Catalyst::View::PDF::Reuse(3pm)

Usage

Create a PDF::Reuse view:

 script/myapp_create.pl view PDF::Reuse PDF::Reuse

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

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

In your controller:

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

In root/templates/hello_pdf.tt:

 [% pdf.prFont('Helvetica-Bold') %]
 [% pdf.prFontSize(20) %]
 [% pdf.prText(100,100,'Hello, World!') %]

Overview

Catalyst::View::PDF::Reuse provides the facility to generate PDF files from a Catalyst application by embedding PDF::Reuse 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::Reuse's functions.

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

 [% pdf.prText(100,100,'Hello, World') %]

Data held in the stash can be printed as follows:

 $c->stash->{list} = ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four'];
 [% y = 500 %]
 [% FOREACH item IN list %]
   [% pdf.prText(100,y,item) %]
   [% y = y - 13 %]
 [% END %]

Formatting can be defined using the Template Toolkit format plugin:

 [% USE format %]
 [% currency = format('£%.2f') %]
 [% pdf.prText(100,100,currency(10)) %]

Using existing PDF documents

The key benefit of PDF::Reuse 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::Reuse to add in details such as the order number and customer address.

 [% pdf.prForm('customer_receipt.pdf') %]
 [% pdf.prText(123,643,order.number) %]
 [% pdf.prText(299,643,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::Reuse view from your controller:

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

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 = $c->view("PDF::Reuse")->render_pdf($c);

Support

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

 perldoc Catalyst::View::PDF::Reuse

You can also look for information at:

•

RT: CPAN's request tracker

<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Catalyst-View-PDF-Reuse>

•

AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation

<http://annocpan.org/dist/Catalyst-View-PDF-Reuse>

•

CPAN Ratings

<http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Catalyst-View-PDF-Reuse>

•

Search CPAN

<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Catalyst-View-PDF-Reuse>

Copyright & license

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

Pod errors

Hey! The above document had some coding errors, which are explained below:

Around line 73:: Non-ASCII character seen before =encoding in 'format('£%.2f')'. Assuming UTF-8

Releases

6 releases since Debian 8 (Jessie); the text changed 1 time.