hi Mark, look at JasperReports at Sourceforge - maybe it will help
cheers > > hello ryan.. > > > Given that you are programmatically creating the xls, you can > > programmatically create your PDF also. No need to convert > > from xls->PDF, it > > may be easier to just convert to PDF from your original data. > > yes - i agree. i like going straight from the data to PDF. my > only concern > with this approach is: > > 1) at the moment - i have no experience with libs like iText that > allow you > to programmatically produce PDF from raw data. i am not sure how > difficult > it would be to stuff data in to a PDF document using "real world" > requirements (graphs, logo images and so on). > > 2) as our environment stands right now - we have numerous "template" files > (Excel .XLT files) that are developed by our product development people. > once they have the template looking nice - our process (using POI) just > pumps data programmatically in to a datasheet in the workbook. all of the > other sheets on the template then - just refer to the datasheet. although > the end result is not trivial - the process - from a development point of > view is pretty straight forward. > > using the approach above (i think ?) would necessitate the development of > parallel "templates" in PDF format. then we would simply drive data in to > the PDF template... > > > > > > > FOP is for > > XML-> PDF and iText is for programmatically creating PDF files. > > understood - this is also what i gather from reading the info i have found > so far. > > > > > > I don't work on the Excel side of POI so I don't know if > > there is something > > for converting Excel -> XML. If there is, it *might* be > > easier to do FOP. > > agreed! it would be neat if this did exist. > > > > But you would still have to convert this XML into the XML > > namespace that FOP > > understands, believe me this is not trivial. > > understood. also ... how would you move images and logos on the XLS > template in to the XML definition? i guess it could be done with > something > like an HTML href (just thinking outloud). > > > > > I believe iText > > would probably > > fit your needs better. I would just generate the PDF from the > > data you used > > to create the Excel. > > agreed - i just need to gather more info regarding the process of > creating a > "non-trivial" PDF template and then driving information in to the > template. > > does anyone have any comment on this? > > thanks so much for all of the feedback! > mark > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
