Plugin Ideas and Schema Contributions

[hand-dot]

You can propose ideas for plugins that can be used in pdfme V3 and beyond while discussing them here.

If there is a need for certain features that should be supported, we can create a separate issue for them. However, this is a good place to have various exchanges of opinions.

If you've created a schema, please do report it here. Your plugin should be able to solve problems for the community and new users.

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Document - Custom Schemas(Plugins) : https://pdfme.com/docs/custom-schemas

[dkastl]

Thank you for your work on additional schema support.

I'm interested in printing maps with pdfme, where maps would be embedded in the PDF together with other content.

[hand-dot]

That's an interesting idea. I'd be happy if you could go ahead and implement it, then report back.

[dkastl]

I was able to work on a MapImage plugin, following the plugin documentation page and the signature example. Thanks for all these examples, which were really helpful!

I published an initial version in my project fork: https://github.com/dkastl/pdfme/tree/ftr/map-schema

The plugin creates an interactive map (when set to editable) using OpenLayers. It has two simple fields to specify a point location, which will be drawn as a point feature on the map. In future versions I want to make this more flexible, but for now this was just a test.

There are a few things I'm struggling with:

(1) There is no defaultValue for maps as dataUrl, so I need to create one right after the map has been created for the first time. However, onChange(data) only works in "edit" mode, and after some try & error I could get the best result by writing to the schema.data property: https://github.com/dkastl/pdfme/blob/ftr/map-schema/playground/src/plugins/map/index.ts#L17-L19 Not sure if this is a good idea. Having a few events to listen to, or a function to update the data would be really helpful. There are still cases where the dataUrl of the map is not what is shown on the screen (probably an old version of the dataUrl).

(2) Some map layers require time to fetch map tiles for example. So I needed to delay creating the dataUrl. Otherwise the canvas will be empty. It would be very convenient, if update of the dataUrl could be initiated for example before print generation.

(3) It seems the UI completely rebuilds every time there is a change. So the map element also rebuilds completely. There are cases where I had multiple concurrent calls, and in combindation with waiting for tiles to load this can cause lots of headaches.

if someone finds such a plugin useful, let me know. If you have advice how to write things better or any other feedback, that's very appreciated.

My goal is to replace an implementation using https://mapfish.github.io/mapfish-print-doc/#/overview with PDFme. It's part of another Open Source project: https://gtt-project.org/

[hand-dot]

Hey @dkastl ,

First of all, Thank you for creating plugin!!
I'm happy to see such an interesting plugin. It was worth creating the mechanism of the plugin.

I will answer your questions.

Regarding 1,
This is a kind of hack, because the viewer only renders based on the input value(latitude and longitude).

Regarding 2,
I'm not sure if I fully understand your intention, but I don't think passing a base64 image generated in the UI as an input is a good method. My advice is basically the same as above, but you should generate images based on input value(latitude and longitude) and then render them in the PDF.

Regarding 3,
Could you please show me the specific steps where re-rendering occurs and a screen recording?

[hand-dot]

I have created a schema for the signature.

Playground: playground.pdfme.com
Code: https://github.com/pdfme/pdfme-playground/blob/main/src/plugins/signature.ts

[peteward]

this is very cool!

[peteward]

In pdfme v2, we forked our version so that we could allow editors to mix dynamic and static content within a single text schema:

We will look to re-implement this within v3 as a custom schema. However, we will consider ways to improve both UX and functionality.

One idea I had was to allow editors to introduce multiple variables into a single text schema simply by surrounding them with { } when typing, e.g.:

Hi {name}, thanks for buying {product}, we hope you enjoy it.

• This allows the style, sizing and spacing of the text with multiple dynamic variables
• Also just static text schema with no variables at all.

Unfortunately, I think this is probably not possible right now as the relationship of input vars to schema is probably 1-to-1.
I will investigate this further in the coming weeks and see what we can do.

[hand-dot]

How about accepting a JSON string as an input variable, and then parsing it into an object for internal expansion during rendering?

[peteward]

good idea!
this would mean we couldn't share variables between other schemas, but I don't think this is a problem.

[hand-dot]

MEMO

• readOnlyText
• line
• rectangle
• circle

[hand-dot]

ref: #320

[dkastl]

Not sure if this makes sense, but a set of "common" types could ensure that input data is formatted correctly.

With "common types" I mean for example:

• Numbers (which can be even distinguish between integer or float for example)
• Boolean ... maybe this could be rendered as checkboxes for example
• Date/time (timestamp), duration

Or others like:

• Hyperlink
• Currency
• List (simple or key/value) or enums ... could be shown as dropdowns

Do you already have some sort of documentation how to correctly add plugins/schema?

