[ILUG] Re: postscript and perl - what other choices?

[Peter Heslin]

On Thu, Jun 29, 2000 at 06:09:37PM +0100, kevin lyda wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 29, 2000 at 05:41:02PM +0100, Vincent Murphy wrote:
> >  i think just mangling the data into postscript is too low-level for
> > what you want to do.  think about what you have to do if the accounts
> > department say "i want an extra column in between Quantity and Subtotal
> > called Data".  editing postscript to do that would be a complete PITA i
> > would imagine. 
> 
> believe it or not it **IS** simple.  that is if you use an api.  so what
> i've looked at is the CPAN module PostScript.  the suggested PDF class
> is similar.

If the code you posted is meant to be a *simple* (yikes!) solution to
the problem of generating nicely formatted hard copy of dynamic content,
then I think you really would benefit from a look at what a more
high-level, LaTeX solution can do for you.  Perl is an excellent
language for generating LaTeX on the fly, but all of the hard work can
be done by TeX/LaTeX.  If you don't have access to a copy of Lamport's
book, there is an intro on CTAN called a ``gentle intro to LaTeX''.
That may be all that you need, depending on the complexity of the
formatting you want done.

In an earlier post you wrote:
> kuro5hin's suggestions:
>
> db->perl script->cpan xml/html/troff/latex modules->files
> ->translate to postscript->printer
>
> why?  what does that gain me besides an extra coffee break while i wait
> for the print outs (or more correctly while the accounting department
> waits for that crummy linux system to print some invoices).  

What does it gain you?  A simple, robust, comprehensive typesetting
solution that produces beautiful copy?  Maybe for invoices beauty
doesn't matter ...

Why the assumption that you need cpan latex modules?  Just use Perl to
generate the LaTeX file, run latex and produce PostScript from that.

If you were generating millions of invoices a day, the speed issue might
be a factor, but otherwise who cares if it adds another 5 seconds to
each?

I have been doing a lot of Perl-generated LaTeX lately, so write me if
you have questions about this stuff.

Peter