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https://github.com/fschutt/printpdf

An easy-to-use library for writing PDF in Rust
https://github.com/fschutt/printpdf

pdf pdf-generation rust rust-library

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An easy-to-use library for writing PDF in Rust

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README 

        
# printpdf



[![CI](https://github.com/fschutt/printpdf/actions/workflows/ci.yaml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/fschutt/printpdf/actions/workflows/ci.yaml)

[![Dependencies](https://deps.rs/repo/github/fschutt/printpdf/status.svg)](https://deps.rs/repo/github/fschutt/printpdf)



`printpdf` is a Rust library for creating PDF documents.



[Website](https://fschutt.github.io/printpdf) | [Crates.io](https://crates.io/crates/printpdf) | [Documentation](https://docs.rs/printpdf) | [Donate](https://github.com/sponsors/fschutt)



> [!IMPORTANT]  

> HTML-to-PDF rendering is still experimental and WIP. 

> In doubt, position PDF elements manually instead.



## Features



Currently, printpdf can only write documents, not read them.



- Pages, Bookmarks, link annotations

- Layers (Illustrator like layers)

- Graphics (lines, shapes, bezier curves, SVG content)

- Images (uses the `image` crate)

- Fonts with Unicode support (uses `allsorts` for font shaping)

- Minifying file size (auto-subsetting fonts)

- HTML-based layout system using `azul-layout` (for easy generation of tables / page layout)

- Advanced graphics - overprint control, blending modes, etc.

- Advanced typography - character / word scaling and spacing, superscript, subscript, etc.

- Embedding SVGs (uses `svg2pdf` crate internally)



See the WASM32 demo live at: https://fschutt.github.io/printpdf



## Writing PDF



### Basic example



```rust

use printpdf::*;



fn main() {

    let mut doc = PdfDocument::new("My first PDF");

    let page1_contents = vec![Op::Marker { id: "debugging-marker".to_string() }];

    let page1 = PdfPage::new(Mm(10.0), Mm(250.0), page1_contents);

    let pdf_bytes: Vec = doc

        .with_pages(vec![page1])

        .save(&PdfSaveOptions::default());

}

```



### Graphics



```rust

use printpdf::*;



fn main() {

    let mut doc = PdfDocument::new("My first PDF");



    let line = Line {

        // Quadratic shape. The "false" determines if the next (following)

        // point is a bezier handle (for curves)

        // If you want holes, simply reorder the winding of the points to be

        // counterclockwise instead of clockwise.

        points: vec![

            (Point::new(Mm(100.0), Mm(100.0)), false),

            (Point::new(Mm(100.0), Mm(200.0)), false),

            (Point::new(Mm(300.0), Mm(200.0)), false),

            (Point::new(Mm(300.0), Mm(100.0)), false),

        ],

        is_closed: true,

    };

    

    // Triangle shape

    let polygon = Polygon {

        rings: vec![vec![

            (Point::new(Mm(150.0), Mm(150.0)), false),

            (Point::new(Mm(150.0), Mm(250.0)), false),

            (Point::new(Mm(350.0), Mm(250.0)), false),

        ]],

        mode: PaintMode::FillStroke,

        winding_order: WindingOrder::NonZero,

    };

    

    // Graphics config

    let fill_color = Color::Cmyk(Cmyk::new(0.0, 0.23, 0.0, 0.0, None));

    let outline_color = Color::Rgb(Rgb::new(0.75, 1.0, 0.64, None));

    let mut dash_pattern = LineDashPattern::default();

    dash_pattern.dash_1 = Some(20);



    let extgstate = ExtendedGraphicsStateBuilder::new()

        .with_overprint_stroke(true)

        .with_blend_mode(BlendMode::multiply())

        .build();

    

    let page1_contents = vec![

        // add line1 (square)

        Op::SetOutlineColor { col: Color::Rgb(Rgb::new(0.75, 1.0, 0.64, None)) },

        Op::SetOutlineThickness { pt: Pt(10.0) },

        Op::DrawLine { line: line },

    

        // add line2 (triangle)

        Op::SaveGraphicsState,

        Op::LoadGraphicsState { gs: doc.add_graphics_state(extgstate) },

        Op::SetLineDashPattern { dash: dash_pattern },

        Op::SetLineJoinStyle { join: LineJoinStyle::Round },

        Op::SetLineCapStyle { cap: LineCapStyle::Round },

        Op::SetFillColor { col: fill_color },

        Op::SetOutlineThickness { pt: Pt(15.0) },

        Op::SetOutlineColor { col: outline_color },

        Op::DrawPolygon { polygon: polygon },

        Op::RestoreGraphicsState,

    ];

    

    let page1 = PdfPage::new(Mm(10.0), Mm(250.0), page1_contents);

    let pdf_bytes: Vec = doc

        .with_pages(vec![page1])

        .save(&PdfSaveOptions::default());

}

```



### Images



- Images only get compressed in release mode. You might get huge PDFs (6 or more MB) in debug mode.

-  To make this process faster, use `BufReader` instead of directly reading from the file.

