CSS in the Story is not working properly. #3041

kapoorabhish · 2024-01-14T19:31:51Z

kapoorabhish
Jan 14, 2024

Description of the bug

I am trying to create a utility to convert the HTML template to PDF using the PyMuPDF library.

Python Code

# generate_pdf_from_html_template.py
import fitz
from jinja2 import Template
import io

class GeneratePDFFromHTMLTemplate:
    def generate_pdf_from_html_template(self, html_template, css_path, data):
        def recorder(elpos):
            pass

        html = Template(open(html_template).read()).render(data)
        css = open(css_path).read()

        medibox = fitz.paper_rect("letter")  # size of a page
        where = medibox + (36, 36, -36, -36)  # leave borders of 0.5 inches
        # where = medibox
        story = fitz.Story(html=html, user_css=css)  # make the story
        pdf_byts = io.BytesIO()

        writer = fitz.DocumentWriter(pdf_byts)  # make the writer
        pno = 0  # current page number
        more = 1  # will be set to 0 when done

        while more:  # loop until all story content is processed
            dev = writer.begin_page(medibox)  # make a device to write on the page
            more, filled = story.place(where)  # compute content positions on page
            story.element_positions(recorder, {"page": pno})  # provide page number in addition
            story.draw(dev)
            writer.end_page()
            pno += 1  # increase page number

        writer.close()  # close output file

        return pdf_byts.getvalue()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    pdf = GeneratePDFFromHTMLTemplate().generate_pdf_from_html_template('../templates/test.html',
                                                                        '../templates/test.css', {})
    f = open('test.pdf', 'wb')
    f.write(pdf)
    f.close()

HTML file

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Invoice</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Invoice</h1>
    <table>
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>Item</th>
                <th>Description</th>
                <th>Quantity</th>
                <th>Price</th>
                <th>Total</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            <tr>
                <td>Item 1</td>
                <td>Description of item 1</td>
                <td>1</td>
                <td>$10.00</td>
                <td>$10.00</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Item 2</td>
                <td>Description of item 2</td>
                <td>2</td>
                <td>$20.00</td>
                <td>$40.00</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Item 3</td>
                <td>Description of item 3</td>
                <td>3</td>
                <td>$30.00</td>
                <td>$90.00</td>
            </tr>
        </tbody>
        <tfoot>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="4" style="text-align: right;">Subtotal:</td>
                <td>$140.00</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="4" style="text-align: right;">Tax:</td>
                <td>$14.00</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="4" style="text-align: right;">Total:</td>
                <td>$154.00</td>
            </tr>
        </tfoot>
    </table>
</body>
</html>

body {
    font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
    font-size: 14px;
    color: blue;
}
table {
    width: 100%;
    border-collapse: collapse;
}
th, td {
    padding: 8px;
    text-align: left;
    border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd;
}
th {
    background-color: #f2f2f2;
}

From the above CSS as far as I can see only the colors are being reflected in the generated pdf. No formatting and positioning of the elements is working.

The HTML originally renders like this in browser correctly as shown in the below screenshot.

But Generated PDF looks like this as shown in the below screenshot.

Could you please help me what exactly I am doing wrong?

How to reproduce the bug

Please use the above code to reproduce.

PyMuPDF version

1.23.12

Operating system

Linux

Python version

3.11

JorjMcKie · 2024-01-14T23:25:56Z

JorjMcKie
Jan 14, 2024
Maintainer

Story does not reproduce HTML tables in exactly the same way as a browser does. For example, you cannot control column widths or the table width. These parameters are ignored.
Column widths and hence the table width are dynamically computed based on the overall column contents.

You can still influence column width in some way by using an additional table row that contains cells with "font-size: 0;" and the desired number of   characters if absolutely needed. Requires some trial and error.

In addition, table header row repeat is not supported out of the box. If you need this feature, I strongly recommend you use the reporting feature explained here. Among these examples you will also find an invoice report.

Overall, Story supports large subsets of HTML4 and CSS2. Please consult chapter 16 of the book MuPDF Explored for more details.
The primary goal of HTML/CSS support is to serve as a popular and convenient way to style text - not to faithfully reproduce web-sites on PDF.
During early design stages, alternatives like Latex have also been evaluated to achieve this.
But the given the widespread expertise of HTML/CSS, and the fact that many of MuPDF's document types are themselves based based on HTML (EPUB, MOBI, HTML), the choice in the end was an easy one to take.

0 replies

JorjMcKie · 2024-01-15T15:02:01Z

JorjMcKie
Jan 15, 2024
Maintainer

Closing this now and moving your post to Discussions in case you want to dwell in one or the other aspect of this.

0 replies

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CSS in the Story is not working properly. #3041

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kapoorabhish Jan 14, 2024

Description of the bug

Python Code

HTML file

How to reproduce the bug

PyMuPDF version

Operating system

Python version

Replies: 2 comments

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JorjMcKie Jan 14, 2024 Maintainer

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JorjMcKie Jan 15, 2024 Maintainer

kapoorabhish
Jan 14, 2024

JorjMcKie
Jan 14, 2024
Maintainer

JorjMcKie
Jan 15, 2024
Maintainer