4 ms·

Is there a list of open source PDF libraries for various languages? And related: the best tools to generate PDFs from HTML.

mdaniel 4y ago
"list" is probably harsh, but I've had good luck trawling through the GitHub topics to find such things: https://github.com/search?p=1&q=topic%3Apdf&type=Repositories https://github.com/search?p=1&q=topic%3Apdf&type=Repositorie... Makes me miss freshmeat.net which would have been my answer a few years ago (freshcode.club just isn't the same, although bless them for trying)
- macintux 4y ago
  Circa 25 years ago I was newly wed and my wife happened to be watching over my shoulder as I looked up something online. I started typing "fr" and "freshmeat.net" came up as a possible completion. She was, to put it mildly, immediately suspicious of my browsing habits.
criddell 4y ago
The best generator is Prince XML but it can be expensive.
- pronik 4y ago
  Seconded. I've recreated a corporate CI with it and had a great time. To have a single compile target is a blessing. Also: the only software I know of written in Mercury.
  - criddell 4y ago
    Mercury and Rust (according to Wikipedia).
    - pronik 4y ago
      Rust is probably a recent development, it's been a long time I last checked up on PrinceXML. Might also mean that Mercury is on the way out long to middle term.
e12e 4y ago
As I'm currently fighting with css3/paged media[pm] - I've recently tried to figure it out. Theres a rather comprehensive list at: https://www.print-css.rocks/tools https://www.print-css.rocks/tools As far as Foss tools go, I've only found paged.js (a polyfyll) in combination with a browser print-to-pdf (eg wkhtmltoodf (webkit) or puppeteer (chrome)) that has any semblance of css support. There's also ghostscript - but AFAIK it doesn't support much/any css3 for print. [pm] https://www.w3.org/TR/css-page-3/ https://www.w3.org/TR/css-page-3/
- 2rsf 4y ago
  I've seen Puppeteer being used successfully in a few projects, it's ugly as hell (you need a VM, a browser and extra software to generate a file) and might require maintenance but it works quite well for simple, mostly textual documents.
- password4321 4y ago
  Playwright is a new favorite browser automation tool, I wonder if they've done anything to help with generating PDFs?
  - e12e 4y ago
    The main issue with the browser based tools is that developers seem to have given up on implementing html/css print standards. So there's a limit to what automation tools have to work with, so to speak. That said, paged.js makes a good effort.
  - mdaniel 4y ago
    https://playwright.dev/docs/cli#generate-pdf https://playwright.dev/docs/cli#generate-pdf
stuaxo 4y ago
In python I would choose WeasyPrint most of the time these days.
g8oz 4y ago
Dompdf is a good html to pdf library for PHP.

mdaniel 4y ago

"list" is probably harsh, but I've had good luck trawling through the GitHub topics to find such things: https://github.com/search?p=1&q=topic%3Apdf&type=Repositories https://github.com/search?p=1&q=topic%3Apdf&type=Repositorie... Makes me miss freshmeat.net which would have been my answer a few years ago (freshcode.club just isn't the same, although bless them for trying)

macintux 4y ago
Circa 25 years ago I was newly wed and my wife happened to be watching over my shoulder as I looked up something online. I started typing "fr" and "freshmeat.net" came up as a possible completion. She was, to put it mildly, immediately suspicious of my browsing habits.

criddell 4y ago

The best generator is Prince XML but it can be expensive.

pronik 4y ago
Seconded. I've recreated a corporate CI with it and had a great time. To have a single compile target is a blessing. Also: the only software I know of written in Mercury.
- criddell 4y ago
  Mercury and Rust (according to Wikipedia).
  - pronik 4y ago
    Rust is probably a recent development, it's been a long time I last checked up on PrinceXML. Might also mean that Mercury is on the way out long to middle term.

e12e 4y ago

As I'm currently fighting with css3/paged media[pm] - I've recently tried to figure it out. Theres a rather comprehensive list at: https://www.print-css.rocks/tools https://www.print-css.rocks/tools As far as Foss tools go, I've only found paged.js (a polyfyll) in combination with a browser print-to-pdf (eg wkhtmltoodf (webkit) or puppeteer (chrome)) that has any semblance of css support. There's also ghostscript - but AFAIK it doesn't support much/any css3 for print. [pm] https://www.w3.org/TR/css-page-3/ https://www.w3.org/TR/css-page-3/

2rsf 4y ago
I've seen Puppeteer being used successfully in a few projects, it's ugly as hell (you need a VM, a browser and extra software to generate a file) and might require maintenance but it works quite well for simple, mostly textual documents.
password4321 4y ago
Playwright is a new favorite browser automation tool, I wonder if they've done anything to help with generating PDFs?
- e12e 4y ago
  The main issue with the browser based tools is that developers seem to have given up on implementing html/css print standards. So there's a limit to what automation tools have to work with, so to speak. That said, paged.js makes a good effort.
- mdaniel 4y ago
  https://playwright.dev/docs/cli#generate-pdf https://playwright.dev/docs/cli#generate-pdf

stuaxo 4y ago

In python I would choose WeasyPrint most of the time these days.

g8oz 4y ago

Dompdf is a good html to pdf library for PHP.