- Scaling of images is implicitly done to fit one pixel = one dot at 300 dpi.



```rust

use printpdf::*;



fn main() {

    let mut doc = PdfDocument::new("My first PDF");

    let image_bytes = include_bytes!("assets/img/BMP_test.bmp");

    let image = RawImage::decode_from_bytes(image_bytes).unwrap(); // requires --feature bmp

    

    // In the PDF, an image is an `XObject`, identified by a unique `ImageId`

    let image_xobject_id = doc.add_image(image);



    let page1_contents = vec![

        Op::UseXObject { 

            id: image_xobject_id.clone(), 

            transform: XObjectTransform::default() 

        }

    ];



    let page1 = PdfPage::new(Mm(10.0), Mm(250.0), page1_contents);

    let pdf_bytes: Vec = doc

        .with_pages(vec![page1])

        .save(&PdfSaveOptions::default());

}

```



### Fonts



```rust

use printpdf::*;



fn main() {



    let mut doc = PdfDocument::new("My first PDF");



    let roboto_bytes = include_bytes!("assets/fonts/RobotoMedium.ttf");

    let font = ParsedFont::from_bytes(roboto_bytes).unwrap();



    // If you need custom text shaping (uses the `allsorts` font shaper internally)

    // let glyphs = font.shape(text);



    // printpdf automatically keeps track of which fonts are used in the PDF

    let font_id = doc.add_font(font);



    let text_pos = Point { 

        x: Mm(10.0).into(), 

        y: Mm(100.0).into() 

    }; // from bottom left



    let page1_contents = vec![

        Op::SetLineHeight { lh: Pt(33.0) },

        Op::SetWordSpacing { percent: 3000.0 },

        Op::SetCharacterSpacing { multiplier: 10.0 },

        Op::SetTextCursor { pos: text_pos },



        // Op::WriteCodepoints { ... }

        // Op::WriteCodepointsWithKerning { ... }

        Op::WriteText { 

            text: "Lorem ipsum".to_string(), 

            font: font_id.clone(), 

            size: Pt(33.0) 

        },

        Op::AddLineBreak,

        Op::WriteText { 

            text: "dolor sit amet".to_string(), 

            font: font_id.clone(), 

            size: Pt(33.0) 

        },

        Op::AddLineBreak,

    ];



    let save_options = PdfSaveOptions {

        subset_fonts: true, // auto-subset fonts on save

        .. Default::default()

    };



    let page1 = PdfPage::new(Mm(10.0), Mm(250.0), page1_contents);

    let pdf_bytes: Vec = doc

        .with_pages(vec![page1])

        .save(&save_options);

}

```



### Tables, HTML



For creating tables, etc. printpdf uses a basic layout system, similar to wkhtmltopdf 

(although more limited in terms of features). It's good enough for basic page layouting, 

book rendering and reports / forms / etc. Includes automatic page-breaking.



Since printpdf supports WASM, there is an interactive demo at 

https://fschutt.github.io/printpdf - try playing with the XML.



See [SYNTAX.md](./SYNTAX.md) for the XML syntax description.



```rust

// needs --features="html"

use printpdf::*;



fn main() {



    // See https://fschutt.github.io/printpdf for an interactive WASM demo!



    let html = r#"

    



        

        

            
Hello!


            


                
World!


            


        



        

        

            

                
Chapter {attr:chapter} * {attr:subsection}


                
{builtin:pagenum}


            



            

                


            

        

    

    "#;



    let options = XmlRenderOptions {

        // named images to be used in the HTML, i.e. ["image1.png" => DecodedImage(image1_bytes)]

        images: BTreeMap::new(),

        // named fonts to be used in the HTML, i.e. ["Roboto" => DecodedImage(roboto_bytes)]

        fonts: BTreeMap::new(),

        // default page width, printpdf will auto-page-break

        page_width: Mm(210.0),

        // default page height

        page_height: Mm(297.0),

    };



    let pdf_bytes = PdfDocument::new("My PDF")

        .with_html(html, &options).unwrap()

        .save(&PdfSaveOptions::default());

}

```



## Goals and Roadmap



The goal of printpdf is to be a general-use PDF library, such as

libharu or similar. PDFs generated by printpdf should always adhere

to a PDF standard, except if you turn it off. Currently, only the

standard `PDF/X-3:2002` is covered (i.e. valid PDF according to Adobe

Acrobat). Over time, there will be more standards supported. Checking a

PDF for errors is currently only a stub.



The following features aren't implemented yet:



- Clipping

- Open Prepress Interface

- Halftoning images, Gradients, Patterns

- Forms, annotations

- Conformance / error checking for various PDF standards

- Embedded Javascript

- Reading PDF

- Completion of printpdf wiki



The printpdf wiki is live at: https://github.com/fschutt/printpdf/wiki



Here are some resources I found while working on this library:



- [`PDFXPlorer`, shows the DOM tree of a PDF, needs .NET 2.0](http://www.o2sol.com/pdfxplorer/download.htm)

- [Official PDF 1.7 reference](https://opensource.adobe.com/dc-acrobat-sdk-docs/pdfstandards/pdfreference1.7old.pdf)

- [\[GERMAN\] How to embed unicode fonts in PDF](http://www.p2501.ch/pdf-howto/typographie/vollzugriff/direkt)

- [PDF X/1-a Validator](https://www.pdf-online.com/osa/validate.aspx)

- [PDF X/3 technical notes](http://www.pdfxreport.com/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=en:technote_pdfx_checks.pdf)



## License / Support



Library is licensed MIT.



You can donate (one-time or recurrent) at https://github.com/sponsors/fschutt. Thanks!