5 ms·

Why you would use anything other than a HTML -> PDF rendering engine is beyond me.

password4321 4y ago
Is there an open source pure-.NET library that implements this? I've heard good things about https://github.com/Kozea/WeasyPrint https://github.com/Kozea/WeasyPrint in Python.
magnat 4y ago
For a proper page numbering, consistent word wrapping, pixel-perfect font rendering and document outline support.
- lazyeye 4y ago
  You cant do page numbering in html? Seriously? I haven't had an issue with any of these things rendering html to pdf.
  - trynewideas 4y ago
    The Paged Media spec on counters and counter-resets paints implementations into a corner. They can't both comply with the spec and implement page count resets on page breaks. This has been a known issue with the spec since 2013[1][2] and been a thorn in implementations since.[3] 1: https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Tracker/issues/334 https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Tracker/issues/334 2: https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/4760 https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/4760 3: https://github.com/Kozea/WeasyPrint/issues/93#issuecomment-465932507 https://github.com/Kozea/WeasyPrint/issues/93#issuecomment-4...
    - lazyeye 4y ago
      Here's some PHP code to handle page numbering (page breaks are no problem at all rendering html to pdf) :- <?php $pagenum = 1; $pagenum++; print("Page: $pagenum"); ?>
  - criddell 4y ago
    I’ve had trouble with html -> pdf when it comes to tables. Most of the packages out there don’t have a way to say “if only the first few rows of the table will render before a page-break, then put the page-break before the table”. Or getting a table to not break at row X when that row has a cell that spans more than one row. Or getting table headings to repeat on the next page when a page-break mid-table is unavoidable. These are all things that good page layout software can deal with easily. HTML to pdf is also pretty slow and unreliable when you want a table of contents or an index with page numbers. On a fast machine, a 200 page PDF can take several minutes to generate. PrinceXML is the only software I’ve tried that does a good job of it. For very simple documents (no CSS, limited Unicode) HTMLDoc is pretty good and very fast.
    - lazyeye 4y ago
      I agree with html you have to manage the pagebreak within the code but honestly its not that complicated to insert a pagebreak based on rowcount.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - paranoidrobot 4y ago
        Row count is not the only condition for how much can fit on a page. Content matters for row height, as does fonts, styling, etc. Footers, too. The number of footnotes (thus the height of the footer) can depend on the page content, too. Maybe there's an image in there, or some sort of specially styled content that makes the line height larger than normal. You have to be able to render the row to know the final dimensions, to be able to make a call whether it should go on that page or the next. If you don't, then you end up with one page actually rendering over into a second page.
mattferderer 4y ago
Because styling semi-complicated PDFs with CSS is a layer of hell right above e-mails & old browsers. I say this as someone who enjoys CSS & in the .NET world has used this method over things like Crystal Reports (even before they dropped their .NET support).
- lazyeye 4y ago
  I havent found this at all. Ive been rendering very complex html to pdf (complex svg charts, headers, footers etc) and its been fine. Just a matter of getting the element heights/widths correct. Once you've got the basic page template done its not much effort at all to tweak as required
- renaudl_ 4y ago
  Have you heard of Paged.js ?
kodt 4y ago
Filling a fillable PDF programmatically?
trynewideas 4y ago
There's a good matrix of feature support at https://print-css.rocks/lessons https://print-css.rocks/lessons for all the things HTML-to-PDF engines can (and can't) do. The CSS3 Paged Media spec was born broken on some fundamental things like counter resets, then effectively abandoned in 2013, so some complex print-specific requirements like fully customizable page numbering just don't happen without additional tooling. Accessible tagged PDFs are still a struggle, and I think only Weasyprint readily supports them among free or open-source options (and only since around September).
- lazyeye 4y ago
  Here's some PHP code to handle page numbering :- <?php $pagenum = 1; $pagenum++; print("Page: $pagenum"); ?>
  - recursive 4y ago
    That prints "Page: 2". It doesn't appear anything related to pagination or layout.
    - lazyeye 4y ago
      Well obviously you'd have that code on each page. So thats the incredibly complex and challenging page numbering problem solved. As far as pagination is concerned I wrap each page in this tag <page size="A4"> </page> with this css:- page[size = 'A4'] { height: 29.7cm; width: 21cm; page-break-before: always; } page[size = 'A4'][layout = 'portrait'] { height: 21cm; width: 29.7cm; } So that's the incredibly complex and challenging problem of pagination solved. And fortunately html does layout too.
      - recursive 4y ago
        You're just pushing complexity around. Now you have to figure out how much content you can put on each page before you have to make a new one. The reason it seemed so easy is that you just deferred the hard part.

