# Download HTMLDoc from <a href="http://www.htmldoc.org/software.php?VERSION=1.9.x-r1586&FILE=htmldoc/snapshots/htmldoc-1.9.x-r1586.tar.gz">here</a>
      tar zxvf htmldoc-1.9.x-r1586.tar.gz
      cd htmldoc-1.9.x-r1586
      ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
      make
      sudo make install
      

sudo gem install htmldoc

      


      
sudo gem install htmldoc

      
      

      
Configure merb app
      

      
# dependencies.rb
      dependency "htmldoc", "0.2.1"
      
      
      

      
# init.rb
      Merb::BootLoader.after_app_loads do
              # This will get executed after your app's classes have been loaded.
              Merb.add_mime_type(:pdf, :to_pdf, %w[application/pdf], "Content-Encoding" => "gzip")
      end
      
      
      
Create an action for the pdf generation
      
(there must be a way to just put this in the show action instead of a separate action but i had trouble)

      

      
# router.rb
      resources :proposals, :collection => { :generate => :get }
      

      


      
# router.rb

      resources :proposals, :collection => { :generate => :get }

      

      
      

      

      
# proposals.rb controller
      def generate(id)
              only_provides :pdf
              pdf = PDF::HTMLDoc.new
              pdf.set_option :bodycolor, :white
              pdf.set_option :toc, false
              pdf.set_option :portrait, true
              pdf.set_option :links, true
              pdf.set_option :webpage, true
              pdf.set_option :left, '2cm'
              pdf.set_option :right, '2cm'
              pdf.set_option :header, "Header here!"
              pdf << "<h1>Title</h1> <p>This is some <strong>bold</strong> text.</p>"
              pdf.footer ".t."
              send_data pdf.generate
      end
      
      
      
Then just put a link_to in your view

      

      
<%= link_to "Generate PDF", "/proposals/generate/#{@proposal.id}.pdf" %>

      


      
<%= link_to "Generate PDF", "/proposals/generate/#{@proposal.id}.pdf" %>

      
      

      
Warning: I was never able to get background images to work. I don’t know if this was a limitation with the htmldoc ruby gem, whether it was something with my htmldoc install, or whether it was a stupid coding mistake on my end.
      

        
      
      

        
          
        
        
          
        
        
          
        
        
          
        
      
      

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