[Zope] [ANN] ZpdfDocument-0-0-1

[Oscar Picasso]

>Storing the generated PDF in ZODB is a straight forward
>modification. However every change to either the style elements or the
>content will create a new PDF document and store it in the ZODB.
>Frequently modified ZpdfDocuments, especially if they are large will cause
>unneccessary increase of the ZODB. But assuming we add this as an option,
>where should the PDF doc be added? As a File subobject to the
>ZpdfDocument? What do you think?

No, I don't think the generated PDF should be stored in the Zpdf Document.
It should be stored in a Folder, a class instance, every where it is useful
to keep a copy of a this particular file.
The idea behind that is to use Zpdf Documents as templates and fill some
variable data via a form.
Lets take and example. In the insurance field we could create a template
for a contract. A person could provide all the necessary data: name, age,
profession and check the options the client wants.
Then using the Zpdf Document template and the data in the form, we could
generate a particular contract for that person.
I think we have to be able to retrieve that particular contract on a database.
This is just an example, I think the potential of such a tool is huge.

>Additional tags can be easily added. The underlying pdflib.py is quite
>flexible. However if you are thinking about tables then it might be a bit
>more difficult because of the many parameters that define a table layout.
>Which tags did you have in mind?
I was thinking about more simple tags like <s> and <u>.

Another useful thing would be the abilty to include some arbitrary PDF code
in the generated files. For example a logo that could be generated by an
authoring application like Illustrator.

As I said I do believe PDF+Zope has a huge potential. Printing industry and
printed documentation is still a great market (maybe to much conservative).
If there is a group working on this field I would be glad to participate.
Taking into account that:
- I'm not a professional programmer, but I could give some inputs and
constructive criticism.
- my english is not so good ;)

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Oscar Picasso
picasso@videotron.ca
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