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 >>> >> >>