fpdf2 is a simple & fast PDF creation library for Python that I have been maintaining since mid-2020.

In this article, I'm going to present some of the new features that landed since my last post on the subject. Hence, this will cover versions 2.5.0, 2.5.1 & 2 …

Added

• new parameters new_x and new_y for cell() and multi_cell(), replacing ln=0, thanks to @gmischler
• new add_highlight() method to insert highlight annotations: documentation
• new offset_rendering() method: documentation
• new .text_mode property: documentation
• the page structure of the documentation has been revised, with a new page about adding text, thanks to @gmischler
• a warning is now raised if a context manager is used inside an unbreakable() section, which is not supported

Changed

• local_context() can now "scope" even more properties, like blend_mode: documentation

Fixed

• No font properties should be leaked anymore after using markdown or in any other situations (cf. #359), thanks to @gmischler
• If multi_cell(align="J") is given text with multiple paragraphs (text followed by an empty line) at once, it now renders the last line of each paragraph left-aligned,
  instead of just the very last line (cf. #364), thanks to @gmischler
• a regression: now again multi_cell() always renders a cell, even if txt is an empty string - cf. #349
• a bug with string width calculation when Markdown is enabled - cf. #351
• a few bugs when parsing some SVG files - cf. #356, #358 & #376
• a bug when using multi_cell(..., split_only=True) inside an unbreakable section - cf. #359

Deprecated

• The parameter ln to cell() and multi_cell() is now deprecated, use new_x and new_y instead.
• The parameter center to cell() is now deprecated, use align="C" instead.

Displaying deprecation warnings

DeprecationWarnings are not displayed by Python by default.

Hence, every time you use a newer version of fpdf2, we strongly encourage you to execute your scripts
with the -Wd option (cf. documentation)
in order to get warned about deprecated features used in your code.

This can also be enabled programmatically with warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning).

Bindery.js is a javascript library to create printable books with HTML and CSS.

First, content is divided across multiple pages. From there, you can set up rules to generate running headers, spreads, and footnotes, based on the content that fits on each page. Turn links into page numbers to create a table of contents or index. When you’re ready to print, configure bleed, crop marks, and booklet ordering.

Bindery relies on your browser’s PDF generation.

fpdf2 is a minimalist PDF creation library for Python that I am maintaining.

With the release yesterday of its v2.4.0, I'm going to present some of its notable new features since the latest minor version.

https://github.com/pyfpdf/fpdf2/ Doc: https://pyfpdf.github.io/fpdf2/

JPEG images …

Undying Dusk is a video game in a PDF format, with a gameplay based on exploration and logic puzzles, in the tradition of dungeon crawlers.

A curse set by the Empress keeps the world in an eternal dusk. You are have recently found shelter in an eerie monastery.

Featuring:

• ~ 200 …

Today, I am happy to announce version 2.3.0 of fpdf2, code name: Unbreakable!

https://github.com/pyfpdf/fpdf2/ Doc: https://pyfpdf.github.io/fpdf2/

Why Unbreakable?

• As a tribute to M. Night Shyamalan movie
• Because using fpdf2, your Python code can never break!
  ...
  Just kidding, I would be …

Today, I am happy to announce a new version 2.2.0 of fpdf2 !

https://github.com/alexanderankin/pyfpdf/ Doc: https://alexanderankin.github.io/pyfpdf/

During the last few months, I contributed a few improvements to fpdf2, David Ankin fork of PyFPDF, the user-friendly Python library to generate PDFs:

from …

Linkback protocols are an old breed. They were born in a time where MySpace, Wikipedia & WordPress had just been born, and Friendster was more popular than this new website called Facebook.

The latest linkback protocol, Webmention, is relatively recent though, as it became a W3C …

I took me some time to figure it out, so I'm sharing this here:

import hudson.EnvVars
import org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.steps.EnvironmentExpander

def env = EnvironmentExpander.getEffectiveEnvironment(new EnvVars(), null, steps.getContext(EnvironmentExpander.class), null, null)
def ansiColorEnabled = 'TERM' in env

Usage example: https://github.com/voyages-sncf-technologies/hesperides-jenkins-lib/blob/master/src/com/vsct/dt/hesperides/jenkins/pipelines/http/JenkinsHTTRequester.groovy#L36

I met a very strange Python module loading behaviour in Pelican today :
https://github.com/getpelican/pelican/blob/3395e71/pelican/settings.py#L21

Here is some minimal code reproducing the issue. It requires 5 files :

bug_repro.py
dir_a/__init__.py
dir_a/test_data/pelicanconf.py
dir_b/__init__.py
dir_b/test_data/pelicanconf.py

bug_repro.py contains:

import dir_a
import dir_b

dir_a/__init__.py and dir_b/__init__.py both contain this code:

import os
from importlib.machinery import SourceFileLoader
print(SourceFileLoader('pelicanconf', os.path.dirname(__file__) + '/test_data/pelicanconf.py').load_module().THEME)

dir_a/test_data/pelicanconf.py contains only the line THEME = 'localized_theme' and dir_b/test_data/pelicanconf.py is empty.

What will produces python3.7 bug_repro.py ? 😉

A year ago, I built a small JS lib using D3.js to visualize JSON-defined genealogy trees.

At the beginning of the year, I added a new feature using flex-calendar and moment-ferie-fr : a birthday calendar using the same JSON genealogy definition and miniature images.

I added this calendar to the …

I'm happy to introduce you with genealogic-d3, a Javascript visualization library to nicely display genealogy trees that I've been working on during the past 3 days.

I'm quite satisfied by the result. You'll find a live demo you can play with at https://chezsoi.org/lucas/genealogic-d3/skywalker.html

I …