Prince
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Contents

  • 1. Getting Started
    • Installing Prince
      • Installing Prince on Windows
      • Installing Prince on MacOS X
      • Installing Prince on Linux
        • Debian and Ubuntu
        • Redhat and CentOS
        • OpenSUSE
        • FreeBSD, Solaris and Generic Linux
      • Installing a license file
      • Installation Layout
        • Windows installation layout
        • MacOS X installation layout
        • Linux installation layout
    • Your First Document
      • The lab report
      • Processing the document
      • Styling the document
  • 2. Styling
    • Fonts
      • Defining a font family
      • Generic font families
      • OpenType Features in Prince
      • Redefining the generic font families
    • Layout
      • Text formatting
      • Paragraph formatting
      • Writing Mode
      • CSS Box Model
        • Margin
        • Padding
        • Border
        • Background
      • Tables
        • Automatic table layout
        • Fixed table layout
        • Separated table borders
        • Collapsing table borders
        • Cells that span columns
        • Cells that span rows
        • Numbering table rows
        • Running table headers and footers
        • Table captions
      • Lists
        • List marker position
        • List marker type
        • List marker style
      • Columns
      • Floats
        • Prince extensions to floats
      • Footnotes
        • Footnote calls
        • Footnote markers
        • Styling footnotes
    • Paged Media
      • Page size
      • Page style
      • Trimming marks
      • Page regions
        • Generated content in page regions
      • Selecting pages
        • Blank pages
      • Controlling pagination
        • Page breaks
        • Widows and orphans
  • 3. Scripting
    • JavaScript in Printed Media
    • Logging
    • Console access
    • Event handling
    • Document statistics
    • PDF properties
    • Unsupported DOM properties
  • 4. Graphics
    • Color
      • RGB
      • RGBA
      • CMYK
      • Spot colors
    • Color Management
      • Introduction
      • Color Management and PDF Profiles
      • Color Management in Prince
      • Color conversion
      • Rich black and true black
      • Page color space
    • Filters
    • Images
      • Images in XHTML
      • Images in DocBook
      • Images in Arbitrary XML
      • CSS and Images
        • Image Size in Print
    • Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
      • Viewbox and viewport
      • Rectangles
      • Circles
      • Ellipses
      • Lines
      • Masks
      • Polylines
      • Polygons
      • Paths
      • Text
      • Images
      • Links
      • Transformations
      • Style Properties
    • Rasterization
  • 5. Prince Tips and Tricks
    • Generated Content
      • Page headers and footers
      • List markers
      • Footnote markers
      • Before and After pseudo-elements
      • Counters and Numbering
        • Counter reset and increment
        • Nested counters
        • Counter styles
      • Cross-references
        • Using target-counter
        • Using target-content
      • Script Functions
        • Accessing the current date and time
        • User-defined counter styles
      • Using generated content in page regions
      • Copying text content from the document
      • Taking elements from the document
    • Advanced paged media examples
      • Named pages
      • Page groups
      • Page breaks and decoration
      • Printing wide content sideways
    • Hyphenation
    • Typographic Ligatures
    • Watermarks
    • Rotating content in table cells
    • The "Two-Pass" Solution
  • 6. Help
    • Troubleshooting
      • Missing glyphs or fonts
      • Fontconfig
      • Image formats
      • Shared library trouble
      • PATH issues
      • The capture/replay system
      • Running the debug script
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • 7. Prince Input
    • Applying Style Sheets in Prince
      • Importing Style Sheets
      • Conflicting Declarations
      • Priority Determination
    • Applying JavaScript in Prince
    • XML Input
      • XML Input
        • Validation
        • xml:lang
        • xml:id
        • xml:base
      • XML Styling
      • XML Inclusions (XInclude)
        • Including XML files
        • Including text files
        • Fallback
  • 8. Prince Output
    • PDF Profiles
      • PDF/A
      • PDF/X
    • PDF Output Options
      • PDF Links
      • PDF Actions
      • PDF Pages
      • PDF Printing
      • PDF Compression
      • Font Embedding
      • Creating PostScript output
    • PDF Bookmarks
      • Bookmark levels
      • Bookmark labels
      • Bookmark targets
    • PDF Metadata
      • XMP Metadata
  • 9. Server Integration
    • Security and performance
    • Prince Wrappers
      • Third-Party Wrappers
      • Using Prince from Java
      • Using Prince from .NET with C#
      • Using Prince from .NET with VB.NET
      • Using Prince from Python
      • Using Prince from Perl
      • Using Prince from PHP
      • Using Prince from ASP
      • Using Prince from ColdFusion
      • Using Java
      • Using ActiveX/COM
      • Using Prince from ActiveX / COM / Visual Basic
    • Advanced Command Line Options
      • Prince Control Protocol
      • Structured Log

