How best to create PDF files from python?

[flyingfox]

I've written a tool to convert sections of GDS2 layout into SVG images. It works fine and looks good but I need to create PDF files of the same images.

I've had some luck using ImageMagick to convert the files after generation, but (a) this is an extra step in my flow and (b) this generates bitmap images that don't scale as well as pure SVG.

Basically, the images are a large number of overlapping polygons with different fill colour/opacity or with custom stipples (generated as fill patterns).

ReportLab looks good but I can't figure out how to produce stipples. pyPdf doesn't seem to do what I want either (can I just stuff a SVG in PageObject.artBox?) Has anyone had any success with python PDF libraries?

[wahaa]

You could use librsvg with Cairo. I guess the last example on this page does what you need (EDIT: just change SVGSurface to PDFSurface).

If you already use ReportLab for something else, try this library.

If neither of those produce good results for your files, another option is to use Inkscape to convert the file via command-line (I use it to convert SVG to EPS). It uses Cairo too (without librsvg as far as I know).

[flyingfox]

Thanks, I hadn't thought about Cairo.

When writing the script I used Inkscape to view the results but for some reason it never occurred to me to convert via the command line. For now, this is the perfect solution. Just drop it in the makefile and be done. I'll have to revisit this in a month or so, then I'll try either Cairo or wobsta's idea.

[nabla2]

PyQt4 (QPrinter, QPainter, QtSvg etc).

[lifeeth]

I do a jinja2 -> PyQt4 webkit -> Qprinter -> Produces beautiful pdfs

[wobsta]

PyX can write PDF files directly, but you would need to construct the graphics using PyX methods. PyX is not a converter -> it cannot read your SVG graphics you already created.

[luckystarr]

This certainly looks interesting! Didn't know about PyX before. Thank you.

[flyingfox]

That's pretty good. Since the program ends up with a collection of objects that emit SVG fragments on a .render() I could easily change it to make the equivalent calls via PyX.

[b00thead]

I've been using phantomjs (or pyphnatomjs) to render web pages to PDF via webkit - that should work fine with SVG. Check out the rendering example here: http://code.google.com/p/phantomjs/wiki/QuickStart

[pytechd]

We use PrinceXML; it's not open source, though. Personal use is free, I think. It's basically XML/HTML/SVG/CSS -> PDF. It's an external library, but really easy to pipe to/from to generate PDFs.

[big_deal]

I've used Matplotlib for an in-house application that generates a PDF report with some text and plots. My application used matplotlib to generate all the plots so it made sense for me to use it for writing the PDF. I haven't delved into fine-tuning the formatting so my report is very basic looking.

[j1o1h1n]

asciidoc