# NAME CtrlO::PDF - high level PDF creator # SYNOPSIS use CtrlO::PDF; use Text::Lorem; my $pdf = CtrlO::PDF->new( logo => "sample/logo.png", # optional logo_scaling => 0.5, # Default width => 595, # Default (A4, portrait mode) height => 842, # Default (A4, portrait mode) orientation => "portrait", # Default margin => 40, # Default, all 4 sides top_padding => 0, # Default header => "My PDF document header", # optional footer => "My PDF document footer", # optional ); # width, height page dimensions in points (default A4 paper) # orientation defaults to portrait (taller than wide) # margin in points on all four sides # top padding below header in points # header, footer text line to place at top or bottom # PDFlib actually checked only for '[aA]' or '[bB]', permitting a wide # range of formats to specify the PDF support library # Add a page $pdf->add_page; # Add headings $pdf->heading('This is the main heading'); $pdf->heading('This is a sub-heading', size => 12); # Add paragraph text my $lorem = Text::Lorem->new(); my $paras = $lorem->paragraphs(30); $pdf->text($paras); # Add a table my $data =[ ['Fruit', 'Quantity'], # Table header ['Apples', 120], ['Pears', 90], ['Oranges', 30], ]; my $hdr_props = { repeat => 1, justify => 'center', font_size => 8, }; $pdf->table( data => $data, header_props => $hdr_props, ); my $file = $pdf->content; # output the file open my $pdf_out, '>', 'out.pdf'; binmode $pdf_out; print $pdf_out $file; close $pdf_out; # From version 0.34 (and PDF::Builder 3.028) it is possible to produce # internal links in PDFs. For example: $pdf->text(<<'__MARKDOWN', format => 'md1'); Go to an [internal link](link-elsewhere) somewhere else in this PDF. --- # System2 Configuration - Overview {#link-elsewhere} __MARKDOWN # DESCRIPTION This module tries to make it easy to create PDFs by providing a high level interface to a number of existing PDF modules. It aims to "do the right thing" by default, allowing minimal coding to create long PDFs. It includes pagination, headings, paragraph text, images and tables. Although there are a number of other modules to create PDFs with a high-level interface, I found that these each lack certain features (e.g. image insertion, paragraph text). This module tries to include each of those features through another existing module. Also, as it is built on PDF::Builder, it provides access to that object, so content can also be added directly using that, thereby providing any powerful features required. **Updates in v0.20** Note that version 0.20 contains a number breaking changes to improve the default layout and spacing of a page. This better ensures that content added to a page "just works" in terms of its layout, without needing tweaks to its spacing. For example, headers have better spacing above and below by default. This means that PDFs produced with this version will be laid out differently to those produced with earlier versions. In the main, old code should be able to be updated by simply removing any manual spacing fudges (e.g. manual spacing for headers). **Updates in v0.30** Version 0.30 has some fairly major changes, dropping support of PDF::API2 and requiring use of PDF::Builder version 3.025. The latter contains many updates and powerful new features to create feature-rich PDF documents and means that PDF::TextBlock is no longer required for this module, which uses PDF::Builder's new column() method instead. # CONSTRUCTOR ## new The constructor is called `new`, and accepts a optional hash of options. Valid options are mainly the same as all the methods described below, for those that get and set options. Some methods are read-only and must be set as options to the constructor, others can be set later. # METHODS ## pdf Returns the `PDF::Builder` object used to create the PDF. ## page Returns the current PDF page. ## add\_page Adds a PDF page and returns it. Note that when a PDF page is added (either via this method or automatically) the is\_new\_page flag records that a new page is in use with no content. See that method for more details. ## is\_new\_page Whether the current page is new with no content. When the heading or text methods are called and this is true, additional top margin is added to account for the height of the text being added. Any other content manually added will not include this margin and will leave the internal new page flag as true. ## clear\_new\_page Manually clears the is\_new\_page flag. ## orientation Sets or returns the page orientation (portrait or landscape). The default is Portrait (taller than wide). ## PDFlib Sets or returns the PDF-building library in use. The choices are "PDF::Builder" and "PDF::API2" (case-insensitive). "PDF::Builder" is the default, indicating that PDF::Builder