pdf_gen is a high-level wrapper around PDF::Writer library which allows to create PDF documents in an easy way with a layout similar to HTML.

gem install pdf_gen

All package entities are located within the PDFGen module. PDF file generation can be made in the following way:

require "pdf_gen"

PDFGen::document PDF::Writer.new, 0.cm do
  # pdf generation code here
end.save("#{File.basename(__FILE__, ".rb")}.pdf")

An object which allows to represent some parts of the text in PDF file. This object has such properties as width, justification, pad_top (indent from the left side of the page), pad_bottom, pad_left, pad_right, text_color, font_size and border. The Border, in its turn, can be characterized by border_color, border_style (solid or dotted) and border_width (in cm or pixels). Support Properties:

pad_top - integer
pad_bottom - integer
pad_left - integer
pad_right - integer
paddings - integer
border - true|false
border_top - true|false
border_bottom - true|false
border_left - true|false
border_right - true|false
border_style - :solid | :dotted
border_widht - integer
border_color - object of color-tools*. Color::RGB::Red|Color::RGB.from_html("#ccc")| other
background_color - object of color-tools*. Color::RGB::Red|Color::RGB.from_html("#ccc")| other
width - integer
height - integer

*color-tools http://ruby-pdf.rubyforge.org/color-tools/

An object which allows to add images with filename extensions *.jpg and *.png in PDF file. This object has such properties as width, pad_top, pad_bottom, pad_left, pad_right and border.

require "pdf_gen"

PDFGen::document PDF::Writer.new, 2.cm do
  image_data = open(File.expand_path('ruby_logo.jpg'), "rb") { |file| file.read }
  image image_data, :width => 250
end.save("#{File.basename(__FILE__, ".rb")}.pdf")

Support Properties:

*the same as caption`s properties

An object which allows setting several objects across the page. This object has such properties as width, pad_top, pad_bottom, pad_left, pad_right, border and background_color.

PDFGen::document PDF::Writer.new, 2.cm do
  span :width => 10.cm, :pad_left => 2.cm do
    caption ' first '*50, :width => 4.cm
    caption ' second '*50, :width => 4.cm
    elements :border => true    #group set params
  end
end.save("#{File.basename(__FILE__, ".rb")}.pdf")

Support Properties:

*the same as caption`s properties
vertical_interval - integer
vartical_align - true | false

An object which allows setting several elements in the vertical format. This object has such properties as width, horizontal_interval, pad_top, pad_bottom, pad_left, pad_right, border and background_color. Div element can be divided across pages automatically.

PDFGen::document PDF::Writer.new, 2.cm do
  div :width => 10.cm do
    caption ' first '*50, :width => 4.cm
    caption ' second '*50, :width => 4.cm
    elements :border => true    #group set params
  end
end.save("#{File.basename(__FILE__, ".rb")}.pdf")

Support Properties:

*the same as caption`s properties
horizontal_interval - integer
horizontal_align - true | false

An object which allows creating tables in PDF file. This object has such elements as title, header, body and footer. The columns can be made be adding “spans” inside the body of the table. The table can have borders from specific sides, for example: “:border_right => true” or “:border_right => false”.

require "pdf_gen"

PDFGen::document PDF::Writer.new, 0.cm do
  table do
    title do
       caption "Transactions and Triggers",
     :text_color => Color::RGB::Red, :border => true, :justification => :center, :pad_bottom => 0.25.cm
    end
    header do
      span do
        caption "Number",
                :width => av_width / 2, :justification => :center, :border => true
        caption "Discription",
                :width => av_width / 2, :justification => :center, :border => true
      end
    end
    body do
      span do
        caption "  Trigger ", :width => av_width / 2,
                :border_right => true, :border_left => true, :text_color => Color::RGB::Grey
        caption " - is a ... ", :width => av_width / 2,
                :border_right => true, :border_left => true, :text_color => Color::RGB::Grey
      end
    end
    footer do
      span do
        caption "1", :width => av_width / 2, :justification => :center, :border => true
        caption "2", :width => av_width / 2, :justification => :center, :border => true
      end
    end
  end
end.save("#{File.basename(__FILE__, ".rb")}.pdf")

An object which allows creating tables from Hash and ActiveRecord. If necessary, you can define the blocks of the title and footer independently. For example:

table_data = {:columns =>['id','name','email'],
              :body => [[1,'Valeriy','valeriy@example.com'],
                        [2,'Dmitriy','dmitriy@example.com']]}
PDFGen::document PDF::Writer.new, 0.cm do
  div :paddings => 2 do
    table :data_source => table_data
  end
end.save("#{File.basename(__FILE__, ".rb")}.pdf")

Building a table from ActiveRecord (ROR)

table_data = User.all
PDFGen::document PDF::Writer.new, 0.cm do
  div :paddings => 2 do
    table :data_source => table_data
  end
end.save("#{File.basename(__FILE__, ".rb")}.pdf")

Custom view

table_data = {:columns =>['id','name','email'],
              :body => [[1,'Valeriy','valeriy@example.com'],
                        [2,'Dmitriy','dmitriy@example.com']]}
PDFGen::document PDF::Writer.new, 0.cm do
  div :paddings => 2 do
    table :data_source => table_data do
       header do
         row do
           cell "<b>#{ds.columns[0]}</b>", :justification => :center, :text_color => Color::RGB::Green
           cell ds.columns[1], :justification => :center, :text_color => Color::RGB::Green
           cell ds.columns[2], :justification => :center, :text_color => Color::RGB::Green           
         end
       end
       body do
         ds.each do |datarow|
           row do
             cell datarow[0]
             cell "<i>#{datarow[1]}</i>"
             cell datarow[2]
           end
         end
       end
    end
  end
end.save("#{File.basename(__FILE__, ".rb")}.pdf")

We can set the width of each column

row do
  cell data[0], :width => av_width * 2/4
  cell data[1], :width => av_width * 1/4
  cell data[2], :width => av_width * 1/4
end

Method cell supports blocks, for example:

body do
  ds.each do |datarow|
    row do
      cell datarow[1], :width => av_width / 2
      cell datarow[2], :width => av_width / 4
      cell :div, :width => av_width / 4, :paddings => 0.2.cm do
            image(open(File.expand_path("example_image.png"), "rb") { |file| file.read }, :width => av_width / 2)
      end
    end
  end
end

In this case the first arguments can be “:div”, “:span”, “:table” and others

• Sphere Consulting Inc Development Team.

Copyright © 2010 Sphere Consulting Inc., released under the MIT license (see LICENSE).