WikiPublisher | Cookbook / One Click PDF

In some environments, wiki users prefer a simplified “one click” interface for generating a PDF. This recipe provides a “PDF” link which, when clicked, bypasses the “Download” page and returns the PDF directly. It does this by building a link equivalent to that generated by the download form.

Download pdf.php Δ and install it in the pmwiki/cookbook/ directory. Then add the following code to local/config.php, after loading the wikipublisher extensions:


    include_once("$FarmD/cookbook/pdf.php");

The simplest form of the directive is (:pdf:), which produces PDF and generates a PDF of the current page. Other options are:

(:pdf-page:) — same as (:pdf:)
(:pdf-letter:) — formats the current page as a letter, assuming letter markup has been used
(:pdf-book:) — on a trail page, produces a book
(:pdf-report:) — on a trail page, produces a report
(:pdf-article:) — on a trail page, produces an article

The starred form, e.g., (:pdf*:) produces an additional, unobtrusive link to the PDF options page: PDF^¤.

An administrator can use the $ServeWikibookOptions array to set up named lists of predefined print metadata values. These can then be invoked by adding the name to the pdf directive. For example, (:pdf plain:) sets the following values:

cover=none (suppresses header and footer)
parasep=space (spaces between paragraphs)
floathere=on (turn off floating figures and tables)
colophon=off (suppress the end of document colophon)

This example produces: PDF (plain). Click the link to see the result.

Read the source code for examples of how to set up additional named lists. The full markup syntax is:


    (:pdf[-<kind>] [<option>]["<option text>"]:)

The recipe also introduces a new global variable, $SimplifyPDFInterface. If an administrator sets $SimplifyPDFInterface = 1 before loading the one click PDF recipe, the following settings are turned off:

PDF icon and options button on every page
View XML button on the “Download” page
PDF debug button
raw L^AT_EX download option

Finally, (:book TrailPageName | link text:) lets an author typeset a book from a page other than the trail page.

“How to Produce a Book” book

Contributor: John Rankin, Friday, 23 July 2010, based on suggestions from Frank.

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