ujac-support — UJAC user and support issues

[ujac-support] [bram@itext.as.avontuur.org: iText - keeping tables on one page + patch]

[Bram <br...@uj...>]

Hi, please see below ... I've included the patch needed for UJAC to get
the keepTogether pdftable property working properly. This patch only works with the
version of Itext that is currently in CVS though!

Kind regards,
Bram

----- Forwarded message from Bram <br...@it...> -----

From: Bram <br...@it...>
To: ite...@li...
Subject: iText - keeping tables on one page + patch
X-Verification-Tag: brama@localhost

Hi,

I've been trying to generate PDF documents using a combination of iText
and UJAC. The documents have multiple tables, always nested inside other
containers. 

I noticed that, even though UJAC has a keepTogether attribute for
tables, that tables are still split across two pages even if it would
fit on a single page if a new page would have been started first. This
only occurs when tables are nested inside other containers (chapters,
sections), not when the table is directly added to a page.

The keepTogether attribute works by calling PdfDocument's fitsPage
method. However, after checking this the table is added to its current
container and not committed to the document just yet. This only happens
when the entire container embedding multiple tables is added to the
document. Therefore, the fitsPage test is useless at this point because
the content of the page only changes as the entire container is added.

To fix this problem, I decided to move the fitsPage check to iText
itself, when a PdfPTable object is actually added to the document
directly. I've attached the patch (for the CVS repository) to do this.
For it to work correctly, UJac also has to be patched because it has to
set the (new) keepTogether attribute for PdfPTable objects. But that's
for another mailing list..

I was hoping this could be included if deemed a sensible solution. If
there was another solution that I somehow overlooked or if the problem
is not clear, then I'd be more than hapy to hear about it.

Regards,
Bram

----- End forwarded message -----

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Re: [ujac-support] TOC Question

[Christian L. <la...@gm...>]

Hi Brian,

I've implemented the stuff a little different from what I've posted in
my last message. Actually the TOC support for new items is added by
extending the capabilites of the <outline> tag. Currently only <cell>
tags and <paragraph> tags are perfectly supported, but other elements
should work similar.

The new attribute 'toc-number' tells the <outline> tag to generate a TOC
entry.

Here's an example:

	<table widths="20,40,40">
		<cell><outline name="cellTest" toc-number="1.">Cell Test</outline>Cell
Test</cell>
		<cell>regular cell</cell>
		<cell>regular cell 2</cell>
	</table>
	
	<paragraph><outline name="paraTest" toc-number="2.">Paragraph
Test</outline>Paragraph Test</paragraph>

Hope this works for you.

Best regards,
Christian

Re: [ujac-support] TOC Question

[Brian C. <bec...@ho...>]

Hi Christian,

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.  I actually started 
digging into the code to try to make these changes.  But as I'm not familiar 
with the code or iText, it's slow going.

I'm curious, when you get a minute, to know why the "position" is important 
(is position different then page number?).  Here is what I kind of 
envisioned (and started to code).  Keep in mind that I'm just looking at 
this from my perspective/needs and have not considered the bigger picture of 
document generation.  Like you, I defined an element called <toc-item>.   I 
envisioned its usage something like this:

<toc-item level="1" title="ACME-21"/>
  - the title attribute is the textual string that is put in the TOC.
  - the level attribute determines the indentation level in the TOC.

What I am trying to work up is a way to simply put in the above tag just 
before I insert a section (using 'section' generically, not as in <section>) 
of data in my reports ( 'section' could be a table, a graphic, etc.  Pretty 
much anything).

Now comes the gray (maybe black :-) ) area for me.  In the current code, the 
page number and position gets assigned when the onSection/onChapter events 
are fired and handled.  The same thing needs to happen for the <toc-item> 
but it probably needs its attributes filled in when the onEndPage event gets 
fired off.  Thats about as far as I've gotten (I have only spent a couple of 
hours on it).

Another idea that I had (but did not pursue because my needs for a report 
generator are immediate and it would take longer to implement) was to come 
up with a couple of new attributes and add them to several/most of the 
existing tag elements.  Something like:

<table ....... toc-title="foo" toc-level="1">
or
<image ........ toc-title="Figure 1" toc-level="3">
or an idea for a table of figures
<image ......... tof-title="Figure 1" tof-level="1">
etc

Thanks for the info and help.  Its greatly appreciated.

-Brian



>
>Hi Brian,
>
>currently only sections and chapters are supported, because it's a
>little tricky to get the position of an element out of iText. The
>problem is that the position is generated when each object is written by
>the document writer, so you have to handle events that iText creates to
>get the positions of each element. This event handling is very specific
>for the different interesting elements.
>
>To enable this for these elements (paragraph, cell, etc), I'll implement
>a solution similar to the <outline> tag. The name of the tag will be
><toc-item>. Here's an example of what it could look like:
>
><cell><toc-item level="1" number="1">Title</toc-item>Cell
>contents</cell>
>
>I'll let you know when I've finished this stuff.
>
>Best regards,
>Christian
>
>On Tue, 2004-08-17 at 14:08, Brian Campbell wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I've got a question regarding the TOC feature in the UJAC Print library.
> > I've built a report that I want but now I want to add a TOC to the front 
>of
> > the report.  The doc/examples are very fuzzy when it comes to the TOC
> > feature(s).  I'm building a PDF that is a report so it doesn't have 
>chapters
> > or sections.  Is it possible to build a TOC without chapters/sections?
> > Thanks in advance!
> >
> > -Brian
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------
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>--
>Christian Lauer <chr...@gm...>
>
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------
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Re: [ujac-support] TOC Question

[Christian L. <chr...@gm...>]

Hi Brian,

currently only sections and chapters are supported, because it's a
little tricky to get the position of an element out of iText. The
problem is that the position is generated when each object is written by
the document writer, so you have to handle events that iText creates to
get the positions of each element. This event handling is very specific
for the different interesting elements. 

To enable this for these elements (paragraph, cell, etc), I'll implement
a solution similar to the <outline> tag. The name of the tag will be
<toc-item>. Here's an example of what it could look like:

<cell><toc-item level="1" number="1">Title</toc-item>Cell
contents</cell>

I'll let you know when I've finished this stuff.

Best regards,
Christian

On Tue, 2004-08-17 at 14:08, Brian Campbell wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've got a question regarding the TOC feature in the UJAC Print library.  
> I've built a report that I want but now I want to add a TOC to the front of 
> the report.  The doc/examples are very fuzzy when it comes to the TOC 
> feature(s).  I'm building a PDF that is a report so it doesn't have chapters 
> or sections.  Is it possible to build a TOC without chapters/sections?  
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> -Brian
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> SF.Net email is sponsored by Shop4tech.com-Lowest price on Blank Media
> 100pk Sonic DVD-R 4x for only $29 -100pk Sonic DVD+R for only $33
> Save 50% off Retail on Ink & Toner - Free Shipping and Free Gift.
> http://www.shop4tech.com/z/Inkjet_Cartridges/9_108_r285
> _______________________________________________
> ujac-support mailing list
> uja...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ujac-support
-- 
Christian Lauer <chr...@gm...>

[ujac-support] TOC Question

[Brian C. <bec...@ho...>]

Hi,

I've got a question regarding the TOC feature in the UJAC Print library.  
I've built a report that I want but now I want to add a TOC to the front of 
the report.  The doc/examples are very fuzzy when it comes to the TOC 
feature(s).  I'm building a PDF that is a report so it doesn't have chapters 
or sections.  Is it possible to build a TOC without chapters/sections?  
Thanks in advance!

-Brian