HTMLDOC
HTMLDOC converts HTML files and Web pages into indexed HTML, PostScript, and PDF files suitable for online viewing and printing. It can be used as a standalone GUI application, in a batch document processing environment, as a Web-based report generation application, or in embedded environments to support printing of HTML content. It runs on all Unix platforms as well as Mac OS X and Windows 2000 and higher.
| Tags | Internet printing Text Processing Filters Indexing Markup |
|---|---|
| Licenses | GPL |
| Operating Systems | Unix Mac OS X Windows Windows OS/2 POSIX |
| Implementation | C C++ |
Recent releases
- 02 Aug 2006 13:27
Changes: This release fixes several rendering, output, and networking issues.
- 03 Apr 2006 12:12
Changes: This release improves table formatting and PostScript and PDF output. It also fixes a first page header bug in the GUI.
- 18 Nov 2005 16:12
Changes: This release adds new fonts, improves header support, and improves CGI support on Windows. It also fixes a number of rendering issues.
- 14 Oct 2004 14:27
Changes: This release adds many new features, including native CGI support and multiple header/footer image support. It also fixes a number of rendering bugs and adds workarounds for bugs in Acrobat 6.0.
- 28 Oct 2002 18:18
Changes: This release fixes a number of PNG, GUI, and HTML output bugs. It also adds support for alpha channels in PNG files.
- All comments
Recent commentsHTMLdoc
This is a fine application, to the best of my knowledge the only one that converts HTML directly to PDF. It's a sophisticated application which requires some close attention to use -- and that's only fair, given what it does. I think Michael Sweet has done an outstanding job.
Pros: Quick. Clever design (using HTML comments for things like page breaks). Versatile -- conversion can be controlled from the command-line or from within the HTML document. It *is* available as a true GPL product and as a commercial product -- I use the GPL version.
Cons: Table width is a tricky business, I think because PDF must be aware of the available width of a table, while it doesn't matter in HTML. Can't insert dynamic information into headers/footers yet (promised in 1.9, I believe, and eagerly awaited by this developer). Odd behavior of certain ancient tags, like _em_ and _strong_. However, these can be corrected by the script into which HTMLdoc is embedded.
A final note: The need for the environment variable HTMLDOC_NOCGI=yes is poorly documented. Without this, you won't be able to get HTMLdoc to work in a shell script.
Conclusion: An outstanding product.
PDF generator
If you want to generate PDF documents on the fly, e.g. in web applications, this is the way to go. Make your script generate an HTML page and render it with HTMLDOC.
HTMLDOC works reasonably well and supports images, font colors, tables, etc.
And yes, it _is_ free software. You have to look at www.htmldoc.org to download the source, not at ESP's website.
Re: NOT GPL
> This is a commercial software despite
> the claims in this page.
No, it's available separately as a commercial product and a GPL one.
Sincerely,
Jeff
NOT GPL
This is a commercial software despite the claims in this page.
Re: htmldoc
> Great program just wished it had font
> colors
> and maybe font size
You mean like the FONT element, or stylesheets?