Rearrange data in a PDF file

Question

I am using Perl to generate a PDF file with the PDF::API2 module.

I am having difficulty writing data to the file in the required format.

Currently this is how it appears in the PDF file.

Here's my script

my %data = (
    '1' => {
        'SEQUENCE' => '1',
        'NAME'     => 'John',
        'ADDR1'    => 'Road 1',
        'GRADE'    => '5'
    },
    '2' => {
        'SEQUENCE' => '2',
        'NAME'     => 'Smith',
        'ADDR1'    => 'Road 2',
        'GRADE'    => '6'
    }
);

...
...

my @rows = qw( NAME ADDR1 GRADE );

for my $id (sort keys %data){
    push @tbl, [ @{$data{$id}}{@rows} ];
    ($name, $addr, $grade) = ($data{$id}{'NAME'}, $data{$id}{'ADDR1'}, $data{$id}{'GRADE'});
} 

...
...

my $pdftable = new PDF::Table;
$pdftable->table(
     $pdf,
     $page,
     \@tbl,
     x => 50,
     w => 400,
     start_y => 630,
     start_h => 630,
     next_y  => 630,
     next_h  => 630,
     padding => 5,
     border => 1,
     padding_right => 10,
);
$pdf->saveas();

But I want it to to appear like this:

I know I have to make a modification to @tbl data, but how?

Answer 1

The PDF::Table table function takes an "array or arrays" as its third argument. You currently have it strucutred like:

my @tbl = ( [$name,$addr,$grade], [...] )

Each nested array (what's inside the [] brackets) is a new row of the table, and the elements to that array are the cells of that row. So instead, you want it structured:

my @tbl = ( ['NAME',$name], ['ADDR1',$addr], ['GRADE',$grade], [...] ) 

To construct it using your %data structure:

for my $id (sort keys %data) {
    push @tbl, [$_, $data{$id}->{$_}] for qw/NAME ADDR1 GRADE/;
    push @tbl, [qw/- -/]; # to add a blank row as a separator
}