template beta trials

A demo area showing the first trials of the templating system that I am working on. The beta code for using these templates is included in the present class, but is not yet finalised, nor documented.

This template produces an origami cd wallet - I know this is a bit unusual, but I'll make things like faxes and business letters next, I am just playing with this at the moment.

I have 'stolen' the idea for this from this guy, and for instructions about how to fold up these creations you are best to have a look at the pdf file from his site.

This template make basically the same cd wallet, but allows you to have a title and description on the back, and draws in the lines for you.

Note that if you are just here to make cd-wallets then I have made another version which now has more functionality, please visit it at http://ros.co.nz/cdwallet/

The system being developed for templates allows each template to be passed a couple of arrays of information (one for data, one for options). The template is actually PHP code, so is almost like a user defined class function, I am sure that this is not exactly what people had in mind for templates, but seems to me to be the simplest way to give a fully flexible system.

Try it out

Use this form to enter your title and description (multi-line allowed), and submit to produce your cd-wallet.

The file which instances the ezPdf class and calls the template, on response to this form looks like:

<?php

include('class.ezpdf.php');

$pdf =& new Cezpdf($paper);

$tid = $pdf->loadTemplate('cd_cover.tpl');
$pdf->selectFont('fonts/Helvetica');
$pdf->execTemplate($tid,array('title'=>$title,'description'=>$desc));

$pdf->stream();

?>

And the template code itself, (cd_cover.tpl) is:

<?php

//============================================================================
// trial ezPdf template.
//
// the template code will effectively be executed within an ezPdf function
// there will be two arrays which should be set, and this is intended way for
// the template to receive information, those arrays are:
// data -> will contain the data
// options -> will contain the various options which control the appearance
// note that the format of these two is completely arbitrary, and will be
// different for each template.
//
// it will be possible to have function within a template, but they will end
// up in global scope, so should be named accordingly, I suggest prefixing them
// all with 'ezPdfTMPL_', though that might be more of a mouthful than most 
// people want. (future versions may parse the function names to unique values
// at run time).
//============================================================================

// this is a template to produce an origami plan for an envelope to hold a cd
// it can include the title, and descriptions etc.
// the data array will contain two items:
// 'title'
// 'description'

// nothing is expected in the options array.

// find the size that the page has been set to:

$pw = $this->ez['pageWidth'];
$ph = $this->ez['pageHeight'];
// note that the margins are being ignored for this template.

// cd diameter is 120mm, allow an extra 3 mm each side for the fold, thickness, slop etc

$diam = 120/25.4*72;  // convert to points
$slop = 3*2/25.4*72;

// draw the verticals;

$this->setLineStyle(0.5,'','',array(10));
$this->setStrokeColor(0.5,0.5,0.5);

$fh=100;

$x0 = ($pw-$diam-$slop)/2;
$x1 = $x0+$diam+$slop;
$this->line($x0,0,$x0,$ph-$fh);
$this->line($x1,0,$x1,$ph-$fh);

$this->setLineStyle(0.5,'','',array(2));
$this->line($x0,$ph-$fh,$x0,$ph);
$this->line($x1,$ph-$fh,$x1,$ph);

// make the flap 200 points big, so put a line across
$y=$ph-200;

$this->line(0,$y,$x0,$y);
$this->line($x1,$y,$pw,$y);
$this->setLineStyle(0.5,'','',array(10));
$this->line($x0,$y,$x1,$y);

// and the spine 10 points
$y-=10;
$this->setLineStyle(0.5,'','',array(2));
$this->line(0,$y,$x0,$y);
$this->line($x1,$y,$pw,$y);
$this->setLineStyle(0.5,'','',array(10));
$this->line($x0,$y,$x1,$y);

$textPos = $y;

// allow the same cd slop in the vertical direction
$y-= ($diam+$slop);
$this->setLineStyle(0.5,'','',array(2));
$this->line(0,$y,$x0,$y);
$this->line($x1,$y,$pw,$y);
$this->setLineStyle(0.5,'','',array(10));
$this->line($x0,$y,$x1,$y);

// add in the markers for the flap folds
$this->line($x0,$ph-$fh,$x0+$fh,$ph);
$this->line($x0,$ph-$fh,$x0-$fh,$ph);
$this->line($x1,$ph-$fh,$x1+$fh,$ph);
$this->line($x1,$ph-$fh,$x1-$fh,$ph);

// and also the bottom folds
$this->line($x0,$y,0,$y+$x0);
$this->line($x1,$y,$pw,$y-$x1+$pw);
$this->setLineStyle(0.5,'','',array(2));
$this->line($x0,$y,0,$y-$x0);
$this->line($x1,$y,$pw,$y+$x1-$pw);

// then add the title and description text
$this->y = $textPos;
if (isset($data['title'])){
  if (is_array($data['title'])){
    $title = implode("\n",$data['title']);
  } else {
    $title=$data['title'];
  }
  $this->ezSetDy(-10);
  $this->ez['leftMargin']=0;
  $this->ez['rightMargin']=0;
  $this->ezText($title,16,array('left'=>$x0+10,'right'=>($pw-$x1+10),'justification'=>'center'));
}

if (isset($data['description'])){
  if (is_array($data['description'])){
    $desc = implode("\n",$data['description']);
  } else {
    $desc=$data['description'];
  }
  $this->ezSetDy(-10);
  $this->ez['leftMargin']=0;
  $this->ez['rightMargin']=0;
  $this->ezText($desc,10,array('left'=>$x0+10,'right'=>($pw-$x1+10),'justification'=>'left'));
}


?>