PDF::API2 Z Order problem 2

[menkes]

I am just playing around with this, and have run into a problem I cannot fix. Here is the code:

use PDF::API2;
my @cols = @ARGV;
my $yLoc = 720;

my $pdf  = PDF::API2->new(-file => "$0.pdf");
$pdf->mediabox(595,842);
my $page = $pdf->page;

my $box = $page->gfx();
$box->fillcolor( 'lightgrey' );
$box->rect(40, 718, 532, 13);
$box->fill;

my $fnt = $pdf->corefont('Arial',-encoding => 'latin1'); 
my $txt = $page->text;

$txt->font($fnt, 9);
$txt->textstart;
$txt->translate($cols[0],$yLoc);
$txt->text("1234");
$txt->translate($cols[1],$yLoc);
$txt->text("DP");
# More of the same follows....

$yLoc -= 12;
$txt->translate($cols[0],$yLoc);
$txt->text("5678");
$txt->translate($cols[1],$yLoc);
$txt->text("RQ");
# More of the same follows....

$txt->textend;
$pdf->save;
$pdf->end();

Basically the effect I want is rows of columnar data, with every other row having a light gray background (I'll make it more dynamic, etc. after I prove I can do it).

The problem is that the rectangle covers the text. I tried this:

my $box = $page->gfx(1);

...but what I get with that is the same problem, AND the text below the rectangle is changed to the rectangle's fill color.

Any ideas??

 

[menkes]

Well, guess this is not used enough to get a response in these forums (first time that has happened).

So, for those who stumble across this post - I found the answer.

Text is treated as a graphic in creating PDFs with this module. The only time I set the fill color was for the rectangle:

$box-> fillcolor( 'lightgrey' );

The text in the same area just took that as it's fillcolor. By explicitly designating the fillcolor for the text object, I get the desired result of black text on a grey background:

$txt -> fillcolor( '#000000' );

For anyone interested in the module, documentation is non-existent. However, there is a group at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perl-text-pdf-modules