Re: PDF Generation Utilities

  • From: Don Marang <donald.marang@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:27:10 -0400

Really! I use pandoc quite a bit. The version in the Ubuntu repository, pandoc 1.6, does not include PDF output. I wish it did. Here is an excerpt of the man page. Perhaps it is out of date? Is there a newer version?


From pandoc manpage:
       Pandoc  converts  files  from  one markup format to another.  It can
       read markdown and (subsets of) reStructuredText,  HTML,  and  LaTeX,
       and  it  can  write  plain  text,  markdown, reStructuredText, HTML,
       LaTeX, ConTeXt, Texinfo, groff man, MediaWiki markup, RTF, OpenDocu-
       ment XML, ODT, DocBook XML, EPUB, and Slidy or S5 HTML slide shows.



*Don Marang*
Vinux Software Development Coordinator - vinuxproject.org <http://www.vinuxproject.org/> There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter.
-- Dean Kamen

On 8/15/2011 10:58 AM, Jamal Mazrui wrote:
The free Pandoc utility can convert from HTML or Markdown to PDF.

http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/

Jamal

On 8/15/2011 8:05 AM, Homme, James wrote:
Hi Don,

Thanks for this info. This sounds and looks like a great utility to work
with PDF. The thing I want to do is work with HTML files, and convert
them to PDF.

Thanks.

Jim

*From:*programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Don Marang
*Sent:* Monday, August 01, 2011 10:50 PM
*To:* programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* Re: PDF Generation Utilities

I am not sure how you plan to send the request to the Linux server or
how to specify more than one web page. What language are you planning to
make this request? Is it for a specific site or a general utility?

In the Ubuntu repository, there is a command line utility to manipulate
and build pdf files. The command and package name are pdftk.

To install, type:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pdftk

Reading the man page will give you some information:

man pdftk

I imagine you could transfer the file from the web site to the server at
the beginning of the script using wget, strip out the unwanted links at
the as desired (or convert them to bookmarks), and build the pdf file. I
do not know whether it would be easier to send the file back to the
browser computer or just notify when processing is complete. Then it can
present a Save As dialog and download the file from the server.

There are probably many approaches to this problem, this is how I would
approach it.

*Don Marang*
Vinux Software Development Coordinator - vinuxproject.org
<http://www.vinuxproject.org/>
There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any
real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I
am working on things that matter.
-- Dean Kamen


On 7/29/2011 9:53 AM, Homme, James wrote:

Hi,

Here is what I'd like to do.

Send an accessible HTML file to a server that has a utility running on
it that would then spit back a PDF document that I can print. The
utility may need to be fed a collection of HTML documents that it would
assemble into a single file to print. I would settle for code libraries
that can work with this stuff. I believe that the server environment
would be your normal Linux/Apache type server, but I need to make sure
of that.

Here is the process flow.

The customer would click a hyperlink in the current HTML file they are
reading.

The utility would do some stuff to make the file look nicer, such as
strip navigational elements to other pages, and whatever else is
necessary to make it look nicer to print.

The HTML file, I suppose, would need to communicate to the utility that
it is a part of a collection of files that the utility needs to get.

The customer would then be directed to that dialog that asks if they
want to download or save the document.

None of this, or as little as possible, must run on the client computer.

Thanks.

Jim

Jim Homme,

Usability Services,

Phone: 412-544-1810.

This e-mail and any attachments to it are confidential and are intended
solely for use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender
immediately and then delete it. If you are not the intended recipient,
you must not keep, use, disclose, copy or distribute this e-mail without
the author's prior permission. The views expressed in this e-mail
message do not necessarily represent the views of Highmark Inc., its
subsidiaries, or affiliates.

__________
View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind

Other related posts: