Auto height for a specific row in a table

[CT-34589]

trying to get the last row to scale based on how much text there is, but there always seems to be a gap even though it is scaling.

import os
from fpdf import FPDF, XPos, YPos
import fitz
import json


class ArmyPromo(FPDF):
    def __init__(self, members_data):
        super().__init__()
        self.members_data = members_data
        self.output_filepath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "VCL", "Promotion.pdf")
        self.img = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "images", "resilient.png")

    def header(self):
        # Logo
        img_width = 33  # Width of the image in mm
        img_height = 33  # Height of the image in mm
        img_x = 10  # X position of the image
        img_y = 8  # Y position of the image
        self.image(self.img, img_x, img_y, img_width)

        # Calculate vertical center alignment
        text_y = img_y + img_height / 2 - 5  # Align text to the center of the image height

        # Set the font and move the text to be centered vertically with the image
        self.set_y(text_y)
        self.set_font('Helvetica', 'B', 20)
        self.cell(0, 10, 'Army Promotion Form', 0, new_x=XPos.LMARGIN, new_y=YPos.NEXT, align='C')
        self.ln(20)

    def footer(self):
        self.set_y(-15)
        self.set_font('Helvetica', 'I', 10)
        self.set_text_color(128)
        self.cell(0, 10, '104th Battalion MilSim - RAS Vanguard', 0, new_x=XPos.RIGHT, new_y=YPos.TOP, align='C')

    def add_table_row(self, title, value, height=10, is_reason=False, reason_height=0):
        left_column_color = (220, 220, 220)  # Light gray for the left column
        self.set_fill_color(*left_column_color)

        if is_reason:
            # Make the "Reason" label box as tall as the reason text box
            self.cell(50, reason_height, title, 1, new_x=XPos.RIGHT, new_y=YPos.TOP, align='L', fill=True)
            self.multi_cell(140, height, value, 1, align='L')  # Reduced line height
        else:
            self.cell(50, height, title, 1, new_x=XPos.RIGHT, new_y=YPos.TOP, align='L', fill=True)
            self.cell(140, height, value, 1, new_x=XPos.LMARGIN, new_y=YPos.NEXT, align='L')

        self.set_fill_color(255, 255, 255)  # Reset background color for next cells

    def add_member_promotion(self, member_name, member_data):
        self.set_font("Helvetica", size=12)

        # First, add the member's name within the table
        self.add_table_row("Member", member_name)

        # Add other details
        self.add_table_row("New Rank", member_data.get("New Rank", ""))
        self.add_table_row("Current Position", member_data.get("Current Position", ""))
        self.add_table_row("Company", member_data.get("Company", ""))
        self.add_table_row("Platoon", member_data.get("Platoon", ""))

        # Calculate height for the "Reason" box by counting the lines
        reason_text = member_data.get("Reason", "")
        self.set_font('Helvetica', '', 12)
        reason_width = 140
        line_height = 6  # Reduced line height for tighter spacing
        num_lines = self.get_string_width(reason_text) / reason_width
        reason_height = max(line_height * num_lines, line_height)

        # Add the reason row with the adjusted height
        self.add_table_row("Reason", reason_text, height=line_height, is_reason=True, reason_height=reason_height)
        self.ln(10)  # Add gap between members

    def generate_promo_pdf(self):
        self.add_page()

        for member_name, member_data in self.members_data.items():
            self.add_member_promotion(member_name, member_data)

        self.output(self.output_filepath)

        # Convert the PDF to PNG using fitz
        doc = fitz.open(self.output_filepath)
        for page_num in range(doc.page_count):
            page = doc.load_page(page_num)
            pixmap = page.get_pixmap(dpi=300)
            img = pixmap.tobytes()
            with open(f'images/{member_name.replace(" ", "_")}_page_{page_num + 1}.png', 'wb') as f:
                f.write(img)
        doc.close()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    members_json = '''
    {
      "CPL Ollie CT-34589": {
        "New Rank": "Warrant Officer",
        "Current Position": "Platoon NCO",
        "Company": "30th Ares",
        "Platoon": "Howler",
        "Reason": "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Praesent non sapien vel erat convallis convallis. Proin malesuada gravida orci, et ultricies sapien aliquet et. Integer quis sapien nec libero malesuada vulputate. Ut vitae felis sapien. Integer accumsan ante nec quam vehicula, id lacinia ipsum pellentesque. Donec fermentum vestibulum odio, at luctus orci suscipit sit amet. Mauris id mi nec dolor tristique sollicitudin non sed tortor. Curabitur eget nunc vehicula, dictum eros vel, consectetur quam. Donec vel vestibulum urna. Sed convallis libero vitae velit pharetra, sed suscipit"
      }
    }
    '''

    members_data = json.loads(members_json)
    promo_form = ArmyPromo(members_data)
    promo_form.generate_promo_pdf()

[Lucas-C]

Hi @CT-34589

I haven't tested your code, but it seems that your are not using the methods provided by fpdf2 to create tables:
https://py-pdf.github.io/fpdf2/Tables.html

Have you considered using those features instead?

