Papergen

Generates pages given a page module and module options for specific page size.

Usage

Generate PDF for a page:

papergen /path/to/page.js -o page.pdf --additionalPageOptions

Generate PDF for a booklet:

papergen /path/to/booklet.js -o book.pdf

Writing a custom Page Module

A page module should contain a page.js which should export an object describing the page's name, description, inputs and render method.

name

The name of your page module. This is displayed in the help section.

description

A long description of your page module. This is displayed in the help section.

inputs

Inputs should be a list of objects with the following properties:

key: Identifier for this input option. Must only contain letters, _, or -.
type: One of [number, string, boolean, seed]. The seed type can be used to receive a random number.
name: Optional, human readable name.
description: Optional, long form description.
initial: Optional, initial value

For number types, these additional properties can be used:

min: minimum number
max: maximum number
step: step value
unit: string describing the unit

By default, papergen will support the following options which cannot be overwritten:

pageSize: Size of the page
landscape: Whether the page will be rendered in landscape
portrait: Similar to landscape, but for portrait. Only one of landscape or portrait will be used.
ppi: Pixels per inch

render

The render method receives 2 parameters: el and options. Options are the values of the inputs. The el is an HTML element that you'll insert other elements into to draw the page.

example

// page.js

import Page from papergen;

module.exports = Page({
  name: 'Grid',
  filename: __filename,
  description: 'Produces a grid filled page.',
  inputs: [
    {
      key: 'grid_size',
      name: 'Grid Size',
      description: 'The size of each square in the grid.',
      type: 'number',
      initial: 5,
      min: 1,
      max: 10,
      unit: 'mm',
    },
  ],
  render: (receivePage, { size, margin, color, grid_size }) => {
    var pageSVG = receivePage();

    // Render method.
  },
});

To validate your page module, you can run the page.js file:

node /path/to/page.js

If everything's good, nothing will be printed, otherwise, we print the errors.

TODO

Imposition configuration
Reader spreads vs Printer spreads
page numbers, page number positions

cixzhang/papergen