdf.corefont('Helvetica-Bold') %]

DESCRIPTION

Catalyst::View::PDF::API2 provides the facility to generate PDF files from a Catalyst application by embedding PDF::API2 commands within a Template Toolkit template.

Template Syntax

Within your template you will have access to a pdf object which has methods corresponding to all of PDF::API2's functions.

For example, to print the text Hello, World at PDF coordinates 100,100, use the following directive in your template:

 [% f1 = pdf->corefont('Helvetica') %]
 [% page = pdf.page %]
 [% page.mediabox(595,842) %]
 [% text = page.text %]
 [% text.textlabel(50,800,$f1,20,'Hello, World',-hspace=>75) %]

Data held in the stash can be printed as follows:

 $c->stash->{list} = ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four'];

 [% y = 500 %]
 [% FOREACH item IN list %]
   [% page.textlabel(100,y,$f1,20,item) %]  ###### to fix
   [% y = y - 13 %]
 [% END %]
dav
Formatting can be defined using the Template Toolkit format plugin:

 [% USE format %]
 [% currency = format('£%.2f') %]
 [% page.textlabel(100,100,$f1,20,currency(10)) %]

Using existing PDF documents

The key benefit of PDF::API2 is the ability to load an existing PDF file and use this as the basis for a new document.

For example, to produce receipts or shipping labels you could create a blank receipt in Microsoft Word, convert this to PDF, then use PDF::API2 to add in details such as the order number and customer address.

 [% page.textlabel(123,643,$f1,12,order.number) %]
 [% page.textlabel(299,643,$f1,12,order.date) %]

Note that the PDF document loaded by pdf.prForm must be in the same directory as your Template Toolkit template.

FUNCTIONS

process

Render the PDF file, places the contents in $c->response->body and sets appropriate HTTP headers.

You should normally not need to use this method directly, instead forward to the PDF::API2 view from your controller:

 $c->forward('View::PDF::API2');

The filename and content disposition (inline or attachment) can be controlled by putting the following values in the stash:

 $c->stash->{pdf_disposition} = 'attachment';  # Default is 'inline'
 $c->stash->{pdf_filename}    = 'myfile.pdf';

If the PDF filename is not specified, it will be set to the last component of the URL path, appended with '.pdf'. For example, with a URL of http://localhost/view/order/pdf/1234 the PDF filename would be set to 1234.pdf.

render_pdf

Renders the PDF file and returns the raw PDF data.

If you need to capture the PDF data, e.g. to store in a database or for emailing, call render_pdf as follows:

 my $pdf = $c->view("PDF::API2")->render_pdf($c);

AUTHOR

Ferruccio Zamuner, nonsolosoft@diff.org

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-catalyst-view-pdf-api2 at rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Catalyst-View-PDF-API2. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

SUPPORT

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

 perldoc Catalyst::View::PDF::API2

SEE ALSO

PDF::API

NonSoLoSoft - http://www.nonsolosoft.com/

Catalyst::View::PDF::Reuse

To every Catalyst developer that has written this framework or its manuals and to any CPAN contributors.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2009 NonSoLoSoft

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

2 POD Errors

The following errors were encountered while parsing the POD:

Around line 78:

Non-ASCII character seen before =encoding in 'format('£%.2f')'. Assuming UTF-8

Around line 222:

Unknown directive: =ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS