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RML-DIFFERENCES.rst

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RML2PDF and z3c.rml Implementation Differences

This document outlines the differences between ReportLab Inc.'s RML2PDF library and z3c.rml.

Incompatibilies

  • <template>
    • pageSize: This is called pagesize in this implementation to match the API.
  • <pageTemplate>
    • pageSize: This is called pagesize in this implementation to match the API.
  • <addMapping>: This is a useful API function that was supported in earlier versions of RML2PDF. It is now gone, but this library still supports it.
  • <barCode>
    • Most barcode attributes available via the API and the flowable are not supported in the drawing version in RML2PDF. I have no idea why!
    • isoScale: This attributes forces the bar code to keep the original aspect ratio. This is straight from the API.
  • <barCodeFlowable>
    • widthSize: This is called width in this implementation to match the API.
    • heightSize: This is called height in this implementation to match the API.
    • tracking: This is only used for USPS4S and the API actually uses the value argument for this. Thus this attribute is omitted.
  • <catchForms>: This feature requires PageCatcher, which is a ReportLab commercial product and there is no Open Source alternative.
  • <docinit>:
    • outlineAdd directive really does not make much sense here. The API docs claim its availability but the hand-written docs state it must be within a story.
    • alias directive is completely undocumented in this context.
  • <drawing>: There is no documentation for this tag and I do not know what it is supposed to do. Thus z3c.rml does not implement it.
  • <img>: Support for preserveAspectRatio attribute, which is not available in RML or ReportLab.
  • <join>: This directive is not implemented due to lack of documentation.
  • <keepTogether>: This directive is not implemented in RML2PDF, but there exists an API flowable for it and it seems obviously useful.
  • <length>: This directive is not implemented due to lack of documentation.
  • <template>: The firstPageTemplate attribute is not implemented, since it belongs to the <story> directive. Several RML2PDF examples use it that way too, so why is it documented differently?
  • <widget>: There is no documentation for this tag and I do not know what it is supposed to do. Thus z3c.rml does not implement it.
  • <paraStyle>:
    • underline: A boolean field indicating whether the entire paragraph is underlined. The following related attributes have also been added to the style: underlineColor, underlineOffset, underlineWidth, underlineGap, and underlineKind
    • strike: A boolean field indicating whether the entire paragraph is stricken. The following related attributes have also been added to the style: strikeColor, strikeOffset, strikeWidth, strikeGap, and strikeKind
    • justifyLastLine: Added attribute that is available in the API.
    • justifyBreaks: Added attribute that is available in the API.
    • spaceShrinkage: Added attribute that is available in the API.
    • linkUnderline: Added attribute that is available in the API.

Extensions

z3c.rml implements <header> and <footer> directives. These go inside <pageTemplate> directives, and are equivalent to having <pageGraphics><place> and take the same arguments as <pageGraphics>.

The purpose of these directives is to be able to handle headers and footers differently then from other graphical elements when dealing with other formats than PDF.

If you want one left aligned header or footer, and one right aligned, you simply add multiple headers or footers.

See src/z3c/rml/tests/input/rml-examples-050-header-footer.rml for an example.

To be Done

Each major bullet represents a missing element. Names after the elements are missing attributes. A "-" (minus) sign in front of an element or attribute denotes a feature not in RML2PDF. The "->" arrow designates a difference in naming.

  • pre/xpre: -bulletText, -dedent
  • blockTable: -repeatRows, -alignment
  • evalString
  • image: -showBoundary, -preserveAspectRatio
  • doForm
  • figure
  • imageFigure
  • checkBox
  • letterBoxes
  • textBox
  • boxStyle
  • form
  • lineMode: -miterLimit
  • paraStyle: fontName -> fontname, fontSize -> fontsize, -keepWithNext, -wordWrap, -border*
  • blockTableStyle: -keepWithNext
  • blockBackground: -colorsByRow, -colorsByCol
  • -blockRowBackground
  • -blockColBackground
  • lineStyle: -join
  • bulkData: +stripBlock, stripLines, stripFields, fieldDelim, recordDelim
  • excelData
  • frame: -*Padding, -showBoundary