documented pdf view

README.rst

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Django-Vitae is developed and tested in Python 3. It depends on several external
 * `Markdown <https://pypi.org/project/Markdown/>`_ (makes pretty HTML with simple text entries)
 * `citeproc-py <https://pypi.org/project/citeproc-py/>`_ (creates citations formatted according to desired `CSL`_ styles [not yet implemented])
 * `citeproc-py-styles <https://pypi.org/project/citeproc-py-styles/>`_ (adds library of `CSL`_ styles)
+* `reportlab <https://www.reportlab.com/>`_ (creates PDFs on-the-fly)
 
 .. _CSL: http://citationstyles.org/
 

docs/source/index.rst

@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ If you do not have experience with Django_, you might be interested in the :ref:
 Organization of the Documentation
 ---------------------------------
 
+* :doc:`Complete Vitae Views <views/index>`
+
+      * :ref:`HTML <views-html>` 
+      * :ref:`PDF <views-pdf>`
+
 * :doc:`CV Sections <topics/index>` documents the API to write lines on CV by 
   different sections on a CV
 
@@ -60,11 +65,6 @@ Organization of the Documentation
 
       * Service 
 
-* :doc:`Views <views/index>`
-
-      * :ref:`HTML <views-html>` 
-      * :ref:`PDF <views-pdf>`
-
 * Templates 
 
    * Template tags & filters
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ Documentation Contents
    :name: fronttoc
 
    getting_started
-   topics/index
    views/index
+   topics/index
    shortcuts
    settings
    reference/index

docs/source/views/index.rst

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Views
-=====
+Complete Vitae Views
+====================
 
 .. toctree::
    :name: viewstoc
@@ -8,17 +8,18 @@ Views
 
 .. _views-html:
 
-Django Vitae provides two primary views for a CV: HTML and PDF. 
+Django Vitae provides two primary views that represent the entire CV 
+document: HTML and PDF. 
 
 HTML
 ^^^^
 
-The primary view provided by Django Vitae represents CVs as webpages. This is the view made available at the application's root URL, that is ``/``. The URL retrieves the view :class:`cv.views.CVView` that gathers the data from individual models and presents them in appropriate sections. 
+The primary view provided by Django Vitae represents a CV as a webpage. 
+This is the view made available at the application's root URL, that is 
+``/``. The URL retrieves the view :class:`cv.views.CVView` that gathers 
+the data from individual models and presents them in appropriate sections. 
 
-Template Structure
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-Template structure::
+**Template Structure**::
 
   cv/
     sections/
@@ -28,18 +29,99 @@ Template structure::
     skeleton.html
 
 
-The HTML views use a series of templates. At the lowest level, ``cv/skeleton.html`` defines the main structure for the page. The default template uses `Bootstrap`_ CSS styles and JavaScript and `Font Awesome`_ icons from their respective CDNs. 
+The HTML views use a series of templates layered on top of one 
+another. At the lowest level, ``cv/skeleton.html`` **defines the 
+main structure for the page**. The default template uses CSS styles 
+and Javascript from `Bootstrap` and icons from `Font Awesome`_ 
+icons, using their respective `CDNs`_. 
 
 .. _Bootstrap: https://getbootstrap.com/ 
 .. _Font Awesome: https://fontawesome.com/
-
-The next template, ``cv/base.html`` inherits from ``cv/skeleton.html`` and **defines the order of sections** as a series of Django template blocks. The template ``cv/cv.html`` inherits from the ``cv/base.html`` template and defines each section. 
-
-In the default templates included with Django Vitae, ``cv/cv.html`` wraps sections in a ``<div>`` block and then `includes`_ a template for that section. These included templates are found in the ``sections`` directory in the root ``cv`` template directory. If you would like to customize the look of an individual section, you should write your own templates for the section you want to modify. The name of the section template is the plural of the model name; for example, the template for the :class:`~cv.models.base.Degree` model is ``cv/sections/degrees.html`` (the one exception is the template for :class:`~cv.models.works.OtherWriting`, which is simply ``cv/sections/otherwriting.html``). 
+.. _CDNs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_delivery_network/
+
+At the next layer, the ``cv/base.html`` template inherits from 
+``cv/skeleton.html`` and **defines the order of sections** as a 
+series of Django template blocks. This is done by using `blocks`_ 
+from Django templates. The name of each block corresponds to the 
+the plural of the model name, except the blocks for 
+:class:`~cv.models.works.OtherWriting` and 
+:class:`~cv.models.base.Service` are named ``otherwriting`` and 
+``service``. 
+
+.. _blocks: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.1/ref/templates/builtins/#block
+
+The template ``cv/cv.html`` inherits from the ``cv/base.html`` 
+template and **defines the style for each section**. In the default 
+template, each block consists of a ``<div>`` block and then 
+`includes`_ the section template in the ``templates/cv/sections`` 
+directory. The section template is an html file named for the 
+plural form of the section name (except for :class:`OtherWriting` 
+and :class:`Service`, as above); for example, the section template 
+for articles would be the file 
+``templates/cv/sections/articles.html``. If you would like to 
+customize the look of an individual section, you should save a 
+file with that name in the ``cv/sections/`` subdirectory of the
+template directory of your own project. 
 
 .. _includes: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/templates/builtins/#include
 
 .. _views-pdf: 
 
 PDF
-^^^
+^^^
+
+Django Vitae will also create a PDF of your CV "on-the-fly". 
+
+The PDF version of your CV can be found at the ``/pdf/`` URL. The 
+URL retrives the view :class:`cv.views.pdf.cv_pdf`. The view 
+gathers data from different sections of the CV and then creates a 
+PDF using the `Report Lab`_ library. 
+
+.. _Report Lab: https://www.reportlab.com/
+
+**Template Structure**::
+
+  cv/
+    pdf/
+        pdf_list.json
+        <model name>.html
+
+Creating PDFs requires that much of the style be controlled 
+internally in the code. The internal coding makes it difficult to 
+customize the *style* of the PDF version of the CV. The *content* 
+can be customized, however, by using templates. 
+
+The content of the PDF, including the order, is controlled by the 
+template ``pdf_list.json`` `JSON`_ file. The JSON file is 
+structured as a list of dictionaries. Each dictionary **must** have 
+a ``model_name`` key that is the model name in lowercase. In 
+addtion, the dictionary **may** have the following keys: 
+
+   ``display_name``
+      A string of the section heading (including any capitalization 
+      that you desire)
+
+   ``date_field``
+      May either be a string representing the name of the field 
+      that you would like to use to display as the date in each 
+      entry for that section **or** a list of two strings, the 
+      field names to be used to render the start and end dates. 
+
+   ``subsections``
+      A list of lists; each of the sub-lists should include two 
+      string values: the first contains the heading for the 
+      subsection and the second is a string representing the method 
+      of the :attr:`displayable` manager to use to get the queryset 
+      for that subsection. 
+
+The ``templates/cv/pdf/`` also contains an XML file for each 
+section of the PDF. The XML files use the intra-paragraph markup 
+described in the ReportLab `User Guide`_ (subsection 6.3) that 
+include the ``<i>`` tag for italics, ``<b>`` for boldface, and 
+``<a>`` for links (among others). 
+
+.. _JSON: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON
+.. _User Guide: https://www.reportlab.com/docs/reportlab-userguide.pdf
+
+
+