pdf-writer

A step-by-step PDF writer.

The entry point into the API is the main PdfWriter, which constructs the document into one big internal buffer. The top-level writer has many methods to create specialized writers for specific PDF objects. These all follow the same general pattern: They borrow the main buffer mutably, expose a builder pattern for writing individual fields in a strongly typed fashion and finish up the object when dropped.

There are a few more top-level structs with internal buffers, like the builder for Content streams, but wherever possible buffers are borrowed from parent writers to minimize allocations.

Minimal example

The following example creates a PDF with a single, empty A4 page.

use pdf_writer::{PdfWriter, Rect, Ref};

// Define some indirect reference ids we'll use.
let catalog_id = Ref::new(1);
let page_tree_id = Ref::new(2);
let page_id = Ref::new(3);

// Write a document catalog and a page tree with one A4 page that uses no resources.
let mut writer = PdfWriter::new();
writer.catalog(catalog_id).pages(page_tree_id);
writer.pages(page_tree_id).kids([page_id]).count(1);
writer.page(page_id)
    .parent(page_tree_id)
    .media_box(Rect::new(0.0, 0.0, 595.0, 842.0))
    .resources();

// Finish with cross-reference table and trailer and write to file.
std::fs::write("target/empty.pdf", writer.finish())?;

For a more comprehensive overview, check out the hello world example, which creates a document with text and a link in it.

Safety

This crate forbids unsafe code, but it depends on widespread crates that use unsafe internally.

License

This crate is dual-licensed under the MIT and Apache 2.0 licenses.