CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythoncanvashyperlinkreportlab
japhyr
japhyr

Reputation: 1780

What is the simplest way to add a hyperlink to a canvas element in ReportLab?

I am using ReportLab to make a pdf using Python. I want to add a shape to the canvas, and have that shape act as a hyperlink. What is the simplest way to make the rectangle in the following example link to google.com?

from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
from reportlab.lib.units import inch

c = canvas.Canvas("hello.pdf")

# move the origin up and to the left, draw square
c.translate(inch,9*inch)
# How do I make this rectangle link to google.com?
c.rect(inch,inch,1*inch,1*inch, fill=1)

c.showPage()
c.save()

Upvotes: 9

Views: 7566

Answers (3)

Rusca8
Rusca8

Reputation: 612

Just for completeness... you can use canvas.linkURL(), but keep in mind that the rect coordinates expected in linkURL are not like the ones in canvas.rect().

So, if you want to use linkURL over a previously drawn rect, it'll be like this:

c.rect(x, y, w, h)                # rect uses width and height
c.linkURL(url, (x, y, x+w, y+h))  # linkURL uses the end point's x and y

I got quite confused at this until I realized (I was getting weird overlaps and big linked areas everywhere).

Upvotes: 0

Pedro Augusto
Pedro Augusto

Reputation: 93

To complement the Martijn answer, the linkURL draw a rectangle using the "default" coordinate system, i.e., bottom+up/left+right. Since the default canvas use the top down coord, i suggest you to make a quick fix basing on your canvas height.

Upvotes: 0

Martijn Pieters
Martijn Pieters

Reputation: 1122252

Call linkURL on the Canvas:

c.linkURL('http://google.com', (inch, inch, 2*inch, 2*inch), relative=1)

The rectangle is the clickable area, so you'd have to match that to the drawn rectangle. The arguments are two coordinates, twice x, y for the bottom-left and top-right corner.

See more examples in this blog post: http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/hacks/adding-links-to-pdf/

Upvotes: 15

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