Hi, If you have that kind of request and don't think about getting sick if looking at java :)) (after looking at pdf4smalltalk), there can be an interesting different possibility . You write reporting logic in st and write on some db table the data , then you can use jasper report for printing. There is a designer for it and you can do a small java web server for printing the generated report. If you think this can be interesting, I can eventually send you the java server and some Smalltalk code to call it. Jasper is really powerful. Look at the doc. It's open source but you can only learn the design tool, because running the report is not a big java work. I could not use pdf4smalltalk on the application i'm working on because it miss at the moment the possibility to Include colored images. I wanted to use it but no time to help people to adding that functionality. Ciao
Giorgio Ferraris Sent from my iPhone On Apr 24, 2012, at 6:38 PM, Cameron Sanders <[email protected]> wrote: > Igor, & others, > > Thanks for the info/links/leads. > > To be honest, I would rather just use a toolkit than create one. That is not > accurate, more accurately: I would rather create the toolkit than use it ... > if I had the time. Unfortunately for me, I do not have the time. So, if there > is only a possibility that I can generate PDFs that meet my standards with > pango/athens/cairo, then I should probably redirect my efforts. > > Previously I used ReportLab in Python to generate my reports. See the > following sample that was generated by code crafted back around 2002/2003: > http://ac.functional-analyst.com/fa-reports.php?table=2003-02-28/fa_reports&s=BDOG. > ReportLab allowed for simple mark-ups in the text (e.g. <b> ... </b>) and > for that version of report, I wrote code that allowed me to use XMLs to > define my document components & flow ordering/control. I guess ReportLab's > new PLUS version uses XML to give one full control of the document layout. > > Of course, I want something more attractive than that sample, in this day and > age. Color, floating text & image boxes. The reports must meet the standards > of today. Perhaps something more like > http://debrispublishing.com/images/stories/Reports/2011/06-2011/ECA_2011-06-15_REPORT.pdf. > But going further than that, in terms of charts, color usage, footnoting the > tables, etc. See Standard & Poor's stock reports -- at that quality. The > ideal toolkit would have some nice chart making abilities so that we don't > have to invest 2 man months in creating a chart-making suite. > > These reports will be generated weekly for about 9000 companies/funds. The > process must be automated. > > Ideally the report generation would be integrated with my data processing > engine, which is in Pharo. Perhaps I will check out PDF4smalltalk. Once I can > get my software talking to my DB (soon i hope), I can push my data into the > DB and use Python or any other toolset for report generation... *if* I cannot > do it in smalltalk. > > Any leads that anyone can offer are greatly appreciated! > > (and of course you need to use Cog VM with NativeBoost and Cairo > library installed on your OS). > > I will have to poke around and learn what NativeBoost is... and which VMs > were built with it. > > The pango stuff is mostly done by Fernando, so i think he can tell you more. > Anyways, if you don't fear to make your hands a bit dirty, we can make > it, for sure. > > How dirty? > > Thanks again for all of the responses. > > -Cam