[CT-34589]

i was trying to port over from a latex compiler based pdf generator, is that what i use for my uni stuff, and I figured out a way to sort of do what i was trying there. Currently I'm trying to rewrite it in ways similar to the docs but progress is slow to say the least

[CT-34589]

would there be a way to amend the current code to get the bottom of the table to be level as it seems to work as intended but looks like an alignment issue

[CT-34589]

@Lucas-C
got the tables working only slight thing is adjusting the line spacing in the cells

as this looks a bit weird being separated by so much whitespace

    def generate_tables(self):
       PromotionData = (
           ("WO Ollie CT-34589", "Warrant Officer", "Company NCO", "30th Ares", "Howler",
            "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Praesent non sapien vel erat convallis convallis. Proin malesuada gravida orci, et ultricies sapien aliquet et. Integer quis sapien nec libero malesuada vulputate. Ut vitae felis sapien. Integer accumsan ante nec quam vehicula, id lacinia ipsum pellentesque. Donec fermentum vestibulum odio, at luctus orci suscipit sit amet. Mauris id mi nec dolor tristique sollicitudin non sed tortor. Curabitur eget nunc vehicula, dictum eros vel, consectetur quam. Donec vel vestibulum urna. Sed convallis libero vitae"),
           ("CT TestA CT-0001", "Lance Corporal", "CT", "1st Test", "A Platoon", "Reasoning here, presumably something good..."),
           ("CT TestA CT-0001", "Lance Corporal", "CT", "1st Test", "A Platoon",
            "Reasoning here, presumably something good..."),
           ("CT TestA CT-0001", "Lance Corporal", "CT", "1st Test", "A Platoon",
            "Reasoning here, presumably something good..."),
       )

       self.set_font("Helvetica", size=11)
       style = FontFace(fill_color=(220, 220, 220))

       for entry in PromotionData:
           # Calculate the height needed for this table
           num_rows = 6  # Member, New Rank, Current Position, Company, Platoon, Reason
           line_height = 10
           reason_text = entry[5]
           reason_width = 150
           num_lines = self.get_string_width(reason_text) / reason_width
           reason_height = max(line_height * num_lines, line_height)
           table_height = (num_rows - 1) * line_height + reason_height + 10  # Calculate the height for the table

           # Check if the table fits on the current page
           if self.get_y() + table_height > self.h - self.b_margin:
               self.add_page()

           # Create the table
           with self.table(text_align=("CENTER", "LEFT"), width=180, col_widths=(40, 150), first_row_as_headings=False,
                           cell_fill_color=(220, 220, 220)) as table:
               for i, data in enumerate(entry):
                   row = table.row()
                   if i == 0:
                       row.cell("Member", style=style)
                       row.cell(data)
                   elif i == 1:
                       row.cell("New Rank", style=style)
                       row.cell(data)
                   elif i == 2:
                       row.cell("Current Position", style=style)
                       row.cell(data)
                   elif i == 3:
                       row.cell("Company", style=style)
                       row.cell(data)
                   elif i == 4:
                       row.cell("Platoon", style=style)
                       row.cell(data)
                   elif i == 5:
                       row.cell("Reason", style=style)
                       # Reduce the line height for the "Reason" cell
                       row.cell(data)
           self.ln(10)  # add space between the tables

[andersonhc]

Regarding your initial code, you are calculating the height of the reason column by assuming that the number of lines is the total string length divided by the line width. However, the multi_cell() function performs line breaks at specific points according to its line-breaking algorithm, which may result in more lines than expected. Additionally, you should account for margins and cell border sizes. A much easier way to achieve your goal would be to render the right side first, and then the left side, like this:

def add_table_row(self, title, value, height=10, is_reason=False, reason_height=0):
    left_column_color = (220, 220, 220)  # Light gray for the left column
    self.set_fill_color(*left_column_color)

    row_y = self.y
    # rendering the right side first
    self.x = 50 + self.l_margin
    self.multi_cell(w=140, h=6, text=value, border=1, align="L", new_x=XPos.LMARGIN, new_y=YPos.NEXT)
    row_height = self.y - row_y
    # render the left side    self.y = row_y
    self.cell(w=50, h=row_height, text=title, border=1, new_x=XPos.RIGHT, new_y=YPos.NEXT, align='L', fill=True)
        
    self.set_fill_color(255, 255, 255)  # Reset background color for next cells

The code above still don't account for scenarios like page break pushing the table to another page, but since you are already moving to using 'Table' it won't be a problem.

By the way, you can adjust the space between lines using the line_height parameter, like:

with self.table(text_align=("CENTER", "LEFT"), width=180, col_widths=(40, 150), first_row_as_headings=False,
                           cell_fill_color=(220, 220, 220), line_height=6) as table: