Common Use Cases¶

Example Application¶

Here is a simple hello world application that uses Flask-WeasyPrint:

from flask import Flask, render_template, url_for
from flask_weasyprint import HTML, render_pdf

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/hello/', defaults={'name': 'World'})
@app.route('/hello/<name>/')
def hello_html(name):
    return render_template('hello.html', name=name)

@app.route('/hello_<name>.pdf')
def hello_pdf(name):
    # Make a PDF from another view
    return render_pdf(url_for('hello_html', name=name))

# Alternatively, if the PDF does not have a matching HTML page:

@app.route('/hello_<name>.pdf')
def hello_pdf(name):
    # Make a PDF straight from HTML in a string.
    html = render_template('hello.html', name=name)
    return render_pdf(HTML(string=html))

templates/hello.html:

<!doctype html>
<title>Hello</title>
<link rel=stylesheet href="{{ url_for('static', filename='style.css') }}" />

<p>Hello, {{ name }}!</p>
<nav><a href="{{ url_for('hello_pdf', name=name) }}">Get as PDF</a></nav>

static/style.css:

body { font: 2em Fontin, serif }
nav { font-size: .7em }

@page { size: A5; margin: 1cm }
@media print {
    nav { display: none }
}

flask_weasyprint.render_pdf() helps making a flask.Response with the correct MIME type. You can give it an URL or an HTML object.

In the HTML you can use flask.url_for() or relative URLs. Flask-WeasyPrint will do the right thing to fetch resources and make hyperlinks absolute in the PDF output.

In CSS, @page and @media print can be used to have print-specific styles. Here the “Get as PDF” link is not displayed in the PDF itself, although it still exists in the HTML.

Cookies¶

By default, Flask-WeasyPrint detects URLs leading to the application and don’t send HTTP requests when possible. But sometimes, when requests have to be sent, cookies are often needed for authentication.

With Flask-WeasyPrint, WeasyPrint automatically resends the cookies of the original request, just as if they were sent by the browser.

As this feature gives WeasyPrint the same authentication rights as the user, please check that the rights management is done correctly in your application, and that the GET routes don’t change the state of the application.

Testing Application¶

A custom application has been created to test Flask-WeasyPrint. It includes separate code for the common Flask application and the Flask-WeasyPrint specific part.

You can find it in Flask-WeasyPrint’s repository.