Command line PDF creation tools

Justin C · External Since: Jun 01, 2007 Posts: 10

I need to automate the creation of PDF documents. I have a letterhead in
PDF format, I'd like to create a new PDF with text generated elsewhere.
I've looked at Perl modules for PDF but there are a large number of them
and I can't find any that looks appropriate.

The letterhead doesn't necessarily have to PDF, I can feed the relevant
details as a graphic to a program that creates a PDF.

Any suggestions of tools I might be able to use?

Justin.

--
Justin Catterall www.masonsmusic.co.uk
Director T: +44 (0)1424 427562
Masons Music Ltd F: +44 (0)1424 434362
For full company details see our web site

Ben Bacarisse · External Since: Jun 10, 2005 Posts: 90

Justin C writes:

> I need to automate the creation of PDF documents. I have a letterhead in
> PDF format, I'd like to create a new PDF with text generated elsewhere.
> I've looked at Perl modules for PDF but there are a large number of them
> and I can't find any that looks appropriate.
>
> The letterhead doesn't necessarily have to PDF, I can feed the relevant
> details as a graphic to a program that creates a PDF.
>
> Any suggestions of tools I might be able to use?

I would use TeX or, indeed, any text processor like groff. The big
plus is the document is plain text and can be edited by scripts. The
PDF can then be made with an other (one-line) script.

Another option is to use Postscript directly. It is, after all, a
programming language with a readable and editable source format. Th
big down side of that is that you don't get much help with the layout!

--
Ben.

Andy Baxter · External Since: Jun 29, 2007 Posts: 16

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:39:16 +0000, Justin C wrote:

> I need to automate the creation of PDF documents. I have a letterhead in
> PDF format, I'd like to create a new PDF with text generated elsewhere.
> I've looked at Perl modules for PDF but there are a large number of them
> and I can't find any that looks appropriate.
>
> The letterhead doesn't necessarily have to PDF, I can feed the relevant
> details as a graphic to a program that creates a PDF.
>
> Any suggestions of tools I might be able to use?
>
> Justin.
>

You could have a look at lyx - it's a wysiwyg-ish editor for TeX documents
which will export to both pdf and html. If you find that the fonts don't
look so good, don't panic - the best fonts aren't a dependency of lyx so
need to be installed seperately. I can't remember the package name for
them but it shouldn't be hard to find. If you have any problems, post
back, as there are a few workarounds you may need to know.

--
remove 'n-u-l-l' to email me.

Unruh · External Since: May 27, 2005 Posts: 2213

Justin C writes:

>I need to automate the creation of PDF documents. I have a letterhead in
>PDF format, I'd like to create a new PDF with text generated elsewhere.
>I've looked at Perl modules for PDF but there are a large number of them
>and I can't find any that looks appropriate.

>The letterhead doesn't necessarily have to PDF, I can feed the relevant
>details as a graphic to a program that creates a PDF.

Make the letterhead a ps graphics file and use tex.

>Any suggestions of tools I might be able to use?

> Justin.

>--
>Justin Catterall www.masonsmusic.co.uk
>Director T: +44 (0)1424 427562
>Masons Music Ltd F: +44 (0)1424 434362
> For full company details see our web site

Justin C · External Since: Jul 06, 2007 Posts: 7

In article , Justin C wrote:
>
> I need to automate the creation of PDF documents. I have a letterhead in
> PDF format, I'd like to create a new PDF with text generated elsewhere.
> I've looked at Perl modules for PDF but there are a large number of them
> and I can't find any that looks appropriate.
>
> The letterhead doesn't necessarily have to PDF, I can feed the relevant
> details as a graphic to a program that creates a PDF.
>
> Any suggestions of tools I might be able to use?

I apologise for the bad form of following up myself.

Thank you to Ben, Andy, and Bill (it is Bill isn't it, Unruh?) for your
suggestions. I haven't had a chance to try them out.

After posting this morning I carried on banging my head against CPAN,
and eventually found PDF::Reuse. This, along with PDF::Reuse::Examples,
made the task a cakewalk, I even get a scan of a signature at the end of
the letter. It all ended much easier than I thought it ever could.

Thank you again for your assistance, I feel bad that I've posted for
help and then found a solution myself. And that others have gone to the
trouble to reply. It is appreciated, and I am sorry to have wasted your
time.

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Ben Bacarisse · External Since: Jun 10, 2005 Posts: 90

Justin C writes:

> In article , Justin C wrote:
>>
>> I need to automate the creation of PDF documents. I have a letterhead in
>> PDF format, I'd like to create a new PDF with text generated elsewhere.
>> I've looked at Perl modules for PDF but there are a large number of them
>> and I can't find any that looks appropriate.
<snip>
>> Any suggestions of tools I might be able to use?
<snip>
>
> After posting this morning I carried on banging my head against CPAN,
> and eventually found PDF::Reuse. This, along with PDF::Reuse::Examples,
> made the task a cakewalk, I even get a scan of a signature at the end of
> the letter. It all ended much easier than I thought it ever could.
>
> Thank you again for your assistance, I feel bad that I've posted for
> help and then found a solution myself. And that others have gone to the
> trouble to reply. It is appreciated, and I am sorry to have wasted your
> time.

Not a problem. It takes a few seconds to say "I'd use TeX" and by
following up with your preferred solution you may save me some time
one day if I ever have to wade through the PDF modules on CPAN.

--
Ben.

Unruh · External Since: May 27, 2005 Posts: 2213

Justin C writes:

>In article , Justin C wrote:
>>
>> I need to automate the creation of PDF documents. I have a letterhead in
>> PDF format, I'd like to create a new PDF with text generated elsewhere.
>> I've looked at Perl modules for PDF but there are a large number of them
>> and I can't find any that looks appropriate.
>>
>> The letterhead doesn't necessarily have to PDF, I can feed the relevant
>> details as a graphic to a program that creates a PDF.
>>
>> Any suggestions of tools I might be able to use?

>I apologise for the bad form of following up myself.

>Thank you to Ben, Andy, and Bill (it is Bill isn't it, Unruh?) for your
>suggestions. I haven't had a chance to try them out.

>After posting this morning I carried on banging my head against CPAN,
>and eventually found PDF::Reuse. This, along with PDF::Reuse::Examples,
>made the task a cakewalk, I even get a scan of a signature at the end of
>the letter. It all ended much easier than I thought it ever could.

>Thank you again for your assistance, I feel bad that I've posted for
>help and then found a solution myself. And that others have gone to the
>trouble to reply. It is appreciated, and I am sorry to have wasted your
>time.

At least you took the trouble to tell everyone what solution you found, so
that the next person can find the solution. Too many people solve their
problem and never tell us what the solution was. Thanks

> Justin.

>--
>Justin C, by the sea.

Simon Brooke · External Since: Jul 16, 2006 Posts: 62

in message , Justin C
('justin.0706@purestblue.com') wrote:

>
> I need to automate the creation of PDF documents. I have a letterhead in
> PDF format, I'd like to create a new PDF with text generated elsewhere.
> I've looked at Perl modules for PDF but there are a large number of them
> and I can't find any that looks appropriate.
>
> The letterhead doesn't necessarily have to PDF, I can feed the relevant
> details as a graphic to a program that creates a PDF.
>
> Any suggestions of tools I might be able to use?

http://www.princexml.com/

Not open source, but free for non-commercial use and works very well.

--
simon RemoveThis @jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Iraq war: it's time for regime change...
... go now, Tony, while you can still go with dignity.
[update 18 months after this .sig was written: it's still relevant]