Free dull software for linux

PDF::API2::Simple is a simplistic wrapper for the excellent PDF::API2 modules.

SYNOPSIS

use PDF::API2::Simple;

my $pdf = PDF::API2::Simple->new(
file => output.pdf
);

$pdf->add_font(VerdanaBold);
$pdf->add_font(Verdana);
$pdf->add_page();

$pdf->link( http://search.cpan.org, A Hyperlink,
x => 350,
y => $pdf->height - 150 );

for (my $i = 0; $i < 250; $i++) {
my $text = "$i - All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy";

$pdf->text($text, autoflow => on);
}

$pdf->save();

Take note that PDF coordinates are not quite what youre used to. The coordinate, (0, 0) for instance is at the lower-left hand corner. Thus, x still grows to the right, but y grows towards the top.

METHODS

new
PDF::API2::Simple->new(
file => output.txt,
width => 612,
height => 792,
line_height => 10,
margin_left => 20,
margin_top => 20,
margin_right => 20,
margin_bottom => 50,
width_right => 0,
height_bottom => 0,
effective_width => 0,
effective_height => 0,
header => undef,
footer => undef,
);

Creates a new PDF::API2::Simple instance. A good strategy is to create a new object for each pdf file you want to create. That is, of course, up to you.

file - The PDF file you want to write to. No default, parameter required

width - The width of the PDF file. Defaults to 612, the 8 1/2 x 11 US Letter width

height - The height of the PDF file. Defaults to 792, the 8 1/2 x 11 US Letter height

line_height - The standard height you want to define for lines. The default is 10

margin_left - The amount of margin space you want on the left side. Of course, you can specify whatever coordniates you want. Default is 20

margin_top - The amount of margin space you want on the top of each page. Default is 20

margin_right - The amount of margin space you want of the right side of each page. Default is 20

margin_bottom - The amount of margin space you want on the bottom of each page. Default is 50

width_right - A convenience property that contains the furthest x of the page, accounting for the margins specified

height_bottom - A convenience property that contains the largest y of the page, accounting for the bottom margin

effective_width - A convenience property that contains the width of the page, after the left and right margin have been accounted for

effective_height - A convenience property that contains the height of the page, after the top and bottom margin have been accounted for

header - This CODE reference will be called everytime a page is appended to the PDF, allowing you to specifiy a header for your pages

footer - This CODE reference will be called everytime a page is ended, allowing you to specifiy a footer for your pages

open
PDF::API2::Simple->open(
open_file => my_pdf.pdf,
open_page => 1, # Default is 1.
# Any other options to new.
);

This method opens an existing PDF for editing. You can include any other arguments that are valid for new and they will be set in the resulting object.

This chapter serves as a gentle introduction to Maypole and setting up Maypole applications. We look at what Maypole is, how to get it up and running, and how to start thinking about building Maypole applications.

What is Maypole?

Presumably you have some idea of what Maypole is all about, or otherwise you wouldnt be reading this manual. But Maypole is good at many different things, and you may have accidentally focussed on one aspect of Maypole while missing the big picture.

For instance, you may know that Maypole is extremely good at putting web front-ends onto databases. This is true, but its only a part of what Maypole does. You may have heard that Maypole is a web application framework, which is true, but it doesnt mean very much. There are a huge number of things that Maypole can do, because its very much a blank slate. You can make it do what you will. In this manual, well be making it act as a front-end to a database, as a social network site, as an intranet portal, and many other things besides.It is a framework.

I like to think that Maypole is a way of going from a URL to a method call to some output. If you have a URL like /product/order/12, Maypole is a way of having it load up product number 12, call an order method, and produce a page about what its just done. The reason Maypole is such a big deal is because it does all this for you. You no longer have to care about your web server. You hardly have to care about your database. You dont have to care about templating modules, parsing CGI parameters, or anything else. You only need to care about business logic, and the business logic in this instance is how you order a product, and what you need to display about it once youve done so. This is what programming should be: only caring about the work that distinguishes one program from another.

It does this using a technique called MVC for web applications.

What is MVC for web applications?

Maypole was originally called Apache::MVC, reflecting its basis in the Model-View-Controller design pattern. (I had to change it firstly because Maypole isnt tied to Apache, and secondly because Apache::MVC is a really dull name.) Its the same design pattern that forms the foundation of similar projects in other languages, such as Javas Struts framework.

This design pattern is found primarily in graphical applications; the idea is that you have a Model class which represents and manipulates your data, a View class which is responsible for displaying that data to the user, and a Controller class which controls the other classes in response to events triggered by the user. This analogy doesnt correspond precisely to a web-based application, but we can take an important principle from it. As Template Toolkit author Andy Wardley explains:

What the MVC-for-the-web crowd are really trying to achieve is a clear
separation of concerns. Put your database code in one place, your
application code in another, your presentation code in a third place.
That way, you can chop and change different elements at will,
hopefully without affecting the other parts (depending on how well your
concerns are separated, of course). This is common sense and good practice.
MVC achieves this separation of concerns as a by-product of clearly
separating inputs (controls) and outputs (views).

This is what Maypole does. It has a number of database drivers, a number of front-end drivers and a number of templating presentation drivers. In common cases, Maypole provides precisely what you need for all of these areas, and you get to concentrate on writing just the business logic of your application. This is one of the reasons why Maypole lets you develop so rapidly: because most of the time, you dont need to do any development at all.

labTimer is a set of timer suited to black and white film processing. At the moment, the program can follow a basic sequence of development, fixing, and washing, with nice countdowns and reminders.

Self processing of black and white films is an unexciting, dull and tedious task. If you are here, you probably already know what I mean. Taking pictures, framing, sensing the light, choosing models and points of view is creative. Turning on the red light, making a contact sheet, selecting snapshots and printing a good negative with carefully forethought masking is creative. But between the shooting and the the proud display of the print, stands the prosaic duty of processing the film.

If youre so new to photography, or masochistic enough, as to wonder why, the answer is that film processing is done inside a dark, sealed, cylinder. From the moment you open the film canister in the complete darkness, until the end of the processing, you have zero opportunity to willingly influence the result. Therefore, processing is a completely "industrialized" process, where you have to follow blindly some procedures and just hope the result will match your expectations.

Dont misinterpret me ! During that process, there are numerous options to influence the outcome, but parameters cannot be chosen depending on the current state of the film. Therefore the choice of the values given to those parameters depends on previous results, manufacturers figures, and personal experience. Todays industrial norms are so strict that processing a film can be considered deterministic. If the pictures are ultimately over or under exposed, blurred or whatever, then its the photographers sole responsability.

EZ Improver works well to improve dull, dingy images.

Leaving the Merge Layers option un-checked allows you to tweak the layer opacities if desired.