Is there an open source pure-.NET library that implements this? I've heard good things about https://github.com/Kozea/WeasyPrint https://github.com/Kozea/WeasyPrint in Python.

magnat 4y ago

For a proper page numbering, consistent word wrapping, pixel-perfect font rendering and document outline support.

lazyeye 4y ago
You cant do page numbering in html? Seriously? I haven't had an issue with any of these things rendering html to pdf.
- trynewideas 4y ago
  The Paged Media spec on counters and counter-resets paints implementations into a corner. They can't both comply with the spec and implement page count resets on page breaks. This has been a known issue with the spec since 2013[1][2] and been a thorn in implementations since.[3] 1: https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Tracker/issues/334 https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Tracker/issues/334 2: https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/4760 https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/4760 3: https://github.com/Kozea/WeasyPrint/issues/93#issuecomment-465932507 https://github.com/Kozea/WeasyPrint/issues/93#issuecomment-4...
  - lazyeye 4y ago
    Here's some PHP code to handle page numbering (page breaks are no problem at all rendering html to pdf) :- <?php $pagenum = 1; $pagenum++; print("Page: $pagenum"); ?>
- criddell 4y ago
  I’ve had trouble with html -> pdf when it comes to tables. Most of the packages out there don’t have a way to say “if only the first few rows of the table will render before a page-break, then put the page-break before the table”. Or getting a table to not break at row X when that row has a cell that spans more than one row. Or getting table headings to repeat on the next page when a page-break mid-table is unavoidable. These are all things that good page layout software can deal with easily. HTML to pdf is also pretty slow and unreliable when you want a table of contents or an index with page numbers. On a fast machine, a 200 page PDF can take several minutes to generate. PrinceXML is the only software I’ve tried that does a good job of it. For very simple documents (no CSS, limited Unicode) HTMLDoc is pretty good and very fast.
  - lazyeye 4y ago
    I agree with html you have to manage the pagebreak within the code but honestly its not that complicated to insert a pagebreak based on rowcount.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - paranoidrobot 4y ago
      Row count is not the only condition for how much can fit on a page. Content matters for row height, as does fonts, styling, etc. Footers, too. The number of footnotes (thus the height of the footer) can depend on the page content, too. Maybe there's an image in there, or some sort of specially styled content that makes the line height larger than normal. You have to be able to render the row to know the final dimensions, to be able to make a call whether it should go on that page or the next. If you don't, then you end up with one page actually rendering over into a second page.

mattferderer 4y ago

Because styling semi-complicated PDFs with CSS is a layer of hell right above e-mails & old browsers. I say this as someone who enjoys CSS & in the .NET world has used this method over things like Crystal Reports (even before they dropped their .NET support).

lazyeye 4y ago
I havent found this at all. Ive been rendering very complex html to pdf (complex svg charts, headers, footers etc) and its been fine. Just a matter of getting the element heights/widths correct. Once you've got the basic page template done its not much effort at all to tweak as required
renaudl_ 4y ago
Have you heard of Paged.js ?

kodt 4y ago

Filling a fillable PDF programmatically?

trynewideas 4y ago

There's a good matrix of feature support at https://print-css.rocks/lessons https://print-css.rocks/lessons for all the things HTML-to-PDF engines can (and can't) do. The CSS3 Paged Media spec was born broken on some fundamental things like counter resets, then effectively abandoned in 2013, so some complex print-specific requirements like fully customizable page numbering just don't happen without additional tooling. Accessible tagged PDFs are still a struggle, and I think only Weasyprint readily supports them among free or open-source options (and only since around September).

lazyeye 4y ago
Here's some PHP code to handle page numbering :- <?php $pagenum = 1; $pagenum++; print("Page: $pagenum"); ?>
- recursive 4y ago
  That prints "Page: 2". It doesn't appear anything related to pagination or layout.
  - lazyeye 4y ago
    Well obviously you'd have that code on each page. So thats the incredibly complex and challenging page numbering problem solved. As far as pagination is concerned I wrap each page in this tag <page size="A4"> </page> with this css:- page[size = 'A4'] { height: 29.7cm; width: 21cm; page-break-before: always; } page[size = 'A4'][layout = 'portrait'] { height: 21cm; width: 29.7cm; } So that's the incredibly complex and challenging problem of pagination solved. And fortunately html does layout too.
    - recursive 4y ago
      You're just pushing complexity around. Now you have to figure out how much content you can put on each page before you have to make a new one. The reason it seemed so easy is that you just deferred the hard part.