NAME
Catalyst::View::Wkhtmltopdf - Catalyst view to convert HTML (or TT) content to PDF using wkhtmltopdf
SYNOPSIS
# lib/MyApp/View/Wkhtmltopdf.pm
package MyApp::View::Wkhtmltopdf;
use Moose;
extends qw/Catalyst::View::Wkhtmltopdf/;
__PACKAGE__->meta->make_immutable();
1;
# configure in lib/MyApp.pm
MyApp->config({
...
'View::Wkhtmltopdf' => {
command => '/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf',
# Guessed via File::Spec by default
tmpdir => '/usr/tmp',
# Name of the Template view, "TT" by default
tt_view => 'Template',
},
});
sub ciao : Local {
my($self, $c) = @_;
# Pass some HTML...
$c->stash->{wk} = {
html => $web_page,
};
# ..or a TT template
$c->stash->{wk} = {
template => 'hello.tt',
page_size => 'a5',
};
# More parameters...
$c->stash->{wk} = {
html => $web_page,
disposition => 'attachment',
filename => 'mydocument.pdf',
};
$c->forward('View::Wkhtmltopdf');
}
STATUS
The wkhtmltopdf project is no longer being maintained, and this module will be deprecated in a later release.
See "SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS".
DESCRIPTION
Catalyst::View::Wkhtmltopdf is a Catalyst view handler that
converts HTML data to PDF using wkhtmltopdf.
It can also handle direct conversion of Template-Toolkit templates via Catalyst::View::TT.
RECENT CHANGES
Changes for version v0.6.3 (2026-07-27)
- Enhancements
- Added the send_filehandle option, which enables returning a filehandle rather than the PDF. It defaults to false, which reverts the behavior back to pre-v0.6.0.
- Documentation
- Fixed incorrect description for tmpdir.
- Added KNOWN ISSUES.
See the Changes file for more details.
REQUIREMENTS
wkhtmltopdf must be installed.
This module lists the following modules as runtime dependencies:
- B
- Catalyst::View
- Catalyst::View::TT
- File::Spec
- File::Temp
- File::Which
- IO::File::WithPath
- IPC::Run3
- Moose
- URI::Escape
- namespace::autoclean
- strict
- version version 0.77 or later
- warnings
See the cpanfile file for the full list of prerequisites.
INSTALLATION
The latest version of this module (along with any dependencies) can be installed from CPAN with the cpan tool that is included with Perl:
cpan Catalyst::View::Wkhtmltopdf
You can also extract the distribution archive and install this module (along with any dependencies):
cpan .
You can also install this module manually using the following commands:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
If you are working with the source repository, then it may not have a Makefile.PL file. But you can use the Dist::Zilla tool in anger to build and install this module:
dzil build
dzil test
dzil install --install-command="cpan ."
For more information, see How to install CPAN modules.
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
Status of the Wkhtmltopdf Project
Do not use wkhtmltopdf with untrusted HTML.
The wkhtmltopdf project is no longer being maintained, and the underlying QtWebKit libraries that it uses have been unsupported since 2015.
The git repository was archived as read-only in 2023.
You should consider migrating to alternative solutions.
Options
It is assumed that the "command" attribute is configured by a trusted source (developer or operator).
The options are sent to wkhtmltopdf via stdin, using the --read-args-from-stdin option.
However, any options configured through the web application should be considered untrusted and validated.
Temporary Files
Temporary HTML and PDF files are saved in "tmpdir". They may be left in the directory on failure.
When returning a filehandle instead of the PDF content, the PDF files are not removed when "send_filehandle" is true.
A separate process will need to purge files, to prevent them from filling the disk, as well as to remove sensitive information.
SUPPORT
Only the latest version of this module will be supported.
Future releases may only support Perl versions released in the last ten (10) years.
Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Catalyst-View-Wkhtmltopdf
When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.
Reporting Security Vulnerabilities
If the bug you are reporting has security implications which make it inappropriate to send to a public issue tracker,
then see SECURITY.md for instructions how to report security vulnerabilities.
AUTHOR
Michele Beltrame mb@italpro.net
This module is currently maintained by Robert Rothenberg perl@rhizomnic.com.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2011-2018, 2026 by Michele Beltrame mb@italpro.net.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.