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Convert HTML to PDF

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  • JonBJ JonB

    @Marcus-Barnet
    Note that @artwaw has just posted before you. He suggests that QPdfWriter (didn't yet exist when I did my stuff for this a few years ago) is preferable to WebKit/Engine, on the cumbersome-ness front. He may well know what he is talking about! But for QTextDocument I'm not sure it will support the raw HTML you seem to have? Maybe @artwaw will comment further?

    artwawA Offline
    artwawA Offline
    artwaw
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    @JonB /me will.
    It all depends on the document. Supported subset is documented here: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/richtext-html-subset.html

    If that doesn't work, well... Further up I posted links to binaries of QtWebkit, just download and put into your Qt tree. As for printing - I'd need about half an hour to dig out how I did it with webkit in the past.

    For more information please re-read.

    Kind Regards,
    Artur

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • M Marcus Barnet

      @JonB said in Convert HTML to PDF:

      @Marcus-Barnet
      Be aware that QTextDocument's support for HTML is "limited". To that subset specified by Qt.

      When you talk about

      Unfortunately, I can't get rid of the HTML part since the webpage is formatted in a very specific way.

      it makes me think you may need full, unadulterated HTML support. Like that in a web browser.

      You can use the older Qt webkit that you mention. However, that is no longer supplied with Qt, and you'll likely have to build it yourself. If you do not want to do that, are you aware that Qt replaced that with Qt WebEngine, which can also be used to display a web page and print it, including to PDF?

      Yes, it's for this reason that I skipped the QTextDocument months ago.
      I remember that someone in this forum (may be you) told me that is supports only a limited set of HTML tags while my webpage is highly formatted.

      I do not think I have the skills to be able to build my myself the package, may be I should try Qt WebEngine, I need to check if there is any code example about that on google.

      artwawA Offline
      artwawA Offline
      artwaw
      wrote on last edited by artwaw
      #12

      @Marcus-Barnet Got it. Not overly complicated.

      I write this under the assumption that you do not need to display the page.
      Once you have QtWebkit installed, you take QWebPage, usual QWebPage page; or something.

      Important concept with webkit is that (in our context) page manipulation like printing is not done on QWebPage object but on frames. Each QWebPage has at least one frame accessible via mainFrame() method. That is the key.

      So, to set the content we do page->mainFrame()->setHtml(QString html);
      To print, we need to setup the printer (plot twist! NOT QPdfWriter) and simply call page->mainFrame()->print(QPrinter *printer);
      To print to pdf from QPrinter you need to call during the setup QPrinter::setOutputFormat(QPrinter::PdfFormat); and QPrinter::setOutputFileName(QString fname);

      Documentation is here:

      https://qtwebkit.github.io/doc/qtwebkit/qwebpage.html
      https://qtwebkit.github.io/doc/qtwebkit/qwebframe.htm
      https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qprinter.html

      At least that's what I did in my last project and I have to say it worked rather well.

      The reason I opt so often towards QtWebkit is that for solutions like this it is really lightweight and fast. Say, for headless processing or static html. For full fledged web applications it might be not enough but for like the above? Ideal.

      Have fun!

      Edit: I corrected calls to QWebFrame methods since I forgot that mainFrame() returns pointer.

      For more information please re-read.

      Kind Regards,
      Artur

      1 Reply Last reply
      1
      • M Offline
        M Offline
        Marcus Barnet
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        Thank you a lot! I'll check everything this evening and I'll let you know if it worked!