[hand-dot]

Do you already have some sort of documentation how to correctly add plugins/schema?

Yes, https://pdfme.com/docs/custom-schemas

[hand-dot]

ref: #319

[AdamD2L]

Hi ... I would need a checkbox schema :) ... thank you

[hand-dot]

Hi @AdamD2L,

Could you please clarify the specifications and create an issue for it? For instance, if a checkbox box is prepared on the PDF, there may be several options, such as wanting to draw only the check.

I would like you to suggest something that meets your needs and is easy for other users to use as well. Once the specifications are clear, it seems possible to implement them.

[AdamD2L]

Hi, thank you @hand-dot.
The user can insert a checkbox field
The user can choose to insert the box or just the tick symbol
The user can choose the tick symbol : tick, cross, ...
The user can change the size and position of the check box with mouse or by entering values
The user can choose the color of the tick symbol and the color of the box border and background
The user can change the alignment of the checkbox

It would be cool to have that ! Thank you !

[LeandroBanaszeski]

Hi... I had a need in the image schema, I made a change to meet it, an opacity option in the images, a practical example, like a watermark. It would be interesting to be in the Git Hub source code, so I don't need to control the source separately.

Change follows:

Result:

[hand-dot]

@LeandroBanaszeski
Great, I think it's excellent. Could you create a PR? I would be happy to review it and merge it.

[jedimonkey]

I've started some dev on making a form text field plugin, it's like a cut down text plugin, but means the output is editable in the final pdf. Is the intent to make plugins stand alone, or move them into the main pdfme/plugins module?
I noticed that the barcode plugin is in the playground code, not plugins. There is a couple of things that would be handy if they are exported from the plugins code base, so I can reuse existing functionality and types if you new plugins to be external.

[hand-dot]

Hey @jedimonkey ,

We plan to integrate into the pdfme/schemas module only those things that are highly versatile and desired by many users, and only if developers contribute to pdfme.

No, the barcode plugin is not in the playground. It's located here: https://github.com/pdfme/pdfme/tree/main/packages/schemas/src/barcodes

There is a couple of things that would be handy if they are exported from the plugins code base, so I can reuse existing functionality and types if you new plugins to be external.

What exactly are you referring to? Please let me know, and I can export them as needed.

[jedimonkey]

whoops! not barcode, I meant signature!
All good - what you are saying makes sense. I'll work out what bits make sense to export and then can give you a list to discuss. :)

also - keep up the great work! This is a brilliant library, I've built pdf writers from scratch before (in php, many many years ago) and can appreciate how much of a pita they can be!

[hand-dot]

Thank you! I'll be waiting, so feel free to post again whenever you like.

[giovanni-orciuolo]

Would be really nice to have support for checkboxes and radioboxes! Going further, it would be even cooler to have support for conditional rendering of additional static data/form inputs based on the state of such checkboxes/radioboxes.

[vpn-dev]

Hey @hand-dot do you have any plugin coded which is like a row container having no. of columns like flex row and children will be reltive to that parent container

[hand-dot]

Hey @vpn-dev
No, I don't have one.
What kind of thing are you trying to make?

[vpn-dev]

Kazam_screencast_00005.webm

@hand-dot as you can see in above video I am adding one roq with 2 columns and in those columns separate fields like image and heading , as shown in video now column has some properties like padding or align-content which also affect children fields/widgets..

this kind of thing i am saying its like html builder kind of thing

[omorShahriar]

hi @hand-dot , you are doing some amazing work there. I am a freelancer and using pdfme in one of my ongoing projects. Your library is the nicest abstraction that meet our needs. We understand that pdfme is under ongoing development. here are some features we would love to have. Fillable checkboxes, options, calendar date picker. We are thinking of creating our own plugins for the time being. If anyone from the community have such solutions already built, please do share. That would be really helpful.

[kingsnow129]

Hi @hand-dot, Here are 3 requirements I'm not sure it's already accomplished.

1. Generate PDF with dynamic pictures
   For example
   There is a checklist, and each check item may have none or multiple pictures.
   And the requirement is to export all the check items and pictures in one PDF.
2. Report header/footer which the whole PDF has one header at the beginning and one footer at the end. And Page header/footer which will shown for each page.
3. According to the data hide/show some fields, don't need to create different templates for various scenarios.

[gmartini20]

I was looking for a way to create a field that would be editable after the PDF is exported similar to what @jedimonkey mentioned here. I wasn't able to find support to it on the lib or any plugin. Posting it here in case someone knows a plugin or a workaround to achieve it. Thanks