Generate a CV document from a curriculr workbook

Called with no arguments, create_cv() runs in scaffold mode: it copies the template Excel workbook and placeholder profile image to the current working directory and prints instructions for the next step. No rendering takes place.

Usage

create_cv(
  data = NULL,
  photo = NULL,
  output_file = "CV.pdf",
  overwrite = FALSE,
  variant = "cv",
  use_icons = "fontawesome"
)

Arguments

data

A character string or NULL. Path to the Excel workbook. Defaults to NULL, which triggers scaffold mode.

photo

A character string or NULL. Path to the profile image. Defaults to NULL, which renders the CV without a profile photo using a single-column header layout. Supply a path to use a photo with the two-column header layout.

output_file

A character string. Name of the output PDF file. Defaults to "CV.pdf". Ignored in scaffold mode.

overwrite

A logical. Whether to overwrite existing files. Defaults to FALSE.

variant

A character string. Controls content scope. "cv" (the default) renders all rows from every section. "resume" renders only rows where include_in_resume is checked in the workbook.

use_icons

A character string. "fontawesome" (the default) renders contact fields in the CV header with Font Awesome icons via the Typst @preview/fontawesome package. "none" renders plain text.

Value

In scaffold mode, invisibly returns the path to the directory where files were copied. In render mode, invisibly returns the path to the rendered PDF.

Details

Called with data and photo arguments, create_cv() runs in render mode: it reads the workbook, generates CV.qmd, and renders it to PDF using Quarto's Typst engine. Both CV.qmd and CV.pdf are written to the same directory as the workbook.

Scaffold mode (no arguments):

1. Copies cv-data-template.xlsx to getwd().

2. Copies placeholder.png to getwd().

3. Prints instructions for editing the workbook and rendering the CV.

Render mode (data supplied):

1. Resolves and validates the workbook and photo paths.

2. Reads the workbook with read_cv_data(), applying variant filtering.

3. Resolves theme values from the workbook or built-in defaults.

4. Writes CV.qmd by injecting all resolved values into the package template via sentinel substitution.

5. Calls quarto::quarto_render() to produce the PDF.

When photo = NULL, the CV header renders as a single full-width column containing the name, contact line, address, and profile statement. When a photo path is supplied, the header uses a two-column layout with the photo on the left.

When variant = "resume", row-level filtering is controlled entirely by the include_in_resume column in each section sheet. Check the rows you want included in the resume and leave the rest unchecked.

Theme values (fonts, colors, page layout) are read from the theme sheet in the workbook. If the theme sheet is absent, built-in defaults are used. Individual keys missing from a partial theme sheet are filled from defaults.

Examples

# \donttest{
# Scaffold mode — copy template files to a temp directory
withr::with_dir(tempdir(), create_cv())
#> ✔ Created /tmp/RtmpiCTcwj/cv-data-template.xlsx
#> ✔ Created /tmp/RtmpiCTcwj/placeholder.png
#> ℹ Next steps:
#> Open /tmp/RtmpiCTcwj/cv-data-template.xlsx and fill in the "profile" sheet with
#> your information.
#> Replace /tmp/RtmpiCTcwj/placeholder.png with your own profile photo.
#> Call `create_cv(data = 'cv-data-template.xlsx', photo = 'your-photo.png')` to
#> render your CV.
# }

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Render mode — requires cv-data.xlsx, Quarto, and Typst
create_cv(
  data  = "~/my_cv/cv-data.xlsx",
  photo = "~/my_cv/me.jpeg"
)

# Render mode — no photo, single-column header
create_cv(
  data = "~/my_cv/cv-data.xlsx"
)

# Render mode — resume variant
create_cv(
  data        = "~/my_cv/cv-data.xlsx",
  photo       = "~/my_cv/me.jpeg",
  variant     = "resume",
  output_file = "resume.pdf"
)

# Render mode — plain text contact line, custom output filename
create_cv(
  data        = "~/my_cv/cv-data.xlsx",
  photo       = "~/my_cv/me.jpeg",
  use_icons   = "none",
  output_file = "erwin-lares-cv.pdf"
)
} # }