[mapserver-dev] Re: [mapserver-users] produce hardcopy maps

[Brent Fraser]

Daniel,

  Yes, I've compiled the preliminary Haru-enabled code attached to the trac ticket.  It's encouraging to have an alternative to PDFlib (there's too much that PDFlib-lite will never be able to do: layers, tags, etc), and while I think that Haru is still pretty green (it won't do OpenType fonts, layers, or tags for example), it is a better long-term answer for our PDF production (hey, it's Open Source!).  I've asked Assefa for his latest mappdf.c and Haru.lib with changes to support Haru on Windows (mine produced an invalid PDF), but I have not received it yet...

  Apart from few minor styling-related bug fixes in the PDFlib flavor of mappdf.c, my main effort will be to add FORMATOPTIONs for proper scaling and layout in the PDF output so most of it should be valid for PDFlib or Haru.  I'll reserve some of the major enhancements (like embedded 24-bit raster images) for the Haru flavor.

Thanks!
Brent

Daniel Morissette wrote:
> Brent Fraser wrote:
>>
>>  I would agree that the current implementation of PDF output is not 
>> suitable for producing printed maps.  I'll be looking into fixing some 
>> of the open tickets (and other bugs I've found), and intend to add 
>> some additional FORMATOPTIONs to improve the setting of scale and 
>> resolution.  Hopefully the changes will make it into version 5.4 
>> (release in first quarter of 2009?).
>>
> 
> 
> Brent,
> 
> I'm glad to hear that you'd like to work on PDF issues, that's much 
> needed, but before you invest time in this, you should be aware that 
> there is also a switch from pdflib to libharu in the air:
> 
>   http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/ticket/2661
> 
> Not sure if/when that's going to happen, but it may be a good idea to 
> share your plans on the -dev list before you spend time on this.
> 
> Daniel