{"id":75743,"date":"2020-01-20T11:56:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T06:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vskills.in\/certification\/tutorial\/?p=75743"},"modified":"2024-04-12T14:17:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T08:47:16","slug":"generating-pdfs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vskills.in\/certification\/tutorial\/generating-pdfs\/","title":{"rendered":"Generating PDFs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Django is able to output PDF files dynamically using views. This is made possible by the excellent, open-source ReportLab Python PDF library. The advantage of generating PDF files dynamically is that you can create customized PDFs for different purposes \u2013 say, for different users or different pieces of content.<\/p>\n

Install Reportlab<\/h3>\n

The ReportLab library is available on PyPI. A user guide (not coincidentally, a PDF file) is also available for download. You can install ReportLab with pip:
\n$ pip install reportlab<\/p>\n

Test your installation by importing it in the Python interactive interpreter:
\n>>> import reportlab<\/p>\n

If that command doesn\u2019t raise any errors, the installation worked.<\/p>\n

Write Your View<\/h3>\n

The key to generating PDFs dynamically with Django is that the ReportLab API, like the csv library acts on file-like objects, like Django\u2019s HttpResponse. Here\u2019s a Hello World example:<\/p>\n

from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
\nfrom django.http import HttpResponse<\/p>\n

def some_view(request):
\n# Create the HttpResponse object with the appropriate PDF headers.
\nresponse = HttpResponse(content_type=’application\/pdf’)
\nresponse[‘Content-Disposition’] = ‘attachment;
\nfilename=”somefilename.pdf”‘<\/p>\n

# Create the PDF object, using the response object as its “file.”
\np = canvas.Canvas(response)<\/p>\n

# Draw things on the PDF. Here’s where the PDF generation happens.
\n# See the ReportLab documentation for the full list of functionality.
\np.drawString(100, 100, “Hello world.”)<\/p>\n

# Close the PDF object cleanly, and we’re done.
\np.showPage()
\np.save()
\nreturn response<\/p>\n

The code and comments should be self-explanatory, but a few things deserve a mention:<\/p>\n