ab PDF Catalogue

Last updated: Sunday 03 October 2010 07:41

UNIX name	Owner	Status
abpdfcatalogue	Alexander Block	stable

Version	Compatible with
0.9.6	>=4.0.4

External URL

http://www.alexander-block.net/en...ss/eZ-Systems/Personal-PDF-Catalogue

The PDF catalogue extension enables users to create their own, personalized PDF catalogue – that can be downloaded as a PDF file to the local hard disk – in two different ways:

- Exactly one common PDF catalogue using the full view of several already existing content nodes
- One or more dedicated PDF catalogues using several already existing PDF files that are stored in content objects of the class "file"

Furthermore it enables users to send dedicated PDF catalogues to other people by email, to suggest them their selection of PDF files. And finally it enables users to convert web pages (based on the full view of content nodes) to PDF documents.

Any existing PDF files, that are already available in an existing eZ Publish installation, can be used for dedicated PDF catalogues, as long as these files are stored using the content class "file" shipped with a standard eZ Publish installation. To benefit from the common PDF catalogue feature Java must be installed on the server.

A demonstration of a PDF catalogue and the up to date documentation is available here: http://www.alexander-block.net/eng/Business/eZ-Systems/Personal-PDF-Catalogue

Requirements

eZ Publish >=4.0.4
PHP with compiled in support for JSON (and optionally support for lzf de-/compression)
Content class with identifier "file" and an ezbinaryfile attribute (dedicated catalogues)
Java (common catalogue)

The PDF catalogue extension provides three new content classes used for dedicated PDF catalogues:

PDF catalogue
PDF catalogue chapter
PDF catalogue document

This means a dedicated PDF catalogue consists of one or more chapters. Each chapter is related to one or more PDF documents. A PDF document is related to exactly on PDF file (a content object of the class "file" storing a binary file with the mime type application/pdf). The PDF catalogue documents of all PDF catalogue chapters make up the pool from which a user can choose a subset to create his own, personalized PDF catalogue.

In contrast to the dedicated PDF catalogues, the common PDF catalogue is available on most of the webpages in the website frontend. It can be used to put any content node into it, from which a user can create his own PDF catalogue. Therefor the print view of each content node's full view is automatically converted into a PDF file. Finally the files will be merged together to get a catalogue.

Dedicated PDF catalogues as well as the common PDF catalogue can additionally have an introduction and an appendix that will automatically be prepended or appended whenever a user creates his own PDF catalogue. Furthermore, each PDF catalogue will get a table of contents that is created dynamically depending on the PDF documents a user has chosen. The table of contents can be configured to have a custom background (which is also a PDF document) and custom margins to support your cooperate identity.

The process of creating a personalized PDF catalogue is supported by JavaScript functionality (which is required for this extension to work) that offers drag and drop functions to the browser. Drag and drop functionality can also be used to change the order of the PDF documents in each personal PDF catalogue.