Printing an exported template with proper page breaks

[Paradox]

This may have been answered somewhere in the forums, however I can't seem to find it.

When I go to print a character I cannot get the export to have the proper page breaks.  It has been many years since I have been able to play and I know it used to work.  I have my old character sheets.  Is there something I'm missing that must be done to get the export to break after the proper container?

 

Thanks

[HeroGM]

page-break-after:always

[schir1964]

And it can't be attached to a an empty tag.

And there are some other conditions that will prevent it from working but you can search the internet to figure those out.

 

https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_print_pageba.asp

[HeroGM]

8 hours ago, schir1964 said:

And it can't be attached to a an empty tag.

And there are some other conditions that will prevent it from working but you can search the internet to figure those out.

 

https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_print_pageba.asp

 

I wish they'd get the *beep* @page query to start working correctly.

[Chris Goodwin]

Were you using PDF export before?  The PDF export functionality no longer exists in recent HD updates.

 

I too wish there were export templates that were more print aware.

[Derek Hiemforth]

8 minutes ago, Chris Goodwin said:

I too wish there were export templates that were more print aware.

 

This is why it's "RTF and nothing but the RTF" for me.   

[HeroGM]

Html is catching up, the main issue is support like everything else. At the time it actually works better in Chrome and Edge.

[schir1964]

13 hours ago, Chris Goodwin said:

Were you using PDF export before?  The PDF export functionality no longer exists in recent HD updates.

 

I too wish there were export templates that were more print aware.

 

I didn't know Hero Designer used to have a PDF Print function.

 

I've found the print to PDF functionality on my computer generally does well enough. It's what I've used so far to test the exports I've been working on.

 

HeroGM is right though. Seems like the HTML/CSS support for Printing has not been a priority.

There are some nice style controls for printing that don't seem to be supported.

If they could support the Avoid setting for page breaks that would take care of 90% of printing issues.

Avoid prevents an element from being split in half at the page break. It pushes the whole element to the next page if it crosses the page break line.

[HeroGM]

It really hasn't been because a web browser is for web (duh right?). There are things like paged.js and other things that help, but they don't always do the full job, especially if the CSS isn't there. I thought about looking into HTMLBook, PrinceXML and other PDF processors and doing a template for them.

[schir1964]

17 minutes ago, HeroGM said:

It really hasn't been because a web browser is for web (duh right?). There are things like paged.js and other things that help, but they don't always do the full job, especially if the CSS isn't there. I thought about looking into HTMLBook, PrinceXML and other PDF processors and doing a template for them.

I agree in general, but the whole idea of CSS was to have the HTML just be the data which is just tagged in various ways then the CSS styles it all which includes support for various types of media devices.

Plus printing an HTML page is one of the most common uses outside of viewing the page. You would think that would be a priority somewhere in their list of device types.

[HeroGM]

10 minutes ago, schir1964 said:

I agree in general, but the whole idea of CSS was to have the HTML just be the data which is just tagged in various ways then the CSS styles it all which includes support for various types of media devices.

Plus printing an HTML page is one of the most common uses outside of viewing the page. You would think that would be a priority somewhere in their list of device types.

AS a web developer I agree. I've tried bringing it up to people on twitter but with a blank look at times. Lea Verou's CSS book was written all in HTML/CSS and looks beautiful printed using O'Reilly's HTMLBook and a PDF processor. Would be a heavy boon for Hero products and if could be done the same way.

[Paradox]

16 hours ago, Chris Goodwin said:

Were you using PDF export before?  The PDF export functionality no longer exists in recent HD updates.

 

I too wish there were export templates that were more print aware.

Yep your right that is what I was using back then.  I didn't even realize it was gone.  I'm not much of a programmer and I'm not sure to open the HTML's to add the page break line in the code.  I have always used the HTML - Default Character Sheet (DefaultPrintTemplate.hde).  Is there any other way to get the exported HTML to print?

[schir1964]

2 hours ago, Paradox said:

Yep your right that is what I was using back then.  I didn't even realize it was gone.  I'm not much of a programmer and I'm not sure to open the HTML's to add the page break line in the code.  I have always used the HTML - Default Character Sheet (DefaultPrintTemplate.hde).  Is there any other way to get the exported HTML to print?

You do the HTML export and view it with your browser (I prefer chrome). Then you can click on print and change the printer selection to Print to PDF. That's how I do it. Seems to work pretty well. I'm using Windows 10.

 

Now if you need to fix your .hde export to print properly I can lead you through that if you want. You just need to edit the .hde with a simple text editor.

[schir1964]

DefaultPrintTemplate6e.hde

• Line 1477: <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3" width="100%" valign="top" class="c3" style="page-break-before: always;">
• Line 1740: <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3" width="100%" valign="top" class="c3" style="page-break-before: always;">

 

This should enforce the page breaks on Page 2 and Page 3.

[Paradox]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you all.  Thank you Schir1964 for the walkthrough.  I'll try it when I get home from work and let you know how it works out.

Thanks everyone.