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • JonBJ Offline
          JonBJ Offline
          JonB
          wrote on last edited by JonB
          #14

          You can do the same as @artwaw's approach of using PDF printer from QWebEnginePage. Absolutely nothing wrong with QtWebKit QWebPage. Just I don't compile anything Qt, just so you know if you have any compile problems.

          artwawA 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • JonBJ JonB

            You can do the same as @artwaw's approach of using PDF printer from QWebEnginePage. Absolutely nothing wrong with QtWebKit QWebPage. Just I don't compile anything Qt, just so you know if you have any compile problems.

            artwawA Offline
            artwawA Offline
            artwaw
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            @JonB side note and part explanation: for me QWebEngine is a no go on Windows as it requires Microsoft environment. I never managed to set it up properly, for some reason I saw my programs working well on mingw failing to compile I checked no further. Call me spoiled but...

            For more information please re-read.

            Kind Regards,
            Artur

            1 Reply Last reply
            1
            • JoeCFDJ Offline
              JoeCFDJ Offline
              JoeCFD
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtwebengine-webenginewidgets-html2pdf-example.html
              does this one help?

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • M Offline
                M Offline
                Marcus Barnet
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                Thank you to all, guys, for your support!

                Unfortunately, I think using qtwebkit requires some skills, since I downloaded this one: https://download.qt.io/snapshots/ci/qtwebkit/5.212/latest/qtwebkit/qtwebkit-Windows-Windows_10-MSVC2019-Windows-Windows_10-X86_64.7z and I got a folder that I moved to my QT directory:

                C:\Qt\5.15.0\qtwebkit-Windows-Windows_10-MSVC2019-Windows-Windows_10-X86_64
                
                08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          .
                08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          ..
                08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          bin
                08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          include
                08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          lib
                24/09/2020  14:15    <DIR>          mkspecs
                08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          qml
                

                and I do not know how to proceed from this step. I tried to search on the forum, but I didn't found any topic about this (only one, but it was for Linux while I'm on Windows 10).
                My current program uses msvc2019_64.

                I can't understand how I can build this package.

                artwawA 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • M Marcus Barnet

                  Thank you to all, guys, for your support!

                  Unfortunately, I think using qtwebkit requires some skills, since I downloaded this one: https://download.qt.io/snapshots/ci/qtwebkit/5.212/latest/qtwebkit/qtwebkit-Windows-Windows_10-MSVC2019-Windows-Windows_10-X86_64.7z and I got a folder that I moved to my QT directory:

                  C:\Qt\5.15.0\qtwebkit-Windows-Windows_10-MSVC2019-Windows-Windows_10-X86_64
                  
                  08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          .
                  08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          ..
                  08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          bin
                  08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          include
                  08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          lib
                  24/09/2020  14:15    <DIR>          mkspecs
                  08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          qml
                  

                  and I do not know how to proceed from this step. I tried to search on the forum, but I didn't found any topic about this (only one, but it was for Linux while I'm on Windows 10).
                  My current program uses msvc2019_64.

                  I can't understand how I can build this package.

                  artwawA Offline
                  artwawA Offline
                  artwaw
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  @Marcus-Barnet It should be already build. Just reopen QtCreator and add Qt += webkit in your .pro file.
                  I have also Qt += webkitwidgets but I don't think you need them.

                  At any rate you can then do #include <QWebPage> in the header files.

                  For more information please re-read.

                  Kind Regards,
                  Artur

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  1
                  • M Offline
                    M Offline
                    Marcus Barnet
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    where should I copy the files contained in the archive I downloaded?

                    This is the path where my qmake is:

                    C:\Qt\5.15.0\msvc2019_64\bin\qmake.exe
                    

                    should I copy the content of:

                    C:\Qt\5.15.0\qtwebkit-Windows-Windows_10-MSVC2019-Windows-Windows_10-X86_64
                    08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          .
                    08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          ..
                    08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          bin
                    08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          include
                    08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          lib
                    24/09/2020  14:15    <DIR>          mkspecs
                    08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          qml
                    

                    in this directory?

