Setting up QGIS print composer options from Python console

Question

If I have a print composer called "ABC", I would like to "tell" its composer that I would like to

1. update "Map 0" to simulate the "set to map canvas extent" button activation
2. update certain text labels
3. activate "export to image"

Answer 1

Just an update for this question given the QGIS 2 API is a bit better for these things.

Re your 1, if you want to update the maps in a composer, use code such as:

map_item = composition.getComposerItemById('map')
map_item.setMapCanvas(canvas)
map_item.zoomToExtent(canvas.extent())

Re your 2, use:

composition.refreshItems()

Re your 3:- as Underdark suggested, there is example code to export to both images and PDF at the QGIS Python API cookbook:- http://docs.qgis.org/2.8/en/docs/pyqgis_developer_cookbook/composer.html#output-to-a-raster-image

References:- http://kartoza.com/how-to-create-a-qgis-pdf-report-with-a-few-lines-of-python/

Answer 2

On the topic of print output from pyQGIS: http://www.qgis.org/pyqgis-cookbook/composer.html (Note: master has QgsComposition::loadFromTemplate method, which 1.8 has not).

Basically, in 1.8, you have to create the composition (with map, labels, etc.) from scratch in code anyway. So no updates are needed.