Reference Guide

  • A1. Command-line Reference
    • Examples
    • Specifying input and output
    • Options
      • General Options
      • Logging Options
      • Input Options
      • Network Options
      • JavaScript Options
      • CSS Options
      • PDF Output Options
      • PDF Metadata Options
      • PDF Encryption Options
      • Raster Output Options
      • Utility Options
      • Advanced Control and Log Options
  • A2. CSS References
    • CSS Features
    • Length Units
      • Absolute Length Units
      • Font Length Units
      • Pixel Unit
  • A3. CSS Properties
    • alternate-color
    • background
    • background-attachment
    • background-clip
    • background-color
    • background-image
    • background-origin
    • background-position
    • background-repeat
    • background-size
    • baseline-shift
    • border
    • border-bottom
    • border-bottom-color
    • border-bottom-left-radius
    • border-bottom-right-radius
    • border-bottom-style
    • border-bottom-width
    • border-clip
    • border-collapse
    • border-color
    • border-left
    • border-left-color
    • border-left-style
    • border-left-width
    • border-radius
    • border-right
    • border-right-color
    • border-right-style
    • border-right-width
    • border-spacing
    • border-style
    • border-top
    • border-top-color
    • border-top-left-radius
    • border-top-right-radius
    • border-top-style
    • border-top-width
    • border-width
    • bottom
    • box-decoration-break
    • box-sizing
    • caption-side
    • clear
    • clip
    • clip-path
    • clip-rule
    • color
    • column-break-after
    • column-break-before
    • column-count
    • column-fill
    • column-gap
    • column-rule
    • column-rule-color
    • column-rule-style
    • column-rule-width
    • column-span
    • column-width
    • columns
    • content
    • counter-increment
    • counter-reset
    • direction
    • display
    • dominant-baseline
    • empty-cells
    • fill
    • fill-opacity
    • fill-rule
    • filter
    • float
    • font
    • font-family
    • font-size
    • font-stretch
    • font-style
    • font-variant
    • font-weight
    • footnote-display
    • footnote-style-position
    • height
    • hyphens
    • left
    • letter-spacing
    • line-height
    • line-stacking-strategy
    • list-style
    • list-style-image
    • list-style-position
    • list-style-type
    • margin
    • margin-bottom
    • margin-inside
    • margin-left
    • margin-outside
    • margin-right
    • margin-top
    • marker-end
    • marker-mid
    • marker-start
    • marks
    • mask
    • max-height
    • max-width
    • min-height
    • min-width
    • opacity
    • orphans
    • overflow
    • overflow-wrap
    • padding
    • padding-bottom
    • padding-left
    • padding-right
    • padding-top
    • page
    • page-break-after
    • page-break-before
    • page-break-inside
    • position
    • prince-background-image-resolution
    • prince-bleed
    • prince-bookmark-label
    • prince-bookmark-level
    • prince-bookmark-state
    • prince-bookmark-target
    • prince-caption-page
    • prince-fallback-cmyk-profile
    • prince-filter-resolution
    • prince-flow
    • prince-footnote-policy
    • prince-forced-breaks
    • prince-hyphenate-after
    • prince-hyphenate-before
    • prince-hyphenate-character
    • prince-hyphenate-lines
    • prince-hyphenate-patterns
    • prince-image-magic
    • prince-image-resolution
    • prince-linebreak-magic
    • prince-link
    • prince-mark-length
    • prince-mark-offset
    • prince-mark-width
    • prince-page-group
    • prince-pdf-color-conversion
    • prince-pdf-color-options
    • prince-pdf-destination
    • prince-pdf-duplex
    • prince-pdf-link-type
    • prince-pdf-open-action
    • prince-pdf-output-intent
    • prince-pdf-page-colorspace
    • prince-pdf-page-label
    • prince-pdf-page-layout
    • prince-pdf-page-mode
    • prince-pdf-paper-tray
    • prince-pdf-print-scaling
    • prince-pdf-profile
    • prince-pdf-script
    • prince-pdf-xmp
    • prince-rotate-body
    • prince-shrink-to-fit
    • prince-text-justify
    • prince-text-replace
    • prince-tooltip
    • prince-trim
    • prince-wrap-inside
    • right
    • size
    • src
    • stop-color
    • stop-opacity
    • string-set
    • stroke
    • stroke-dasharray
    • stroke-dashoffset
    • stroke-linecap
    • stroke-linejoin
    • stroke-miterlimit
    • stroke-opacity
    • stroke-width
    • table-baseline
    • table-column-span
    • table-layout
    • table-row-span
    • text-align
    • text-align-last
    • text-anchor
    • text-decoration
    • text-indent
    • text-line-through
    • text-line-through-color
    • text-line-through-style
    • text-overflow
    • text-overline
    • text-overline-color
    • text-overline-style
    • text-transform
    • text-underline
    • text-underline-color
    • text-underline-style
    • top
    • transform
    • transform-origin
    • unicode-bidi
    • unicode-range
    • vertical-align
    • visibility
    • white-space
    • widows
    • width
    • word-break
    • word-spacing
    • writing-mode
    • z-index
  • A4. CSS Selectors
    • Terminology and Definitions
    • Logical Combinations
    • Elemental Selectors
    • Attribute Selectors
    • Linguistic Pseudo-classes
    • Location Pseudo-classes
    • Tree-Structural pseudo-classes
    • Combinators
    • Tree-Abiding Pseudo-element Selectors
    • Typographic Pseudo-element Selectors
    • Footnote Pseudo-element Selectors
    • Page Selectors
  • A5. CSS Media Queries
    • Media Queries
    • Media Query Modifiers
    • Media Types
    • Media Features
    • Dimension Media Features
    • Display Quality Media Features
    • Color Media Features
    • Interaction Media Features
    • Scripting Media Features
  • A6. CSS Functional Expressions
    • CSS Functions
    • Prince Specific Functions
  • A7. CSS At-rules
    • Initial At-Rules
    • Nested At-Rules
  • A8. Page Size Keywords
  • A9. Character Entities
    • Accented Letters
    • Symbols
    • Quotes
    • Accents
    • Miscellaneous
  • A10. Acknowledgements

