Develop Reference

How to implement a layout to parse values into and get a file in return?

After trying for 30 hours+ to implement python_-docx and docxtpl for certain functionalities (and rigulariously failing), I decided to come here for advice.
My current project exists of different pictures (.png), formatted texts (i.e. bold, shadow, font, color and so forth), etc. - now these elements need to be arranged / fit into a neat template. First, I tried pillow by creating a canvas and adding all these elements each. The solution itself is extremely prone to errors and doesn't support all the functionalities as far as text is concerned. Next off, I went by creating a .docx template (arranging pictures, text including font, style, etc.) and implementing the values this way - that worked! ... except of it not supporting more than one picture / media element per Word page!)
For demonstration purposes I tried to sketch the workflow:
Now it should be obvious why I tried Word - an easy-to-go word editing program in which I was able to format everything to my wishes (though the Python API didn't work, hence it's useless) - for demonstration purposes, here is a snippet of pseudo code:
#PSEUDO CODE
from docxtpl import DocxTemplate
tpl = DocxTemplate('file.docx')
tpl.replace_media('dummy.png', 'pic1.png')
tpl.replace_media('dummy2.png', 'pic2.png')
tpl.save('out.docx')
Depending on the setup, it either replaces None, or both pictures with one of them. According to various StackOverflow questions and threads, more than one picture isn't possible! Therefore the word approach is rather useless.
Anyhow, I'm out of knowledge. Any suggestions on how to achieve such a workflow, i.e. having an easy editable layout in which I just need to parse certain values in and get a .docx, .png, .pdf, whatever..

How to create a dynamic form with python using translated text as input?

I have an original text that I want to translate. I normally do it manually but I know I could save a lot of time translating automatically the most frequent words and expressions.
I will find out how to translate simple words, the problem is not here. I have read some books on python and I think using string manipulations can be done.
But I am lost about how to create the output file.
The output file will contain:
short empty forms ready to be filled wherever there is text that has not been translated
the translated words wherever they were in the original file
In the output file I will fill manually the empty forms, after pressing Tab the cursor should jump to the next exmpty form
I am lost here, I know how to do forms on html but the language I am used to is Python.
I would like to know what modules from Python I could use. I need some guidance on this.
Can you recommend me a book or a tool that explains how to do something similar to this?
This is what I want to do, assuming I have managed to create a simple database to translate colors from Spanish to English.
The first step contains the original file.
The second step contains the automatic translation.
In the third step I complete the manual translation.
After finishing everything is grouped into a normal txt file ready to be used.
I think it is quite clear. I don't expect people to tell me the code to do this, I just need to know what tools could be used to achieve my goal.
Thanks for editing.

To create an interface that works with a web browser, Flask for Python is a good method for creating webforms. There are tutorials available.
One method for storing data would be an SQLite file. That may be more than you need, so I'd recommend starting with a CSV file. Libraries exist in Python for both CSVs and SQLite.

I need a starting point to code an app to extract text from pdf to excel

To start I just want to state that I'm an Electrical Engineer with basic knowledge of programming.
My requirement is as follows:
I want to create an app where I can load and view PDF files that
contain tables.
These PDF files tables are of irregular shapes and in a different
position on every page. (that's why tools like tabular couldn't help
me)
Each table entry is multiline and of irregular dimensions (I cannot
select a whole row at a time it has to be each element alone. simply
copying the lines to excel won't work either because it will need a
lot of formatting)
So I want to be able to select each table entry individually from the
table (like a selection or cropping box over the required text),
delete new line if there is a new line in the text and just keep spaces.
The generated excel (or access database I do not really mind any)
should be reviewable and saveable (if those are even words XD).
I have a good knowledge of python and a very elementary knowledge of Django and I'm seeking some expert who can tell me what do I really need to learn (and if possible where to learn it) to execute my project.
Is it very much for me to execute and if I can dedicate 10 hours a week, how much would it take me to execute such a project.
Thanks all for your help in advance.

Don't use Python, use Word. Open the pdf, then step through the tables collection to collect the data and put it into excel. See this for an example

Here are the advises i can provide you :
first of all, ask internet for questions :
https://lmddgtfy.net/?q=python%20library%20tabular%20pdf
-> Camelot , which is mentioned multiple time seems to be relevant
For the use of excel sheet, i present you one of the most famous library for manipulating DataFrame: Pandas
You can use small courses on internet which will offer you a quick ability to manage your project easier.
for the application, you can easily find on youtube courses on a library made by someone who will explain you how to do a basic application. It could offer you the entry point you are talking about. Then, You can just wonder what else do you need or simply want for making it better.
for the time needed, it depends on how much time do you need to understand the basics, how much time you spend on having a deeper comprehension. I think in one week, working during your free time with a real interest, it could be working( not perfect, but working, which is a good beginning)
PS: I am not sure if your question is relevant for the aims of stackoverflow. I suggest you to read this file. ( https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-ask)

