pdfmake Snaking Columns

There appears to be no way to get a single block of text (and other elements) to overflow from one column into the next column (snaking columns). Currently, any overflow is pushed to the same column on the next page.

Would this functionality be difficult to add? I am surprised it is not already a feature as it is a core feature of PDFKit (however only text is supported).

I am not very familiar with the PDFMake codebase (have just had a few hours looking through it) and would be willing to have a go at adding this feature. Before I attempt this, if anyone familiar with the codebase could make any comments regarding the architectural feasibility of this enhancement or the reasoning behind columns having been implemented as discrete containers, it would be greatly appreciated.

I would also consider contributing (financially) to have this feature added if that idea appeals to anyone!

Thanks in advance.

Jun 10 '16 07:06 andrew-rutherford

Also requesting this feature.

Did you manage to implement it andrew?

Jul 11 '16 09:07 matt-darby

Yes, this is definitely a needed feature for my work.

Aug 12 '16 21:08 robertknecht

+1

Oct 10 '16 11:10 RobertPrediger

+1

Jun 23 '17 14:06 michaelb87

+1

Aug 29 '17 15:08 Michfou

+1

Aug 30 '17 18:08 leontalbot

+1

Dec 06 '17 12:12 kngchn

+1 Much needed feature

Dec 27 '17 16:12 aqelkp

@liborm85 any updates on this feature? Looks like this open issue hasn't been touched in quite some time.

Mar 15 '19 14:03 Quixomatic

I was able to made floating columns only with raw PDFKit. Why pdfmake does not support this feature while PDFKit does and pdfmake based on pdfkit?

Apr 25 '19 09:04 ninasaveljeva

I was able to made floating columns only with raw PDFKit. Why pdfmake does not support this feature while PDFKit does and pdfmake based on pdfkit?

@ninasaveljeva, You're right and even in the pdfkit demo it shows snaking column: http://pdfkit.org/demo/browser.html

@liborm85 Any insights/updates related to this?

May 30 '19 13:05 Quixomatic

@corneliouzbett Your example doesn't work. I tried expanding the first column to see if it overflows to the next column, and the result is that it goes to next page instead. Try it on your own:

var dd = {
	content: [
	{
	 style: 'tableExample',
	 layout: 'noBorders',
	table: {
	   widths: ['*', '*'],
		body: [
			['Parent 1', 'Parent 2'],
			 [
				[
					{
						table: {
						    widths: ['*', '*'],
							body: [
								['Col1', 'Col2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								['1', '2'],
								
							]
						},
					}
				],
				[
					{
						table: {
			  		         widths: ['*', '*'],
						 body: [
								['Col3', 'Col4'],
								['3', '4'],
								['3', '4']
							]
						},
					}
				]
			]
		]
	}
}]	
}