                    C:\Qt\5.15.0\msvc2019_64
                    
                    19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          .
                    19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          ..
                    29/07/2020  10:15    <DIR>          bin
                    19/07/2020  21:34    <DIR>          doc
                    19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          include
                    19/07/2020  21:39    <DIR>          lib
                    19/07/2020  21:34    <DIR>          mkspecs
                    19/07/2020  21:34    <DIR>          phrasebooks
                    19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          plugins
                    19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          qml
                    19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          resources
                    19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          translations
                    

                    Sorry for the stupid question, but I can't understand how to use these files.
                    Usually, in linux, there is /src and /lib folders that you can pass as parameter to the compiler.

                    artwawA 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • M Marcus Barnet

                      where should I copy the files contained in the archive I downloaded?

                      This is the path where my qmake is:

                      C:\Qt\5.15.0\msvc2019_64\bin\qmake.exe
                      

                      should I copy the content of:

                      C:\Qt\5.15.0\qtwebkit-Windows-Windows_10-MSVC2019-Windows-Windows_10-X86_64
                      08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          .
                      08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          ..
                      08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          bin
                      08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          include
                      08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          lib
                      24/09/2020  14:15    <DIR>          mkspecs
                      08/06/2021  22:50    <DIR>          qml
                      

                      in this directory?

                      C:\Qt\5.15.0\msvc2019_64
                      
                      19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          .
                      19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          ..
                      29/07/2020  10:15    <DIR>          bin
                      19/07/2020  21:34    <DIR>          doc
                      19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          include
                      19/07/2020  21:39    <DIR>          lib
                      19/07/2020  21:34    <DIR>          mkspecs
                      19/07/2020  21:34    <DIR>          phrasebooks
                      19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          plugins
                      19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          qml
                      19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          resources
                      19/07/2020  21:36    <DIR>          translations
                      

                      Sorry for the stupid question, but I can't understand how to use these files.
                      Usually, in linux, there is /src and /lib folders that you can pass as parameter to the compiler.

                      artwawA Offline
                      artwawA Offline
                      artwaw
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      @Marcus-Barnet yes. exactly there, all folders' content to the respective folders.

                      For more information please re-read.

                      Kind Regards,
                      Artur

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      1
                      • M Offline
                        M Offline
                        Marcus Barnet
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        thank you, I did as you suggested and now I get no errors when I try to call QWebPage.

                        Later, this evening, I will try to use it for the PDF and I will update you.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        2
                        • M Offline
                          M Offline
                          Marcus Barnet
                          wrote on last edited by Marcus Barnet
                          #22

                          I tried to convert the html to pdf, it works fine even if this process doesn't include a PNG image which is included in the HTML page.

                          Unfortunately, this image is very important since it is a logo which must be included also in the PDF file. (I use the <img> tag to insert the image)
                          Is there any specific reason for not including the image?

                          Moreover, I noticed that the table borders are displayed in grey color while they should be black.
                          This is the code I'm using:

                            ```
                                 QWebPage page;
                                 page.mainFrame()->setHtml(html_scheda);
                          
                                 QPrinter printer(QPrinter::HighResolution);
                                 printer.setOrientation(QPrinter::Portrait);
                                 printer.setOutputFormat(QPrinter::PdfFormat);
                                 printer.setPaperSize(QPrinter::A4);
                                 printer.setPageMargins(QMarginsF(5, 5, 5, 5));
                                 QString fileName = "C:/folder/test.pdf";
                                 printer.setOutputFileName(fileName);
                          
                                 page.mainFrame()->print(&printer);
                          
                          artwawA 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • M Marcus Barnet

                            I tried to convert the html to pdf, it works fine even if this process doesn't include a PNG image which is included in the HTML page.

                            Unfortunately, this image is very important since it is a logo which must be included also in the PDF file. (I use the <img> tag to insert the image)
                            Is there any specific reason for not including the image?