Microsoft Speech Recognition Custom Training

I have been wanting to create an application using the Microsoft Speech Recognition.
My application's users are expected to often say abbreviated things, such as 'LHC' for 'Large Hadron Collider' or 'CERN'. Given that exact order, my application will return
You said: At age C.
You said: Cern
While it did work for 'CERN', it failed very badly for 'LHC'.
However, if I could make my own custom training files, I could easily place the term 'LHC' somewhere in there. Then, I could make the user access the Speech Control Panel and run my training file.
All the links I have found for this have been frustratingly useless, as they just say things like 'This is ----, you should try going to the ---- forum instead'.
If it does help, here is a list of the links:
http://compgroups.net/comp.speech.users/add-my-own-training/153194
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/microsoft.public.speech.server/v58SH1ov22s
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/servercorefordevelopers/thread/f7a35f3f-b352-464a-b264-e16eb4afd049
Is my problem even possible? Or are the training files themselves in a special format? If so, can that format be reproduced?
A solution that can also work on Windows XP would be ideal.
Thanks in advance!
P.S. If there are any libraries or modules out there already for this, could anyone point me to some? A Python or C/C++ solution would be splendid. Also, since I'd rather not post another question regarding this, is it possible to utilize the train utilities from command prompt (or without the GUI visible, but still having total command of all controls)?

Okay, pulling this from a thing I wrote three or four years ago now, but I believe you want to do something like this.
The grammar library is a trained system which can recognize words. You can create your own grammar library cued to specific words.
C#, sorry
using System.Speech
using System.Speech.Recognition
using System.Speech.AudioFormat
SpeechRecognitionEngine sre = new SpeechRecognitionEngine();
string[] words = {"L H C", "CERN"};
Choices choices = new Choices(words);
GrammarBuilder gb = new GrammarBuilder(choices);
Grammar grammar = new Grammar(gb);
sre.LoadGrammar(grammar);
That is as far as I can get you. From docs it looks like you can define the pronunciations somehow. So perhaps that way you could have LHC map directly to a single word. Here are the docs on the grammar class - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.speech.recognition.grammar.aspx
Small update - see example in their docs here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms554228.aspx

Formatted output in OpenOffice/Microsoft Word with Python

I am working on a project (in Python) that needs formatted, editable output. Since the end-user isn't going to be technically proficient, the output needs to be in a word processor editable format. The formatting is complex (bullet points, paragraphs, bold face, etc).
Is there a way to generate such a report using Python? I feel like there should be a way to do this using Microsoft Word/OpenOffice templates and Python, but I can't find anything advanced enough to get good formatting. Any suggestions?

A little known, and slightly evil fact: If you create an HTML file, and stick a .doc extension on it, Word will open it as a Word document, and most users will be none the wiser.
Except maybe a very technical person will say, my this is a small Word file! :)

Use the Python Docx module for this - 100% Python, tables, images, document properties, headings, paragraphs, and more.

" The formatting is complex(bullet points, paragraphs, bold face, etc), "
Use RST.
It's trivial to produce, since it's plain text.
It's trivial to edit, since it's plain text with a few extra characters to provide structural information.
It formats nicely using a bunch of tools.

I know there is an odtwriter for docutils. You could generate your output as reStructuredText and feed it to odtwriter or look into what odtwriter is using on the backend to generate the ODT and use that.
(I'd probably go with generating rst output and then hacking odtwriter to output the stuff I want (and contribute the fixes back to the project), because that's probably a whole lot easier that trying to render your stuff to ODT directly.)

I've used xlwt to create Excel documents using python, but I haven't needed to write word files yet. I've found this package, OOoPy, but I haven't used it.
Also you might want to try outputting html files and having the users open them in Word.

You can use QTextDocument, QTextCursor and QTextDocumentWriter in PyQt4. A simple example to show how to write to an odt file:
>>>from pyqt4 import QtGui
# Create a document object
>>>doc = QtGui.QTextDocument()
# Create a cursor pointing to the beginning of the document
>>>cursor = QtGui.QTextCursor(doc)
# Insert some text
>>>cursor.insertText('Hello world')
# Create a writer to save the document
>>>writer = QtGui.QTextDocumentWriter()
>>>writer.supportedDocumentFormats()
[PyQt4.QtCore.QByteArray(b'HTML'), PyQt4.QtCore.QByteArray(b'ODF'), PyQt4.QtCore.QByteArray(b'plaintext')]
>>>odf_format = writer.supportedDocumentFormats()[1]
>>>writer.setFormat(odf_format)
>>>writer.setFileName('hello_world.odt')
>>>writer.write(doc) # Return True if successful
True
QTextCursor also can insert tables, frames, blocks, images. More information at:
http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-4.8/qtextcursor.html
As a bonus, you also can print to a pdf file by using QPrinter.

I think OpenOffice has some Python bindings - you should be able to write OO macros in Python.
But I would use HTML instead - Word and OO.org are rather good at editing it and you can write it from Python easily (although Word saves a lot of mess which could complicate parsing it by your Python app).