PDF Templates is a simple XML to PDF conversion tool. The layout is table based, including nested tables. Additional flexibility and dynamic content can be added using a provided preprocessor.
Preprocessors for Handlebars and Freemarker are included as
options, however your project will need to include the
dependencies explicitly if they are used, otherwise you will have a
runtime ClassNotFound exception.
Additional Preprocessors can be created by implementing the
TemplateProcessor interface
Below is a simple template that does not use a preprocessor
<document>
<page>
<table padding="10">
<row>
<text>column next to a nested table with 50% of the space</text>
<table layout="30 70">
<row>
<text>cell with 30%</text>
<text>this is <f fontStyle="bold">longer</b> text given 70% of the nested table space</text>
</row>
</table>
</row>
</table>
</page>
</document>Handlebars
Freemarker
var engine = TemplateEngine(
processor = TemplateProcessor.NoOp,
loader = ResourceLoader.Default
)
// No handlebars processor - context if given is ignored
FileOutputStream("build/test-simple.pdf").use {
engine.executeFile("classpath://test-simple.xml", it)
}
engine = TemplateEngine(
processor = HandlebarsProcessor(),
loader = ResourceLoader.Default
)
// No handlebars context - handlebars still runs
FileOutputStream("build/test-simple.pdf").use {
engine.executeFile("classpath://test-simple.xml", it)
}
// With Handlebars context
FileOutputStream("build/test-nested.hb.pdf").use {
var ctx = arrayOf("val1", "val2")
engine.executeFile(ctx, "classpath://test-nested.hb.xml", it)
}The grammar is straight forward, with the only interesting rule being row
which has multiple different cell representations
document := (page | header | footer)+
header := (table | text | blank)+
footer := (table | text | blank)+
page := (table | text | blank)+
table := row+
row := (text | image | table | blank)+
image := <string>
text := (<string> | f)+
f := (<string> | f)+
The special text $PAGE_NUMBER will be replaced with current page number value. This value is
only respected in the footer and will return 0 in other contexts.
Attributes by default cascade down into their children. Specifying
fontColor="red" on a table will mean every text cell is printed in red font -
unless another parent changes it between the table and text cell.
text cells can have different font styles mixed by using the f element with font attributes
** All attributes can be written in camel case, or dash syntax. paddingTop or padding-top**
pageSize = "int int | string"
* defaults to A4
non cascading, only available on document
Set to either (witdth, height), or the named paper size (letter, A4, ...)
layout = "int int*"
* defaults to an even split
non cascading, only available on `table`
Represents the number of colums and their propartion relative to each other.
bookmark = "string"
cascades down to the first `text` cell
This represents an entry in the PDF outline that can be used by a user to navigate
fontName = "string"
* defaults to Helvetica
font name that is known to OpenPDF
fontColor = "red|green|..." or "#RRGGBB"
* defaults to Black
color name known to java.awt.Color as a field or hex value
fontSize = "int"
* defaults to 12
size in points of font
fontStyle = "bold | italic | strikethrough | underline | normal"
* defaults to normal
font style
alignVertical = "top | middle | bottom"
* defaults to middle
vertical alignment
alignHorizontal = "left | center | right"
* defaults to left
horizontal alignment
backgroundColor = "red|green|..." or "#RRGGBB"
* defaults to White
color name known to java.awt.Color as a field or hex value
border = "size color" | "size" | "color" | "color size"
* defaults to 0 black
applies border styling to all sides of the cell
borderTop = "size color" | "size" | "color" | "color size"
* defaults to 0 black
applies border styling to the top side of the cell
borderBottom = "size color" | "size" | "color" | "color size"
* defaults to 0 black
applies border styling to the bottom side of the cell
borderLeft = "size color" | "size" | "color" | "color size"
* defaults to 0 black
applies border styling to the left side of the cell
borderRight = "size color" | "size" | "color" | "color size"
* defaults to 0 black
applies border styling to the right side of the cell
padding = "int"
* defaults to 0
padding dimension for all sides
paddingTop = "int"
* defaults to 0
padding dimension for top
paddingBottom = "int"
* defaults to 0
padding dimension for bottom
paddingLeft = "int"
* defaults to 0
padding dimension for left
paddingRight = "int"
* defaults to 0
padding dimension for right
margin = "int"
* defaults to 36pt / .5in
cascading to page, only available on `document` or `page`
margin dimension for all sides
marginTop = "int"
* defaults to 36pt / .5in
cascading to page, only available on `document` or `page`
margin dimension for top
marginBottom = "int"
* defaults to 36pt / .5in
cascading to page, only available on `document` or `page`
margin dimension for bottom
marginLeft = "int"
* defaults to 36pt / .5in
cascading to page, only available on `document` or `page`
margin dimension for left
marginRight = "int"
* defaults to 36pt / .5in
cascading to page, only available on `document` or `page`
margin dimension for right
width = "int"
only available on image and table elements
IMAGES: sets the image height. If width is undefined, aspect ratio will be perserved
TABLES: sets the table width in %
height = "int"
IMAGES: sets the image height. If width is undefined, aspect ratio will be perserved
CELLS: sets the minimum height of the cell
colspan = "int"
non cascading, only available on `cells`
sets the number of columns to use
rowspan = "int"
non cascading, only available on `cells`
sets the number of rows to use
rowspandoes not work in page headers and footers- Images in headers do not work correctly (can't set both width and height)
- DrawContext should be non-mutatable
- ascender=true hardcoded
- leading hardcoded
- AST validation (validate tables have children, etc)
- Real samples
- Fix when missing some cells in a row
- proper test cases, moving resources to test folder
- document creator, author and title
- allow header / footer to not show on certain pages
- allow leading to be set
- allow paragraph settings (before, after, indent, etc)
- Page override Headers and Footers
- add a 'cell' markup so we can style the cell of nested content. For example if we want a cell with padding and then a full bordered table.
- Add CLI Main class
- Font (all in one directive) - don't like the complexity and as of now, does not seem to add much benefit
- page numbering options
- Document Level Headers and Footers
- allow height on all elements (table, row, paragraph)
- fix underline
- allow paragraphs at the page level
- images at teh top level
- specify page type (A4, letter, etc)
- colspan
- rowspan
- image loading by generic protocol (https, file, classpath)
- image width and height
- margin properties
- font style - how do you apply multiple
- bold, italic, etc
- Border properties
- TOC
- allow 'dash based' attribute names
- add template engine support (freemarker, handlebars, etc)
- image cell
- Add RGB colors
- Set default values
- font style - if a table is bold, and a cell is italics - should it combine or change?