write_pdf.py

The Python file of the “A minimal PDF” example. Two identical pages carrying the bones of an invoice in plain shapes, and not a word of text: a file of a dozen kilobytes, with no font embedded.

Python 73 lines

What this example is for

Open this one first. Two pages, identical, each carrying the bones of an invoice — a coloured band across the top, a frame around everything, and two dozen empty rectangles where the lines of a table would go — and not a word of text anywhere on either. That is the whole of what a document needs in order to exist: pages, and marks on them. There are two rather than one because putting the second in costs a single instruction, and that is worth seeing at the outset. Everything else shown on this site is built on top of this, never instead of it.

What this example shows

Download the file The same example in Rust The same example in JSON See what it creates 
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"""Writes a small PDF to disk, so that real reading software can be pointed at it.

The Python twin of the `write_pdf` example in Rust: the same document, through
the binding rather than through the library directly.

Unit tests can only check that the bytes look right to us. Whether the file is
actually a PDF is a question only reading software can answer, which is what
`scripts/check_pdf_validity.sh` uses this for.

No licence is set unless `--licensed` is passed, so what this writes is an
evaluation copy, watermarked on every page.

Usage: python examples/write_pdf.py [out.pdf] [--licensed]
"""

from __future__ import annotations

import sys

import _licence
import _out

import hqf_pdf


def invoice_page() -> hqf_pdf.Page:
    """A page of an invoice: a header block, a frame, and a run of table rules."""
    content = hqf_pdf.Content()
    content.save_state()

    content.set_fill(hqf_pdf.Rgb(0.20, 0.40, 0.80))
    content.rect(50.0, 700.0, 495.0, 90.0)
    content.fill()

    content.set_stroke(hqf_pdf.Rgb(0.0, 0.0, 0.0))
    content.set_line_width(1.0)
    content.rect(50.0, 50.0, 495.0, 742.0)
    content.stroke()

    content.set_line_width(0.4)
    for row in range(24):
        content.rect(50.0, 640.0 - row * 22.0, 495.0, 22.0)
        content.stroke()
    content.restore_state()

    page = hqf_pdf.Page.a4()
    page.set_content(content)
    return page


def main() -> None:
    licensed = "--licensed" in sys.argv
    sys.argv = [arg for arg in sys.argv if arg != "--licensed"]
    out = _out.output_path("out")

    document = hqf_pdf.Document()
    if licensed:
        document.set_license(_licence.licensed())
    document.set_info("Title", "hqf-pdf sample invoice")
    document.set_info("Creator", "hqf-pdf")

    document.add_page(invoice_page())
    document.add_page(invoice_page())

    written = document.write(out)
    print(
        f"wrote {out}: {written} bytes, {document.page_count} pages, "
        f"{'licensed' if licensed else 'evaluation'}"
    )


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()