Django PDF rendering¶

Django PDF rendering, the easy way but with support for newer versions of Django.

Overview¶

This app makes rendering PDF files in Django really easy. It can be used to create invoices, bills and other documents from simple HTML markup and CSS styles. You can even embed images and use custom fonts.

The library provides both Class-Based View that is almost a drop-in replacement for Django’s TemplateView as well as helper functions to render PDFs in the backend outside the request scope (i.e. using Celery workers).

Quickstart¶

Include dj-easy-pdf, xhtml2pdf in your requirements.txt file. If you are on Python 3 you need to install the latest version of Reportlab and the beta version of xhtml2pdf:
```
$ pip install xhtml2pdf
```
Add easy_pdf to INSTALLED_APPS.

Create HTML template for PDF document and add a view that will render it:

{% extends "easy_pdf/base.html" %}

{% block content %}
    <div id="content">
        <h1>Hi there!</h1>
    </div>
{% endblock %}

from easy_pdf.views import PDFTemplateView

class HelloPDFView(PDFTemplateView):
    template_name = 'hello.html'

You can also use a mixin to output PDF from Django generic views:

class PDFUserDetailView(PDFTemplateResponseMixin, DetailView):
    model = get_user_model()
    template_name = 'user_detail.html'

If you’re using Function Based views then:

from easy_pdf.rendering import render_to_pdf_response

def pdf_output(request):
    context = {}
    return render_to_pdf_response(request, "output.html", context)

Documentation¶

The full documentation is at dj-easy-pdf.readthedocs.io.

Dependencies¶

django-easy-pdf depends on:

django>=3.2

xhtml2pdf

reportlab

License¶

dj-easy-pdf is released under the MIT license.

Other Resources¶

GitHub repository - https://github.com/WilliamOtieno/dj-easy-pdf
PyPi Package site - https://pypi.python.org/pypi/dj-easy-pdf
Docs - https://dj-easy-pdf.readthedocs.io/

Commercial Support¶

This app and many other help us build better software and focus on delivering quality projects faster. We would love to help you with your next project so get in touch by dropping an email at jimmywilliamotieno@gmail.com

Content¶

Installation¶

Add dj-easy-pdf=<version> and git+https://github.com/chrisglass/xhtml2pdf.git to your requirements.txt file or install it directly from the command line by invoking:

$ pip install dj-easy-pdf xhtml2pdf reportlab

Usage¶

Prepare HTML Templates¶

Create a Django HTML template with embedded CSS style. You can use special style attributes to format the PDF output.

For more information on the supported HTML and CSS rules see docs at https://github.com/xhtml2pdf/xhtml2pdf/blob/master/doc/source/usage.rst

You can also use custom embeddable resources like images and fonts. Put them inside Django’s STATIC_ROOT directory and make sure they are available locally on the server even if you are serving your static files from S3 or other CDN.

For now only local resources are supported.

{% extends "easy_pdf/base.html" %}

{% block extra_style %}
    <style type="text/css">
        body {
            font-family: "Helvetica", "sans-serif";
            color: #333333;
        }
    </style>
{% endblock %}

{% block content %}
    <div id="content">
        <div class="main">
            <h1>Hi there!</h1>
        </div>
    </div>
{% endblock %}

Create PDF rendering views¶

This part is easy. The PDF rendering view inherits from TemplateResponseMixin so it works in the same way as Django’s TemplateView. Just point it to a HTML template and define get_context_data() method to pass any extra variables to the template:

from easy_pdf.views import PDFTemplateView

class HelloPDFView(PDFTemplateView):
    template_name = 'hello.html'

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        return super(HelloPDFView, self).get_context_data(
            pagesize='A4',
            title='Hi there!',
            **kwargs
        )

Then add the view to your url config and start serving PDF files rendered from the HTML template.

urlpatterns = [
    url(r'^hello.pdf$', HelloPDFView.as_view())
]

You can also use a mixin to output PDF from Django generic views:

.. code-block:: python

class PDFUserDetailView(PDFTemplateResponseMixin, DetailView):
model = get_user_model() template_name = ‘user_detail.html’

Rendering PDF outside of Django views¶

See PDF rendering functions.

API Overview¶

Views¶

PDFTemplateResponseMixin¶

class easy_pdf.views.PDFTemplateResponseMixin¶

Bases: TemplateResponseMixin

A mixin class that implements PDF rendering and Django response construction.

pdf_filename = None¶: Optional name of the PDF file for download. Leave blank for display in browser.

pdf_kwargs = None¶: Additional params passed to render_to_pdf_response()

get_pdf_filename()¶

Returns pdf_filename value by default.

If left blank the browser will display the PDF inline. Otherwise it will pop up the “Save as..” dialog.

Return type: str()

get_pdf_kwargs()¶

Returns pdf_kwargs by default.

The kwargs are passed to render_to_pdf_response() and xhtml2pdf.pisa.pisaDocument().

Return type: dict

get_pdf_response(context, **response_kwargs)¶

Renders PDF document and prepares response.

Returns: Django HTTP response
Return type: django.http.HttpResponse

render_to_response(context, **response_kwargs)¶

Return a response, using the response_class for this view, with a template rendered with the given context.

Pass response_kwargs to the constructor of the response class.

PDFTemplateView¶

class easy_pdf.views.PDFTemplateView(**kwargs)¶

Bases: PDFTemplateResponseMixin, ContextMixin, View

Concrete view for serving PDF files.

class HelloPDFView(PDFTemplateView):
    template_name = "hello.html"

get(request, *args, **kwargs)¶: Handles GET request and returns HTTP response.

PDF rendering functions¶

easy_pdf.rendering.render_to_pdf(template, context, using=None, request=None, encoding='utf-8', **kwargs)¶

Create PDF document from Django html template.