Scripting

JavaScript can be used to transform documents by generating tables of contents and indices, sorting tables, rendering charts and graphs, and other tasks that go beyond the scope of CSS.

Scripts can access and modify the input document using the W3C standard DOM (Document Object Model). Prince also supports some additional properties and methods described below.

Please note that Prince is not running JavaScript by default - it needs to be explicitly enabled. See Applying JavaScript in Prince.

JavaScript in Printed Media

Prince is a user agent producing primarily documents meant to be printed, and as such, some limitations are in place that set it apart from most other user agents that support JavaScript.

The most notable difference is the fact that a printed page cannot be interactive, being static in nature: a document cannot be modified after it is deemed to be ready for print. JavaScript can be run twice only: the first time it is run before layout, where it interacts with and modifies the layout (and the DOM structure). Once layout is finished, JavaScript can be run a second time from the complete event handler (see Event handling). However, this time it is only allowed to inspect the layout and cannot modify the DOM. See also The "Two-Pass" Solution.

A consequence of the non-interactive nature of printed media is that any interactive events, such as e.g. onClick, do not make sense, and will never fire.

Prince allows also for scripts to be passed directly to the PDF, to be executed when the PDF file is opened. The prince-pdf-script property is used for this purpose. A common use case is to activate the "Print" dialog automatically. See also PDF Actions.

Logging

The Prince log can be accessed from JavaScript via the Log object (also available as Prince.Log), which has the following methods:

Log.info("message")
Log.warning("message")
Log.error("message")
Log.data("name", "value")

Console access

When running Prince from the command-line, the console object can be used to write messages directly to the terminal:

console.log("Hello, world!")

Note: console access is only supported when running Prince directly from the command-line, and should not be used when calling Prince through a server wrapper or graphical user interface.

Event handling

When the document has been fully parsed and is ready for processing, Prince will fire the DOMContentLoaded and load events on the window object.

These load events can be captured by setting the onload attribute on the body element in HTML documents, or by setting the window.onload property or calling window.addEventListener.

When document conversion has finished, Prince will fire the complete event on the Prince object. This event can be captured by calling Prince.addEventListener, and is useful for logging document statistics.

User interface events such as onclick are not supported by Prince.

Document statistics

The Prince.pageCount property can be accessed after document conversion has finished, then logged as data for the calling process to access:

function logPageCount()
{
    Log.data("total-page-count", Prince.pageCount);
}

Prince.addEventListener("complete", logPageCount, false);

See also The "Two-Pass" Solution for another use of accessing document properties after the document conversion has finished.

PDF properties

The PDF object can be used to specify PDF properties and settings, including attaching extra files to the generated PDF, similar to the --attach command-line argument:

PDF.attachFile(URL, [Description])

PDF.attachFile("data.xls", "Latest sales figures.");

Other PDF properties include:

PDF.embedFonts (boolean)
PDF.subsetFonts (boolean)
PDF.artificialFonts (boolean)

PDF.compress (boolean)

PDF.encrypt (boolean)
PDF.userPassword, ownerPassword (string, can be null)
PDF.allowPrint, allowModify, allowCopy, allowAnnotate (boolean)
PDF.keyBits (40 | 128)

PDF.script (string, can be null)
PDF.openAction (eg. "print")
PDF.pageLayout (single-page | one-column | two-column[-left/right)
PDF.pageMode (auto | show-bookmarks | fullscreen | show-attachments)
PDF.printScaling (auto | none)
PDF.duplex (auto | simplex | duplex-flip-short-edge | duplex-flip-long-edge)
PDF.attachFile(url, description?, filename?)

PDF.profile (string, can be null)
PDF.outputIntent (URL string, can be null)

PDF.title
PDF.subject
PDF.author
PDF.keywords
PDF.creator

Unsupported DOM properties

The following DOM properties are not supported in Prince:

document.write
window.setInterval
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