Summary Of Slack Conversation, Discussing Alternate Handmade Lists

[ChrisMarshallNY]

This is not even a request. It is a "for the record" conversation, with links to lists made via a hand-crafted codebase. These lists Serve the Greater New York and Eastern New York Regions.

ASCs like to have their own lists; even if there’s a perfectly good Regional list. Addicts have control issues. Go figure.
I’ve written almost every list used in downstate NY, and each one has involved a fairly intimate walkthrough with each ASC. I know WHAT they want, and WHY they want it.
The newest list is the Bronx, but it’s not official yet.
If that sounds like a lot of work, and a pain in the ass; it is. I wouldn’t mind doing subsequent ones in Bread, and even switching over some of the current ones.
A big issue, especially with some of the larger lists (like the GNYR and ENYR booklets), is controlling page count. We need a predictable, multiple of 4 page count, so cost can be managed.
What I do, is render the entire PDF, and test for page count. If there are too many pages, I reduce the font size of the list, and start over.
It’s slow and clunky, but it works.
We need an exact page count for GNYR. Not just "multiple of 4," but "48." Budgets need to be made. When money is involved, people get weird.
Also, for things like ledger printing, it requires that it be exactly 4.
I'd like to be able to add the front section and last sections of the book to the list. Currently, we have to build the list booklet by hand. The middle is all BMLT, but the front and back are Word->PDF.
The ENYR and GNYR lists are uploaded as finished PDFs, but all the rest are generated dynamically. I use FPDF, which is primitive, but effective.
You can see the printed lists on the sidebar of this page: https://newyorkna.org/meetings/
BTW: Note that I use "pretty printing" on the site. Try printing that page to see what I mean.
Here is a list of all the printed lists that I've made. I will include Bronx, but I haven't been greenlit on them yet:
https://newyorkna.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/SPRING-2019-GNYR-Meeting-List.pdf
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=rasc&dir=ny_printed_lists
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=nyc&dir=ny_printed_lists
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=bkasc&dir=ny_printed_lists
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=brooklyn&dir=ny_printed_lists
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=wqasc&dir=ny_printed_lists
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=nasc&dir=ny_printed_lists
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=eliasc&dir=ny_printed_lists
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=sas&dir=ny_printed_lists
https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=ssa&dir=ny_printed_lists
These two use a refactored codebase that is an improvement over the previous mess:
https://newyorkna.org/PrintedList/list-generator/index.php?use_list=nsli&color
https://newyorkna.org/PrintedList/list-generator/index.php?use_list=bronx&color
Not sure where the ENYR list is. It's pretty much a duplicate of the GNYR one.
Lots of requests for customization of the non-list parts. Not always happy with them, but my job is to help the Groups get what they want.
Format legends are important. You will note a couple of different formats that I use.
The GNYR list has a Spanish section at the back. The formats print Spanish translations.
A couple of the lists above are meant to be printed on US Letter (Rockland), and US Legal (Bronx). The rest are ledger.
When printing these, it's important to instruct the printer to use 100%, as the margins are calculated in.
The booklets are what I call "Narrow Chapbook." They are "slimmed" Chapbook (Folded US Letter). The printer cuts a lot from the sides.
Here is the "guts" section of the GNYR list (dynamically generated): https://newyorkna.org/Events_and_Meetings/pdf_generator/?list_type=gnyr&dir=ny_printed_lists
44 pages (not 48). I think the idea was to keep it at around 50.
I'll upload the code in a minute. The old code is garbage. The newer code is marginally better, but not great.
I use HTML files to populate the Service meeting sections. I also use WordPress pages (with HTML). I use a DOM parser to extract the info.
Here is the source: https://github.com/bmlt-enabled/GNYRPrintedListSource (edited)
I didn't compose the FPDF. It's forced into the repos. That's because I'm lazy. I do, however, like to keep it up to date. They don't tweak it too often.
I did also create a whole-NY-State list, as a bigger booklet than GNYR, and generic branding, but no one wanted it, so it's dead. I think that the generator might be in there.
This was the genesis of the new lists. I don't know if it still works, but it had a little JavaScript worksheet, so you could try out examples: https://github.com/bmlt-enabled/GNYRPrintedListSource/tree/master/GNYR-OldLists/ListWizard
BTW: If you remove the "&color" from the last two links, you will see monochrome variants of the PDFs for those lists.