Parameters

template (str) – Path to Django template
context (dict) – Template context
using – Optional Django template engine
request (django.http.HttpRequest) – Django HTTP request

Returns

rendered PDF

Return type

bytes

Raises

PDFRenderingError, UnsupportedMediaPathException

easy_pdf.rendering.render_to_pdf_response(request, template, context, using=None, filename=None, encoding='utf-8', **kwargs)¶

Renders a PDF response using given request, template and context.

If filename param is specified then the response Content-Disposition header will be set to attachment making the browser display a “Save as..” dialog.

Parameters

request (django.http.HttpRequest) – Django HTTP request
template (str) – Path to Django template
context (dict) – Template context
using – Optional Django template engine

Return type

django.http.HttpResponse

Other lower-level helpers¶

easy_pdf.rendering.html_to_pdf(content, dest, encoding='utf-8', link_callback=fetch_resources, **kwargs)¶

Converts html content into PDF document.

Parameters: content (unicode) – html content
Returns: PDF content
Return type: bytes
Raises: PDFRenderingError

easy_pdf.rendering.fetch_resources(uri, rel)¶

Retrieves embeddable resource from given uri.

For now only local resources (images, fonts) are supported.

Parameters: uri (str) – path or url to image or font resource
Returns: path to local resource file.
Return type: str
Raises: UnsupportedMediaPathException

easy_pdf.rendering.make_response(content, filename=None, content_type='application/pdf')¶

Wraps content into HTTP response.

If filename is specified then Content-Disposition: attachment header is added to the response.

Default Content-Type is application/pdf.

Parameters

content (bytes) – response content
filename (str) – optional filename for file download
content_type (str) – response content type

Return type

django.http.HttpResponse

easy_pdf.rendering.encode_filename(filename)¶

Encodes filename part for Content-Disposition: attachment.

>>> print(encode_filename("abc.pdf"))
filename=abc.pdf
>>> print(encode_filename("aa bb.pdf"))
filename*=UTF-8''aa%20bb.pdf
>>> print(encode_filename(u"zażółć.pdf"))
filename*=UTF-8''za%C5%BC%C3%B3%C5%82%C4%87.pdf

Exceptions¶

Contributing¶

Contributions are welcome, and they are greatly appreciated! Every little bit helps, and credit will always be given.

You can contribute in many ways:

Types of Contributions¶

Report Bugs¶

Report bugs at https://github.com/WilliamOtieno/dj-easy-pdf/issues.

If you are reporting a bug, please include:

Your operating system name and version.
Any details about your local setup that might be helpful in troubleshooting.
Detailed steps to reproduce the bug.

Fix Bugs¶

Look through the GitHub issues for bugs. Anything tagged with “bug” is open to whoever wants to implement it.

Implement Features¶

Look through the GitHub issues for features. Anything tagged with “feature” is open to whoever wants to implement it.

Write Documentation¶

dj-easy-pdf could always use more documentation, whether as part of the official dj-easy-pdf docs, in docstrings, or even on the web in blog posts, articles, and such.

Submit Feedback¶

The best way to send feedback is to file an issue at https://github.com/WilliamOtieno/dj-easy-pdf/issues.

If you are proposing a feature:

Explain in detail how it would work.
Keep the scope as narrow as possible, to make it easier to implement.
Remember that this is a volunteer-driven project, and that contributions are welcome :)

Get Started!¶

Ready to contribute? Here’s how to set up dj-easy-pdf for local development.

Fork the dj-easy-pdf repo on GitHub.

Clone your fork locally:

$ git clone git@github.com:your_name_here/django-easy-pdf.git

Install your local copy into a virtualenv. Assuming you have virtualenvwrapper installed, this is how you set up your fork for local development:
```
$ mkvirtualenv django-easy-pdf
$ cd django-easy-pdf/
$ python setup.py develop
```

Create a branch for local development:

$ git checkout -b name-of-your-bugfix-or-feature

Now you can make your changes locally.

When you’re done making changes, check that your changes pass flake8:
```
$ flake8 easy_pdf
```

To get flake8, just pip install them into your virtualenv.

Commit your changes and push your branch to GitHub:

$ git add .
$ git commit -m "Your detailed description of your changes."
$ git push origin name-of-your-bugfix-or-feature

Submit a pull request through the GitHub website.

Pull Request Guidelines¶

Before you submit a pull request, check that it meets these guidelines:

If the pull request adds functionality, the docs should be updated. Put your new functionality into a function with a docstring, and add the feature to the list in README.rst.
The pull request should work for Python 3.4+ plus (if there are compatible 3rd party packages available).

Credits¶

Development Lead¶

William Otieno <jimmywilliamotieno@gmail.com> <https://github.com/WilliamOtieno>

History¶

0.2.1 (2022-06-15)¶

Beta Release. Support for Django 3.2+ and 4.0

Django PDF rendering¶

Overview¶

Quickstart¶

Documentation¶

Dependencies¶

License¶

Other Resources¶

Commercial Support¶

Content¶

Installation¶

Usage¶

Prepare HTML Templates¶

Create PDF rendering views¶

Rendering PDF outside of Django views¶

API Overview¶

Views¶

PDFTemplateResponseMixin¶

PDFTemplateView¶

PDF rendering functions¶

Other lower-level helpers¶

Exceptions¶

Contributing¶

Types of Contributions¶

Report Bugs¶

Fix Bugs¶

Implement Features¶

Write Documentation¶

Submit Feedback¶

Get Started!¶

Pull Request Guidelines¶

Credits¶

Development Lead¶

History¶

0.2.1 (2022-06-15)¶

Indices and tables¶