Client Side PDF Generation Using Flash, Flex and AIR

As far as I know, it is really complicated and challenging task to generate PDF on the server side. We have recently faced this challenge on the client side. Our products - LiveArt and Pivot Table have to incorporate the PDF generation functionality. We have conducted several researches and I am glad to announce that it is easy (hurray :)) to generate PDF using Flash, Flex and AIR. It has become possible thanks to AlivePDF library. This post helped us to find it.

How powerful client side PDF generation is? Powerful enough to meet our main need at the moment – generate PDF document as the exact copy of graphic and data visualization objects which users get when they use our Flash/Flex products, like LiveArt and Pivot Table. AlivePDF library allows inserting JPEG format images into PDF document. The addImage method uses DisplayObject object (its incoming argument) to take a snapshot of it in JPEG format and insert into the PDF document.

AlivePDF library allows us to easily do the following:

• Set layout, margins, get sizes;
• Add and compose pages;
• Use drawing primitives, manage color models;
• Set fonts and text properties;
• Add images in JPEG format;
• etc.

Of course, there is no limit to perfection. Our dream is to be able to convert Flash vector objects into similar vector objects in PDF. It seems that we need a number of steps undertaken to make it real. But we will strive and will succeed!

Pivot Table live demo is now available. You can check it out and play with it to see how clear, easy-to-use, and quick Pivot Table is. It visualizes multidimensional data from various data sources (OLAP, XML, etc.) and provides a set of tools to manage these data.

Today we have released the following features and tools:


*Drill down on dimensions. Each dimension which has subdimensions can be collapsed or expanded. This feature works instantly without any delays!
* Full screen feature for wider view. Imagine your data on 21" (or even bigger) monitor with good screen resolution.
* Printing tool to get the needed data printed.
* Skin selection. There are 3 skins available at the moment. One can easily create new skin within about 10 minutes by simply editing CSS.

Drill down on dimensions


Skins, Full Screen and Printing


Our team keeps on working on Pivot Table. So, new features are coming soon, just sit back and wait for the new release.


See PIVOT TABLE in Action

Styles for Pivot Table

Currently we are working on styles for the Pivot Table component. The most convenient way of defining styles from our point of view is to use CSS for this purpose. This comes of our Flex experience, being a classic decision for Flex components. External css file with set of styles will give the ability to customize the following properties of the Pivot Table:


In the nearest future we are going to make a live demo of the new Pivot Table version.

We would really like to know your opinions on which Pivot Table properties it might be useful to define as styles and customize externally. Every feedback is greatly appreciated!