                            Moreover, I noticed that the table borders are displayed in grey color while they should be black.
                            This is the code I'm using:

                              ```
                                   QWebPage page;
                                   page.mainFrame()->setHtml(html_scheda);
                            
                                   QPrinter printer(QPrinter::HighResolution);
                                   printer.setOrientation(QPrinter::Portrait);
                                   printer.setOutputFormat(QPrinter::PdfFormat);
                                   printer.setPaperSize(QPrinter::A4);
                                   printer.setPageMargins(QMarginsF(5, 5, 5, 5));
                                   QString fileName = "C:/folder/test.pdf";
                                   printer.setOutputFileName(fileName);
                            
                                   page.mainFrame()->print(&printer);
                            
                            artwawA Offline
                            artwawA Offline
                            artwaw
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            @Marcus-Barnet from documentation: External objects referenced in the content are located relative to baseUrl. I'd search in that direction.

                            For more information please re-read.

                            Kind Regards,
                            Artur

                            M 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • artwawA artwaw

                              @Marcus-Barnet from documentation: External objects referenced in the content are located relative to baseUrl. I'd search in that direction.

                              M Offline
                              M Offline
                              Marcus Barnet
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              @artwaw said in Convert HTML to PDF:

                              @Marcus-Barnet from documentation: External objects referenced in the content are located relative to baseUrl. I'd search in that direction.

                              The problem is that the logo is loaded from the network, so I do not know what kind of base_url I should specify.

                              This is the HTML where I load the picture:

                              html_scheda = "<table align=\"center\" border=\"0\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 21cm; height: 29 cm;\"> <tbody> <tr> <td style=\"width: 100%;\"> <table border=\"0\" style=\"height: 146px; width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"> <tbody> <tr style=\"height: 0px;\"> <td style=\"width: 50%; height: 146px; text-align: center;\" rowspan=\"4\"><img width=\"200\" align=\"center\" src=\"http://www.robo-dyne.com/pics/pump_logo.png\" alt=\"\" /></td>
                              

                              What should I use as baseurl in this situation?

                              artwawA 2 Replies Last reply
                              0
                              • A Offline
                                A Offline
                                AlexMaly
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #25

                                We had the same problem and while webkit is viable option it does not support everything we needed.
                                We tried a few options, but the best result was produced with using chrome:
                                It can do it in headless mode
                                google-chrome --headless --disable-gpu --print-to-pdf=file1.pdf http://www.example.com/

                                So if you could make sure chrome is installed on your system, this would be an approach I recommend.

                                M 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  Marcus Barnet
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #26

                                  Does this work also on Windows?

                                  Even if I would prefer to use QT functionalities to export the PDF.

                                  JonBJ 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • M Marcus Barnet

                                    Does this work also on Windows?

                                    Even if I would prefer to use QT functionalities to export the PDF.

                                    JonBJ Offline
                                    JonBJ Offline
                                    JonB
                                    wrote on last edited by JonB
                                    #27

                                    @Marcus-Barnet
                                    I will throw this in. I do not know if it is right/will help, but....

                                    I previously suggested you use the supported/supplied Qt WebEngine, not Qt WebKit. But for whatever reason you have gone down the WebKit route :) I do not compile anything Qt (Linux). For Windows I do not know whether you have to compile or whether you download already-built. I gather WebEngine requires MSVC, not MinGW, but that seems to be what you are using anyway.

                                    Web Engine uses the chromium engine. From @AlexMaly's post, I'm thinking/hoping this would do the necessary "chrome" facility for you, and access external URLs without problem?

                                    You would have to check. I leave you with this possibility....

                                    M 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • JonBJ JonB

                                      @Marcus-Barnet
                                      I will throw this in. I do not know if it is right/will help, but....

                                      I previously suggested you use the supported/supplied Qt WebEngine, not Qt WebKit. But for whatever reason you have gone down the WebKit route :) I do not compile anything Qt (Linux). For Windows I do not know whether you have to compile or whether you download already-built. I gather WebEngine requires MSVC, not MinGW, but that seems to be what you are using anyway.