will be used _unless_ it is not found, in which case PDF::API2 will be used. If neither is found, CtrlO::PDF will fail. ## font\_size Sets or returns the font size. Default is 10 (points). ## width Sets or returns the width. Default is A4. ## height Sets or returns the height. Default is A4. ## margin Sets or returns the page margin. Default 40 pixels. ## margin\_top Sets or returns the top margin. Defaults to the margin + top\_padding + room for the header (if defined) + room for the logo (if defined). ## margin\_bottom Sets or returns the bottom margin. Defaults to the margin + room for the footer. ## top\_padding Sets or returns the top padding (additional to the margin). Default 0. ## header Sets or returns the header text. ## footer Sets or returns the footer text. Page numbers are added automatically. ## font Sets or returns the font. This is based on PDF::Builder or PDF::API2 ttfont, which returns a TrueType or OpenType font object. By default it assumes the font is available in the exact path `truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf`. A future version may make this more flexible. ## fontbold As font, but a bold font. ## logo The path to a logo to include in the top-right corner of every page (optional). ## logo\_scaling The scaling of the logo. For best results a setting of 0.5 is recommended (the default). ## logo\_padding The padding below the logo before the text. Defaults to 10 pixels. ## y\_position Returns the current y position on the page. This value updates as the page is written to, and is the location that content will be positioned at the next write. Note that the value is measured from the bottom of the page. ## set\_y\_position($pixels) Sets the current Y position. See ["y\_position"](#y_position). ## move\_y\_position($pixels) Moves the current Y position, relative to its current value. Positive values will move the cursor up the page, negative values down. See ["y\_position"](#y_position). ## heading($text, %options) Add a heading. If called on a new page, will automatically move the cursor down to account for the heading's height (based on the assumption that one pixel equals one point). Options available are: - size _n_ `n` is the font size in points, **default 16** - indent _n_ `n` is the amount (in points) to indent the text, **default 0** - topmargin _n_ `n` is the amount (in points) of vertical skip for the margin _above_ the heading, **default:** calculated automatically based on font size - bottommargin _n_ `n` is the amount (in points) of vertical skip for the margin _below_ the heading, **default:** calculated automatically based on the font size ## text($text, %options) Add paragraph text. This will automatically paginate. Available options are shown below. Any unrecogised options will be passed to `PDF::Builder`'s Column method. - format _name_ `name` is the format of the text, in accordance with available formats in `PDF::Builder`. At the time of writing, supported options are `none`, `pre`, `md1` and `html`. If unspecified defaults to `none`. - size _n_ `n` is the font size in points, **default 10** - indent _n_ `n` is the amount (in points) to indent the paragraph first line, **default 0** - top\_padding _n_ `n` is the amount (in points) of padding above the paragraph, only applied if not at the top of a page. Defaults to half the line height. - color _name_ `name` is the string giving the text color, **default 'black'** ## table(%options) Add a table, based on PDF::Table. Options available are `data` to pass in the data for the table; all other options are passed to the table method of PDF::Table. ## image($file, %options) Add an image. Options available are: - scaling _n_ `n` is the scaling factor for the image, **default 0.5** (50%) - alignment _name_ `name` is the horizontal alignment, **default center** ## has\_state A boolean dictating whether the version of PDF::Builder in use supports state functionality, to retain information across multiple pages. ## state A hashref to configure and store the PDF::Builder state information. By default this is built automatically using `PDF::Builder->init_state()` and includes configuration for the use of id parameters in header tags (enabling internal linking). See the [PDF::Builder](https://metacpan.org/pod/PDF%3A%3ABuilder%3A%3AContent%3A%3AColumn_docs#init_state) documentation for more information. ## content Return the PDF content. # LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT Copyright 2018-2026 Ctrl O Ltd This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either: the GNU General Public License (GPL) as published by the Free Software Foundation; or the Perl Artistic License (PAL). See http://dev.perl.org/licenses/ for more information.