At 11:27 pm -0800 24/03/01, Graeme Kennedy wrote:
>At 9:12 PM -0600 3/23/01, Steve Swantz was kind enough to write:
>
>]After a lot of clicking, I did find the PDF Reference on Adobe's site. I
>]started learning Perl several years ago to modify a cgi, mission creep set
>]in, and I now I've learned more than I ever wanted to about a lot of stuff.
>]Getting another brainache learning pdf is not what I was hoping for.
>
>I have a related question:
>
>Are there PDF-related modules for Perl?
>
>ie: can I create PDFs on-the-fly from a database?
>
>I have been using the Sanface code with satisfaction, but I was
>hoping there was open source material out there that I can adapt
>more specifically for my needs without licencing entanglements. I've
>been working on a module for over a year using Adobe's PDF specs,
>but find LZW a little over my head.
There is Pod::Pdf on CPAN or http://www.afco.demon.co.uk which is
Perl translating 'pod' into 'PDF'. The script is in two parts which
are reasonably clearly separated; the first part dealing with
translating the 'pod' mark-up and the second part with writing the
PDF output.
In principle I see no reason why you couldn't write PDF "on the fly"
from any text source. You don't *have* to LZW or ZIP encode: you will
see Pod::Pdf makes no attempt to do so. It is just a space-saving
option. Acrobat 'Reader' will accept text un-encoded or encoded in a
variety of ways. I guess most other readers do likewise.
HTH,
Alan Fry
