title: Reportlab 'LayoutError' handling and debugging
body: <p>I have been working with some complex PDF outputs with reportlab. These are generally fine but there are some cases still where I get LayoutErrors - these are usually because Flowables are too big at some point.</p>
  
  <p>It's proving o be pretty hard to debug these as I don't often have more information than something like this;</p>
  
  <pre><code>Flowable &lt;Table@0x104C32290 4 rows x 6 cols&gt; with cell(0,0) containing
  '&lt;Paragraph at 0x104df2ea8&gt;Authors'(789.0 x 1176) too large on page 5 in frame 'normal'(801.543307087 x 526.582677165*) of template 'Later'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It's really not that helpful. What I would ideally like to know is the best debugging and testing strategies for this kinda thing.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Is there a way I can view a broken PDF? i.e. rendered with the layout errors so I can see whats going on more easily.</li>
  <li>Is there a way I can add a hook to reportlab to better handle these errors? Rather than just failing the whole PDF?</li>
  <li>Any other suggestions about generally improving, testing and handling problems like these.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I don't have a particular example so its more general advice, the exception above I have resolved but its kinda through trial and error (read; guessing and seeing what happens).</p>