Introduction to ReportLab

ReportLab is a powerful and flexible library in Python used for generating PDFs. Whether you’re creating invoices, reports, or any document-based application, ReportLab offers a comprehensive set of tools to get the job done efficiently.

Getting Started with ReportLab

First, you need to install the ReportLab library using pip:

  pip install reportlab

Creating a Basic PDF Document

The following code demonstrates how to create a basic PDF document using ReportLab:

  
    from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
    from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas

    def create_pdf(filename):
        c = canvas.Canvas(filename, pagesize=letter)
        c.drawString(100, 750, "Welcome to ReportLab!")
        c.save()

    create_pdf("example_basic.pdf")
  

Using Different Fonts

ReportLab supports a variety of fonts. Here’s how you can change the font in your PDF:

  
    from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
    from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
    from reportlab.pdfbase.ttfonts import TTFont
    from reportlab.pdfbase import pdfmetrics

    def create_pdf_with_fonts(filename):
        c = canvas.Canvas(filename, pagesize=letter)
        pdfmetrics.registerFont(TTFont('Arial', 'Arial.ttf'))
        c.setFont('Arial', 12)
        c.drawString(100, 750, "This is Arial font.")
        c.save()

    create_pdf_with_fonts("example_fonts.pdf")
  

Adding Images to Your PDF

You can easily add images to your PDFs with ReportLab:

  
    from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
    from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas

    def create_pdf_with_image(filename):
        c = canvas.Canvas(filename, pagesize=letter)
        c.drawImage("example_image.jpg", 100, 600, width=200, height=150)
        c.save()

    create_pdf_with_image("example_image.pdf")
  

Creating Tables

Tables are a great way to organize data in PDFs:

  
    from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
    from reportlab.platypus import SimpleDocTemplate, Table, TableStyle
    from reportlab.lib import colors

    def create_pdf_with_table(filename):
        doc = SimpleDocTemplate(filename, pagesize=letter)
        data = [['Name', 'Age', 'City'],
                ['Alice', '30', 'New York'],
                ['Bob', '25', 'Los Angeles'],
                ['Charlie', '35', 'Chicago']]

        table = Table(data)
        style = TableStyle([('BACKGROUND', (0, 0), (-1, 0), colors.grey),
                            ('TEXTCOLOR', (0, 0), (-1, 0), colors.whitesmoke),
                            ('ALIGN', (0, 0), (-1, -1), 'CENTER'),
                            ('FONTNAME', (0, 0), (-1, 0), 'Helvetica-Bold'),
                            ('BOTTOMPADDING', (0, 0), (-1, 0), 12),
                            ('BACKGROUND', (0, 1), (-1, -1), colors.beige)])
        table.setStyle(style)

        elements = [table]
        doc.build(elements)

    create_pdf_with_table("example_table.pdf")
  

Comprehensive App Example

Here is an example of a complete application that generates a report containing text, images, and a table:

  
    from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
    from reportlab.platypus import SimpleDocTemplate, Paragraph, Spacer, Table, TableStyle, Image
    from reportlab.lib.styles import getSampleStyleSheet
    from reportlab.lib.units import inch
    from reportlab.lib import colors

    def create_full_report(filename):
        doc = SimpleDocTemplate(filename, pagesize=letter)
        styles = getSampleStyleSheet()
        story = []

        # Title
        story.append(Paragraph("Monthly Sales Report", styles['Title']))

        # Spacer
        story.append(Spacer(1, 0.2 * inch))

        # Image
        story.append(Image("example_image.jpg", 2 * inch, 2 * inch))

        # Spacer
        story.append(Spacer(1, 0.2 * inch))

        # Table
        data = [['Product', 'Quantity', 'Price'],
                ['Widget A', '100', '$1500'],
                ['Widget B', '50', '$3000'],
                ['Widget C', '200', '$2000']]
        table = Table(data)
        style = TableStyle([('BACKGROUND', (0, 0), (-1, 0), colors.grey),
                            ('TEXTCOLOR', (0, 0), (-1, 0), colors.whitesmoke),
                            ('ALIGN', (0, 0), (-1, -1), 'CENTER'),
                            ('FONTNAME', (0, 0), (-1, 0), 'Helvetica-Bold'),
                            ('BOTTOMPADDING', (0, 0), (-1, 0), 12),
                            ('BACKGROUND', (0, 1), (-1, -1), colors.beige)])
        table.setStyle(style)
        story.append(table)

        doc.build(story)

    create_full_report("full_report.pdf")
  

With these examples, you should have a strong foundation for using ReportLab to generate a variety of PDF documents tailored to your needs.

Hash: d96efdce458f2a4bb2d62785b8dc9ee776da89f83246513c6a8c0c53ae81abb7