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labelator Python package

This is a Python package for creating PDF documents that can be printed onto circular sticky labels, this particular brand: https://www.flexilabels.co.uk/a4-sheet-round-labels/260-labels-per-a4-sheet-10-mm-diameter

To use, give the labels (strings) to the function write_labels:

from labelator import write_labels

labels = [
    '10 nM\nsample1\n22/03/09',
    '10 nM\nsample2\n22/03/09',
    '20 nM\nsample3\n22/03/09',
]
write_labels('labels.pdf', labels)

(One can also specify the labels parameter as a 2D list or a dict; see Usage below.)

This produces a PDF file labels.pdf with 260 circles, most of which are empty, but the first three look like this (images only appear when viewed on GitHub):

Table of contents

Installation

Manually install the packages drawSvg and cairosvg via

pip install drawsvg cairosvg

cairosvg is just a Python interface to the cairo library; you may also have to install Cairo manually. See https://www.cairographics.org/download/

If you have a Python version prior to 3.8, also install the typing-extensions package:

pip install typing-extensions

Then clone this GitHub repo:

git clone https://github.com/UC-Davis-molecular-computing/labelator.git

Finally, add the directory you just cloned to your PYTHONPATH. For example, on the Linux bash shell, add this line to your ~/.bashrc file:

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/path/to/labelator

where /path/to/labelator is the path to the labelator directory you cloned.

Usage

The function write_labels has required parameters filename and labels. filename must end in .pdf, .svg, or .png; the appropriate file type will be written. labels describes the text to print onto the labels (see below).

The full list of parameters:

  • filename: name of file to write; must end in .pdf, .svg, or .png

  • labels: Description of labels (strings) to write. Can be in one of three formats:

    • dict mapping (row,col) integer pairs to labels ({(0,0): 'L1', (0,1): 'L2', (1,0): 'L3', (1,1): 'L4'}),
    • 2D list of strings ([['L1', 'L2'], ['L3', 'L4']]]),
    • 1D list of strings (['L1', 'L2', 'L3', 'L4']; would be equivalent to the above two on a two-column paper).

    If a 1D list, it will be converted to a 2D list in either row-major or column-major order, depending on the value of the parameter order_by. Labels can have newlines; the whole multiline string will end up approximately centered in the circle. If a 2D list of strings, each row is described by a list, e.g., labels[2][3] describes the label in row 2, column 3. If a dict, then the keys are (row,col) pairs, e.g., labels[(2,3)] describes the label in row 2, column 3.

  • show_circles: whether to draw a circle around each label representing the sticker boundary. Useful for ensuring label text will fit in the sticker, but typically turned off before printing the labels.

  • font_size: font size (units are SVG px)

  • dx_text_em: amount to adjust x position of text within circle (units are SVG em)

  • dy_text_em: amount to adjust y position of text within circle (units are SVG em)

  • line_height: height of each line; shrink to move lines closer together (units are percentage of standard line height; 1.0 is standard)

  • font_family: CSS font family; see https://www.w3.org/Style/Examples/007/fonts.en.html

  • font_weight: CSS font weight; see https://www.w3.org/Style/Examples/007/fonts.en.html

  • circle_stroke_width: stroke width of border of circle (if show_circles is True)

  • order_by: If labels is a 1D list of strings, then this indicates whether to go in row-major order ("row") or column-major order ("col").

  • params: Parameters object describing adjustment values needed to adapt to specific label paper (see labelator.py source code for description of Parameters object)

Here is a call to write_labels with the default parameters specified (also some examples of the three formats for labels; the first is padded with empty labels for the first two rows to make it print the same as the next two):

labels = ['a', 'b', 'c'] + ['']*10 + \
         ['d', 'e'] + ['']*11 + \
         ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i']
labels = [
    ['a', 'b', 'c'], 
    ['d', 'e'], 
    ['f', 'g', 'h', 'i'],
]
labels = {
    (0, 0): 'a', (0, 1): 'b', (0, 2): 'c',
    (1, 0): 'd', (1, 1): 'e',
    (2, 0): 'f', (2, 1): 'g', (2, 2): 'h', (2, 3): 'i',
}
write_labels(
    filename='labels.pdf',
    labels=labels,
    show_circles=True,
    font_size=8.0,
    dx_text_em=0.0,
    dy_text_em=0.0,
    line_height=1.0,
    font_family='Helvetica',
    font_weight='normal',
    circle_stroke_width=1.33,
    order_by='row',
    params=flexilabels_260_per_a4_sheet,
)

Printing

Different printers are finicky, and you'll likely have to mess with the params argument to get it to print in exactly the right position. I suggest setting show_circles=True, then printing onto regular paper. Place that paper on top of the more expensive label paper with the adhesive stickers, and hold them up to the light so that you can see the outline of the actual stickers through the regular paper. If the stickers do not line up precisely with the printed circles, adjust fields of the params argument until they do, e.g., x_offset and y_offset to change their positions, or x_multiplier and y_multiplier to change spacing between circles. Once you get the circles lined up exactly with the stickers, set show_circles=True and print onto the label paper itself. You may also have to adjust the paper size itself. The default is for A4 paper; for US letter size, adjust page_height_px and page_width_px.

The PDF produced is intended to match the label positions in this template: https://www.flexilabels.co.uk/uploads/product-files/0-260-labels-per-a4-sheet-10-mm-diameter-flexi-labels-template.pdf

Printing can be finicky.

  1. Choose A4 paper.
  2. Select "Actual Size", not "Fit" or any other scale.

For example, in Adobe Reader:

In Sumatra PDF viewer, this is on the advanced tab: