PDF Generation

AIOP enables you to generate PDFs from HTML or Markdown.

From Markdown

AIOP uses the tool mdpdf (opens in a new tab) for generating a PDF from a Markdown file.

Generating a PDF from Markdown is the simplest method; you only need to know the basics of Markdown. However, the document's format cannot be modified (see generation from HTML).

Here is an example of a PDF generated from Markdown:

You can combine Markdown files to create a single PDF. Each Markdown file will be separated by a page break.

Markdown Syntax

To learn how to write Markdown, you can refer to this page (opens in a new tab).

Take the example of the PDF generated above. The content of this Markdown is as follows:

# Markdown Tutorial
 
Welcome to this Markdown tutorial! This guide will show you the basics and some advanced features of Markdown.
 
## Headings
 
You can create headings using the `#` symbol:
 
```markdown
# H1
## H2
### H3
#### H4
##### H5
###### H6

H1

H2

H3

H4

H5

H6

## Declaration

AIOP generates a PDF from Markdown if you declare a resource whose source has a `.md` (Markdown) extension and the destination has a `.pdf` (PDF) extension. Here is an example of declaring the resource.

```yaml
- source: mymarkdown.md
  destination: mypdf.pdf

After generating the package, the file mypdf.pdf will be created in the package's root folder.

To generate a PDF from multiple Markdown files, you can declare them as follows:

- source: mymarkdown.md | myothermarkdown.md
  destination: mypdf.pdf

The file mypdf.pdf will be created in the package's root folder and contain the content of the two Markdown files separated by a page break.

From HTML

To generate a PDF from HTML, AIOP uses the tool weasyprint (opens in a new tab). This allows you to generate PDFs with custom CSS and fonts.

Here is an example of a PDF generated from HTML:

HTML and CSS Syntax

You need to know the basics of HTML and CSS to generate PDFs from HTML. However, there are already examples of PDFs available here (opens in a new tab).

Declaration

AIOP generates a PDF from a resource whose source has a .html (HTML) extension or a folder containing a .html file, and the destination has a .pdf (PDF) extension. Here is an example of declaring the resource.

The content of the playbook is as follows:

The declaration is as follows:

- source: invoice/invoice.html
  destination: invoice.pdf

It is possible to generate a PDF from a folder containing HTML and CSS files. Here is an example of declaring the resource. If the HTML and CSS files are in the folder, AIOP will return an error.

- source: invoice/
  destination: invoice_folder.pdf

It is also possible to generate a PDF from a list of files including an HTML file and a CSS file. Here is an example of declaring resources.

- source: invoice/invoice.html & invoice/invoice.css & invoice/pacifico.ttf & invoice/sourcesanspro-bold.otf & invoice/sourcesanspro-regular.otf
  destination: invoice_merged.pdf

Advanced Functions

It is possible to combine PDF generation with an FMPP (learn more) or Jinja (learn more) template. This means you can template an HTML, CSS, or Markdown.

Templated Markdown

Here is an example of templated Markdown with Jinja.

# {{system_target.name|title}} documentation
 
This is the documentation of {{system_target.name}}.
 
This is a custom variable: {{my_variable}}

The variables used here are predefined by AIOP. You can find them here. We also use Jinja functions (List of functions can be found here (opens in a new tab)):

• system_target.name retrieves the name of the target system. Additionally, we use the Jinja title function (opens in a new tab) to capitalize the first letter of a string.
• my_variable is a variable defined in the YAML declaration file.

Declaration of Templated Markdown

The resource declaration for this file is as follows:

- source: invoice_template.md
  destination: invoice.pdf
  template: jinja
  compatibility:
    - system:
      template_data:
        my_variable: my value

Here, we declared the Markdown, indicated that the output file should be a PDF, and specified that it should pass through Jinja to apply the template variables. The custom variable my_variable is defined in the template_data field related to the compatible system.

The resulting PDF is as follows: