Re: Looping in PDF::Table module

[rnewsham]

As you have provided incomplete code with no example data and no error messages, it is difficult to say where your problem is.

The documentation for PDF::Table indicates that your data should be in an array.

It can be used to display text data in a table layout within the PDF. The text data must be in a 2d array (such as returned by a DBI statement handle fetchall_arrayref() call).

Perhaps if you loop over your data to construct your array then pass that to generate the table in the pdf, it will do what you want.

Here is a rough example of how your code could be modified, as the code is incomplete this is untested.

my @tabledata;
foreach my $ship_prod (@SHIP_PRODS){
    my($_t_id,$p_id,$stat_id,$qty) = split(/$SEP_CHAR/,$ship_prod);
    $rows = ["", "$ALL_PRODS{$p_id}",""];
    if(exists($ALL_MAN{$p_id}) && length($ALL_MAN{$p_id}) > 0){
        $rows =     ["", "$ALL_MAN{$p_id}",""];
    }
    push @tabledata, $rows;
}

# build the table layout
$pdftable->table(
    # required params
    $pdf,
    $page, 
    \@tabledata,
    x       => 5,
    start_y => 470,
    next_y  => 450,
    start_h => 200,
    next_h  => 250,    
    # some optional params
    w => 600, 
    padding => 5,
    padding_right => 10,
    font_size => 8,
)

A few brief pointers on your code:

• use strict and warnings, I am guessing you are not using these, based on the fact that you do not declare $rows with my in the snippet provided.
• Indent Indent Indent, whatever scheme for indenting you wish to use is fine as long as it is consistent, this will make your code far easier for you and everyone else to read
• Variable names, everyone has their own opinion on good variable names however I don't think many people would like $_t_id. Abbreviations can save some time typing but if it hinders readability and understanding you have to ask is it worth it. In your example code $p_id I can guess to be product_id but $stat_id and $_t_id are not obvious, nor is ALL_MAN

A tip for submitting questions to PerlMonks, break your problem down into a small but complete example that can be executed to see the exact error.

[divinafaudan]

Hi, Thanks a lot for your advises, i do learn from it. I only got one problem now, how to make a dynamic pdf file. I mean the table height and the start position where the next table will be written by the program because in pdf::table module, i need to specify the x and y coordinates on where should the program start to write the table in pdf.

[Eliya]

The table() method returns 3 values:

1. PDF::API2::Page object instance that the table ends on
2. count of pages that the table spans
3. y position of the table bottom

With that info (in particular 1 and 3) you can compute where to place the next table.  Sample code:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use PDF::API2;
use PDF::Table;

my $pdftable = new PDF::Table;
my $pdf = new PDF::API2(-file => "test.pdf");
my $page = $pdf->page;

# some sample data (3 tables)
my @data;
for my $t (1..3) {
    my $table = [];
    for my $r (1..50) {
        push @$table, [ map "Table $t : $_$r", 'A'..'E' ];
    }
    push @data, $table;
}

my $page_height = 700;
my $top_y = 750;
my $y = $top_y;

for my $table (@data) {
    my ($p_last, undef, $y_bot) = $pdftable->table(
        $pdf,
        $page,
        $table,
        x       => 50,
        w       => 500,
        start_y => $y,
        next_y  => $top_y,
        start_h => $page_height - ($top_y-$y),
        next_h  => $page_height,
        # some optional params
        padding => 5,
        padding_right => 10,
        background_color_odd  => "#eee",
        background_color_even => "#ddd",
    );

    $page = $p_last;

    $y = $y_bot - 30;  # vertical distance between tables
    if ($y < 50) {     # page wrap
        $page = $pdf->page;
        $y = $top_y;
    }
}

$pdf->saveas();

[rnewsham]

The properties x, start_y, next_y, start_h, next_h define the coordinates and size of the table. The start_y and start_h set the table position and height on the first page of the pdf. If there is more data than can be displayed on the first page it will continue on further pages with the y coordinates and height defined by next_y and next_h.

Here is an example that I extracted from one of my working programs, I have trimmed it down to remove irrelevant code so it is not a complete working example but should give you an idea.

use PDF::API2;
use PDF::Table;
    
my $pdftable = new PDF::Table;
my $pdf = new PDF::API2(-file => 'reports/report.pdf');
$pdf->mediabox('A4');
my $page = $pdf->page;
    
# define header properties
my $hdr_props =
{
    # This param could be a pdf core font or user specified TTF.
    #  See PDF::API2 FONT METHODS for more information
    font       => $pdf->corefont("Times", -encoding => "utf8"),
    font_size  => 10, 
    font_color => '#555555',
    bg_color   => 'grey',
    repeat   => 1,  # 1/0 eq On/Off  if the header row should be repea
+ted to every new page
};  
    
# build the table layout
$pdftable->table(
     # required params
     $pdf,
     $page,
     \@pdf_report_data, # report data in an array of hashes
     x => 50, 
     w => 495,
     start_y => 755,    # sets the y position of the table on the firs
+t page
     next_y  => 775,    # sets the y position of tables on subsequent 
+pages
     start_h => 730,    # sets the height of the table on the first pa
+ge
     next_h  => 750,    # sets the height of the table on subsequent p
+ages
     # some optional params
     padding => 5,
     padding_right => 10, 
     background_color_odd  => "white",      # cell background colour f
+or odd rows
     background_color_even => "lightgrey",  # cell background colour f
+or even rows
     header_props => $hdr_props,    # loads the header properties as d
+efined above
  );  
    
# do other stuff with $pdf

# save pdf
$pdf->saveas();

[divinafaudan]

Thank you for your reply rnewsham, i get your point. Sorry for my last post, i wasn't able to fully explain it. My problems occur because i created more than 1 table and i make sure that the second and so on tables looks attached to the end of the first table/table before the next table. I did this because i can't merge columns and rows using pdf::table module. Is it possible to merge columns and rows using pdf::table? if there is a way to do it, it will save me a lot from all the troubles i am facing right now.