Re: [groff] Groff & tbl as a report generator

[Blake McBride]

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 <address@hidden> 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 <address@hidden> 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 <address@hidden>
>> 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 <address@hidden> 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
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>