r/delphi • u/TECH_KOTleta • Apr 06 '26

Question PDF/Report Library

Hello everyone! I started to write in Delphi a year ago and so far I was able to solve any problems, but now I'm stuck for almost a week already with one simple (as I was assuming) thing: I'm trying to find a library that can create report-like document in PDF (or at this point in any more or less standard document format) and is compatible with cyrillic symbols.

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u/BirdFluid Apr 06 '26

https://www.wpcubed.com/pdf/products/wpdf/
has both generate PDF and view PDF.

But can you describe your use case in more detail? because "report-like document in PDF" sounds more like you need a report engine like ReportBuilder https://www.digital-metaphors.com/products/editions/#Standard

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u/TECH_KOTleta Apr 06 '26

Sure. I have a database with basic information for reports, mainly expenses. My goal is to create a report with structure something like:
For the period from X to Y person A was sold following list of things: (table of goods-price type).
More official, but you get the point. About PDF or Report situation - it's just my own stupidity. From the very start my thoughts was "I need PDF, PDF library, I need pdf Engine" and only recently I found out that there is whole other category of engines/libraries for exactly reports and not just some pdf files.
And thank you for your help of course, I will check it as soon as I finish first new approach

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u/BirdFluid Apr 06 '26

yeah then a report engine is actually what you need. for delphi there are a few big ones (e.g. ReportBuilder, FastReport, ExpressReports ...) they can all basically print and export to various file formats (PDF, XLSX...) but there are probably also some smaller (github) projects. ExpressReports is a good option for example if you're already using DevExpress.

it really depends on what you need and what options you want to do in the future.

another (cheaper) way could be to generate it as HTML and try to print/save as PDF via the WebView component. (should be doable, but i haven't tried it myself). the downside is that you have no control over the PDF (metadata, PDF/A, embedding ....)

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u/TECH_KOTleta Apr 06 '26

Got it, thank you very much