                                      Web Engine uses the chromium engine. From @AlexMaly's post, I'm thinking/hoping this would do the necessary "chrome" facility for you, and access external URLs without problem?

                                      You would have to check. I leave you with this possibility....

                                      M Offline
                                      M Offline
                                      Marcus Barnet
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #28

                                      @JonB said in Convert HTML to PDF:

                                      @Marcus-Barnet
                                      I will throw this in. I do not know if it is right/will help, but....

                                      I previously suggested you use the supported/supplied Qt WebEngine, not Qt WebKit. But for whatever reason you have gone down the WebKit route :) I do not compile anything Qt (Linux). For Windows I do not know whether you have to compile or whether you download already-built. I gather WebEngine requires MSVC, not MinGW, but that seems to be what you are using anyway.

                                      Web Engine uses the chromium engine. From @AlexMaly's post, I'm thinking/hoping this would do the necessary "chrome" facility for you, and access external URLs without problem?

                                      You would have to check. I leave you with this possibility....

                                      I didn't use WebEngine because I thought that WebKit was easier! But it is not working as expected, so I'll give it a try! :)
                                      I think I should use this one: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtwebengine-webenginewidgets-html2pdf-example.html as an example and make it fit my needs, is it correct?

                                      Thank you!

                                      JonBJ 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • M Marcus Barnet

                                        @JonB said in Convert HTML to PDF:

                                        @Marcus-Barnet
                                        I will throw this in. I do not know if it is right/will help, but....

                                        I previously suggested you use the supported/supplied Qt WebEngine, not Qt WebKit. But for whatever reason you have gone down the WebKit route :) I do not compile anything Qt (Linux). For Windows I do not know whether you have to compile or whether you download already-built. I gather WebEngine requires MSVC, not MinGW, but that seems to be what you are using anyway.

                                        Web Engine uses the chromium engine. From @AlexMaly's post, I'm thinking/hoping this would do the necessary "chrome" facility for you, and access external URLs without problem?

                                        You would have to check. I leave you with this possibility....

                                        I didn't use WebEngine because I thought that WebKit was easier! But it is not working as expected, so I'll give it a try! :)
                                        I think I should use this one: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtwebengine-webenginewidgets-html2pdf-example.html as an example and make it fit my needs, is it correct?

                                        Thank you!

                                        JonBJ Offline
                                        JonBJ Offline
                                        JonB
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #29

                                        @Marcus-Barnet said in Convert HTML to PDF:

                                        I think I should use this one: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtwebengine-webenginewidgets-html2pdf-example.html as an example and make it fit my needs, is it correct?

                                        Indeed. I didn't know that example existed. Looks like what you are wanting to do, so seems a good starting point!

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • M Marcus Barnet

                                          @artwaw said in Convert HTML to PDF:

                                          @Marcus-Barnet from documentation: External objects referenced in the content are located relative to baseUrl. I'd search in that direction.

                                          The problem is that the logo is loaded from the network, so I do not know what kind of base_url I should specify.

                                          This is the HTML where I load the picture:

                                          html_scheda = "<table align=\"center\" border=\"0\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 21cm; height: 29 cm;\"> <tbody> <tr> <td style=\"width: 100%;\"> <table border=\"0\" style=\"height: 146px; width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"> <tbody> <tr style=\"height: 0px;\"> <td style=\"width: 50%; height: 146px; text-align: center;\" rowspan=\"4\"><img width=\"200\" align=\"center\" src=\"http://www.robo-dyne.com/pics/pump_logo.png\" alt=\"\" /></td>
                                          

                                          What should I use as baseurl in this situation?

                                          artwawA Offline
                                          artwawA Offline
                                          artwaw
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #30

                                          @Marcus-Barnet I will try to build basic webkit browser and check that for you later today. You got me curious. To all my knowledge and experience this should work just fine.

                                          For more information please re-read.

                                          Kind Regards,
                                          Artur

                                          1 Reply Last reply
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