PDF::Writer(3pm)

💖 PDF::Writer — the manual, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, so this is PDF::Writer(3pm), and it's genuinely one of those modules that just gets you. no gatekeeping here, let's go. ✨

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🎀 NAME 🎀

PDF::Writer — a PDF writer abstraction layer. that's the whole vibe. it writes PDFs, but like, in a delegating way. iconic.

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🦋 VERSION 🦋

This document describes version 0.05 of PDF::Writer, released Oct 25, 2005.

(yeah she's an elder. still slays tho. periodt.)

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

the classic. the moment. here's how you use her:

use PDF::Writer;

# Or, to explicitly specify a back-end ...
use PDF::Writer 'pdflib';
use PDF::Writer 'pdfapi2';
use PDF::Writer 'mock';

my $writer = PDF::Writer->new;

so like, you can just use PDF::Writer; and let her pick, OR you can be extra and name your back-end directly. both are valid. both are cute. 🫶

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so here's the whole point of this module: it's a generalized API that lets a module generating PDFs transparently target multiple backends without changing its code. like, write once, swap the engine underneath, no drama. that's the dream fr fr.

The currently supported backends are:

• PDF::API2 — available from CPAN. (the popular one, the it-girl of backends.)
• PDFlib (versions 3+) — available from "/www.pdflib.com" in http;. There is both a pay and a free version. PDF::Writer will work with both, within their limitations. Please see the appropriate documentation for details. (yes, within their limitations. read that part twice, bestie.)
• Mock — this lets modules that target PDF::Writer write their tests against a mock interface. Please see PDF::Writer::mock for more information. (testing girlies rise up 🧚)

okay now the important logic bit, don't skip: if both PDF::API2 and pdflib_pl are available, PDF::API2 is preferred. If neither is available, a run-time exception will be thrown. and listen — you must explicitly load the PDF::Writer::mock driver if you wish to use it. she will not load herself. she is not that kind of girl. 💀

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🌸 METHODS 🌸

• new() — this acts as a factory, loading the appropriate PDF::Writer driver. that's it. that's the method. she's a factory, she makes the right thing happen, she doesn't make a whole speech about it. 👑

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🌈 CODE COVERAGE 🌈

We use Devel::Cover to test the code coverage of our tests. Below is the Devel::Cover report on this module's test suite.

(the report lives below this line in the original page — we're just telling you it's down there, bestie, we're not skipping it, it's just literally below.)

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💜 AUTHORS 💜

Originally written by:

Autrijus Tang <autrijus@autrijus.org>

Currently maintained by:

Rob Kinyon <rob.kinyon@iinteractive.com>

Stevan Little <stevan.little@iinteractive.com>

Thanks to Infinity Interactive for generously donating our time. 🫶 real ones fr.

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright 2004, 2005 by Autrijus Tang <autrijus@autrijus.org>.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

See <http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 this one's from perl v5.34.0, dated 2022-06-16, and yeah the footer says PDF::Writer(3pm) — so like, she's been sitting pretty in the perl docs this whole time. go forth and generate PDFs. i'm obsessed. 💖✨🦋