Generating PDFs with Django

from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
from django.http import HttpResponse

def some_view(request):
    # Create the HttpResponse object with the appropriate PDF headers.
    response = HttpResponse(mimetype='application/pdf')
    response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=somefilename.pdf'

    # Create the PDF object, using the response object as its "file."
    p = canvas.Canvas(response)

    # Draw things on the PDF. Here's where the PDF generation happens.
    # See the ReportLab documentation for the full list of functionality.
    p.drawString(100, 100, "Hello world.")

    # Close the PDF object cleanly, and we're done.
    p.showPage()
    p.save()
    return response

def html_view(request, as_pdf = False):
	#Get varaibles to populate the template
	payload = {'data':data, ....}
	if as_pdf:
		return payload
	return render_to_response('app/template.html', payload, RequestContext(request))

def pdf_view(request):
	payload = html_view(request, as_pdf = True)
	file_data = render_to_string('app/template.pdf', payload, RequestContext(request))
	myfile = StringIO.StringIO()
	pisa.CreatePDF(file_data, myfile)
	myfile.seek(0)
	response =  HttpResponse(myfile, mimetype='application/pdf')
	response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=coupon.pdf'
	return response