[reportlab-users] How to change margins from page to page

[Mike Driscoll]

Hi,

I have a case where the first page of a document has two inches worth of fixed header information and another 4 inches of data on the bottom of the document that is taken up with a check. The middle 3 or 4 inches on the first page is for dynamic flowable stuff, like a table and some paragraphs. The first page works great.

I am using a bottom margin of 4 inches for it. However, I don't need to have a bottom margin on any pages past the first page. How do I change the margins for the rest of the document?

I tried adding this to my later pages method:

doc.bottomMargin = 0.5 * inch

But that doesn't have any effect. I also saw this post from a few years ago:

http://two.pairlist.net/pipermail/reportlab-users/2011-November/010262.html

But I'm not using Frames. Does anyone have any insights? I am using a SimpleDocTemplate. Thanks!

-------------------
Mike Driscoll

Blog:   http://blog.pythonlibrary.org

[Mike Driscoll]

If there's a way to do this without even messing with margins, that would be great to know too!

[Paul Keating]

What you want to do means that your document is no longer “simple”.

 

To achieve different page layouts you need to up two page templates that define the margins. That’s not hard:

 

FirstPageTextFrame = Frame( …dimensons… )

StatementFirstPage = PageTemplate (id='Page 1', frames=[FirstPageTextFrame], onPage=FirstPageStatic)

 

where FirstPageStatic is the function that sets up your fixed header and footer.

 

OtherPageTextFrame = Frame( …dimensons… )

StatementFirstPage = PageTemplate (id='Page N', frames=[OtherPageTextFrame], onPage=OtherPageStatic)

 

Once you’ve done that you can use a BaseDocTemplate instead of a SimpleDocTemplate:

 

doc = BaseDocTemplate(filename, pageTemplates=[StatementFirstPage, StatementOtherPage])

 

Then the first thing you put in your Story is an indication that all pages beyond the first use the alternate page template:

 

Story = []

Story.append(NextPageTemplate('Page N'))

Story.append( …flowable… )

etc

 

I think I’m correct in saying that you really are using a Frame, it’s just a default one.

 

Paul Keating

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[Mike Driscoll]

Hi Paul,

On Friday, March 14, 2014 10:14:08 AM UTC-5, Paul Keating wrote:

What you want to do means that your document is no longer “simple”.

 

To achieve different page layouts you need to up two page templates that define the margins. That’s not hard:

 

FirstPageTextFrame = Frame( …dimensons… )

StatementFirstPage = PageTemplate (id='Page 1', frames=[FirstPageTextFrame], onPage=FirstPageStatic)

 

where FirstPageStatic is the function that sets up your fixed header and footer.

 

OtherPageTextFrame = Frame( …dimensons… )

StatementFirstPage = PageTemplate (id='Page N', frames=[OtherPageTextFrame], onPage=OtherPageStatic)

 

Once you’ve done that you can use a BaseDocTemplate instead of a SimpleDocTemplate:

 

doc = BaseDocTemplate(filename, pageTemplates=[StatementFirstPage, StatementOtherPage])

 

Then the first thing you put in your Story is an indication that all pages beyond the first use the alternate page template:

 

Story = []

Story.append(NextPageTemplate('Page N'))

Story.append( …flowable… )

etc

 

I think I’m correct in saying that you really are using a Frame, it’s just a default one.

 

Paul Keating

 

This does appear to work. I had to adjust a few of the items on the later pages, but it work alright.

Thanks for the tips.

Mike