I have a ‘Library’ module where I am going to have to print apparently 5
different types of labels depending upon whether they are for books,
cd’s, audio tapes, video tapes, etc.
Is anyone printing labels with Rails?
Anyone have any suggestions for doing this?
As I see it, I can either export the data as CSV and use that CSV to
mail merge with Word/OpenOffice.org or beat myself up trying to make it
work out with pdf-writer.
I am hoping that someone has blazed this trail already…googling hasn’t
turned up anything of significance.
Craig
If you don’t mind MS Word, you could go WordML and generate XML via
Builder - surprisingly viable out in the real world - we use it at work
to generate orchestra schedules dynamically… (not RoR… yet)
Craig W. wrote:
I have a ‘Library’ module where I am going to have to print apparently 5
different types of labels depending upon whether they are for books,
cd’s, audio tapes, video tapes, etc.
Is anyone printing labels with Rails?
No, but I’m at the same point you are.
Anyone have any suggestions for doing this?
As I see it, I can either export the data as CSV and use that CSV to
mail merge with Word/OpenOffice.org or beat myself up trying to make it
work out with pdf-writer.
It does make sense to leverage the label functionality in the word
processor, if one can get the data in there in the first place.
I am hoping that someone has blazed this trail already…googling hasn’t
turned up anything of significance.
Indeed. I originally though about generating XML from Rails and
importing it into OOo, but now I’m currently looking at ODBC or JDBC as
a dynamic interface between Rails and OOo. I’m so new to Rails it’s all
a bit painful at the moment, but will keep plugging away.
–
Antony G. | Open Source Consultancy
Wayforth | Software Development
020 7247 1011 | Website Design
http://www.wayforth.co.uk | Peace-of-mind Support
Antony G. wrote:
Indeed. I originally though about generating XML from Rails and
importing it into OOo, but now I’m currently looking at ODBC or JDBC as
a dynamic interface between Rails and OOo. I’m so new to Rails it’s all
a bit painful at the moment, but will keep plugging away.
Scrap that, my head wasn’t there. It seems that the ActiveRecord
[O|J]DBC connectors allow Rails to use external databases, but don’t
expose the Rails DB to others. However, I don’t see why I can’t just
link OOo to my mysql Rails backend. Trying this now…
–
Antony G. | Open Source Consultancy
Wayforth | Software Development
020 7247 1011 | Website Design
http://www.wayforth.co.uk | Peace-of-mind Support
Craig W. wrote:
I have a ‘Library’ module where I am going to have to print apparently 5
different types of labels depending upon whether they are for books,
cd’s, audio tapes, video tapes, etc.
Is anyone printing labels with Rails?
Anyone have any suggestions for doing this?
Hi,
not with Rails (yet), but with PHP (the application I’m trying to port).
I have PHP create a temporary LaTeX file and then run “pdflatex” to
compile
this file to a PDF on the server, then have PHP pass it through to the
browser as application/x-pdf. It’s so simple that it’s a ten-liner even
in
PHP. g
There are lots of pre-made classes especially for the myriad of
different
Zweckform sticky labels available for LaTeX, including margin settings
for
most common printers. You’re bound to find labels for CDs and DVDs and
the
like too, otherwise you can modify an existing class rather easily.
I came to the conclusion that this is the easiest method. You don’t
depend
on the users’ Word or OOo versions, they can view it before they print
it,
adjust printer settings if they want, or just save the file. Plus, the
user
can’t break anything.
–
Jens
On Fri, 2006-10-27 at 15:26 +0200, Jens wrote:
Zweckform sticky labels available for LaTeX, including margin settings for
most common printers. You’re bound to find labels for CDs and DVDs and the
like too, otherwise you can modify an existing class rather easily.
I came to the conclusion that this is the easiest method. You don’t depend
on the users’ Word or OOo versions, they can view it before they print it,
adjust printer settings if they want, or just save the file. Plus, the user
can’t break anything.
I am real interested in this. Obviously this isn’t going to use
pdf-writer since the output must go to latex for processing but it does
make sense.
If you make any progress, please post up.
Search for latex on rubyforge wasn’t all that encouraging but there is
one gem called latex.
Thanks
Craig
Craig W. wrote:
Anyone have any suggestions for doing this?
There are lots of pre-made classes especially for the myriad of different
pdf-writer since the output must go to latex for processing but it does
make sense.
If you make any progress, please post up.
Search for latex on rubyforge wasn’t all that encouraging but there is
one gem called latex.
Thanks
Craig
I’m not that familiar with latex, but if you can call it from the
command line, you could use the backtick to invoke it and then pick up
the pdf file when it was done. You may not need any ruby bindings
around this…
_Kevin