*> Thanks! I think for what I am doing, groff/tbl is a simpler solution.*
Oh I wasn't suggesting wkhtmltopdf as any alternative to groff (hell, I prefer *roff over anything else for preparing PDF documents). Merely as a good tool for decent HTML to PDF conversion (because there's a lot of crappy HTML-to-PDF converters out there. I probably could have clarified that better. =) On 25 July 2018 at 09:13, Blake McBride <bl...@mcbride.name> wrote: > 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 >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>