Create a pdf from my website

[Adamhumbug]

Hi all,

I wasnt sure of the best place to put this thread so would appreciate the admins advice on that.

I have a web app and i am wanting it to be able to create a downloadable pdf.

I am early in the process but i am assuming that i create the view that i want to pdf in html/css.

Can anyone suggest the best way for me to go about creating this PDF or any third party add ons that i could be using.

@Barand will be happy to know this will be a PDO project, although a simple one to start.

[Barand]

The most common one, I think, is FPDF

Another one, which is an enhanced version of that one, is TCPDF but I find the documentation a nightmare (the source file itself seems the only place). There are lots of example but it is difficult to know what the arguments for the methods are without a decent reference manual. For example

// Image example with resizing
$pdf->Image('images/image_demo.jpg', 15, 140, 75, 113, 'JPG', 'http://www.tcpdf.org', '', true, 150, '', false, false, 1, false, false, false);

You then have to dig into the source file to find

/**
	 * Puts an image in the page.
	 * The upper-left corner must be given.
	 * The dimensions can be specified in different ways:<ul>
	 * <li>explicit width and height (expressed in user unit)</li>
	 * <li>one explicit dimension, the other being calculated automatically in order to keep the original proportions</li>
	 * <li>no explicit dimension, in which case the image is put at 72 dpi</li></ul>
	 * Supported formats are JPEG and PNG images whitout GD library and all images supported by GD: GD, GD2, GD2PART, GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, XBM, XPM;
	 * The format can be specified explicitly or inferred from the file extension.<br />
	 * It is possible to put a link on the image.<br />
	 * Remark: if an image is used several times, only one copy will be embedded in the file.<br />
	 * @param $file (string) Name of the file containing the image or a '@' character followed by the image data string. To link an image without embedding it on the document, set an asterisk character before the URL (i.e.: '*http://www.example.com/image.jpg').
	 * @param $x (float) Abscissa of the upper-left corner (LTR) or upper-right corner (RTL).
	 * @param $y (float) Ordinate of the upper-left corner (LTR) or upper-right corner (RTL).
	 * @param $w (float) Width of the image in the page. If not specified or equal to zero, it is automatically calculated.
	 * @param $h (float) Height of the image in the page. If not specified or equal to zero, it is automatically calculated.
	 * @param $type (string) Image format. Possible values are (case insensitive): JPEG and PNG (whitout GD library) and all images supported by GD: GD, GD2, GD2PART, GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, XBM, XPM;. If not specified, the type is inferred from the file extension.
	 * @param $link (mixed) URL or identifier returned by AddLink().
	 * @param $align (string) Indicates the alignment of the pointer next to image insertion relative to image height. The value can be:<ul><li>T: top-right for LTR or top-left for RTL</li><li>M: middle-right for LTR or middle-left for RTL</li><li>B: bottom-right for LTR or bottom-left for RTL</li><li>N: next line</li></ul>
	 * @param $resize (mixed) If true resize (reduce) the image to fit $w and $h (requires GD or ImageMagick library); if false do not resize; if 2 force resize in all cases (upscaling and downscaling).
	 * @param $dpi (int) dot-per-inch resolution used on resize
	 * @param $palign (string) Allows to center or align the image on the current line. Possible values are:<ul><li>L : left align</li><li>C : center</li><li>R : right align</li><li>'' : empty string : left for LTR or right for RTL</li></ul>
	 * @param $ismask (boolean) true if this image is a mask, false otherwise
	 * @param $imgmask (mixed) image object returned by this function or false
	 * @param $border (mixed) Indicates if borders must be drawn around the cell. The value can be a number:<ul><li>0: no border (default)</li><li>1: frame</li></ul> or a string containing some or all of the following characters (in any order):<ul><li>L: left</li><li>T: top</li><li>R: right</li><li>B: bottom</li></ul> or an array of line styles for each border group - for example: array('LTRB' => array('width' => 2, 'cap' => 'butt', 'join' => 'miter', 'dash' => 0, 'color' => array(0, 0, 0)))
	 * @param $fitbox (mixed) If not false scale image dimensions proportionally to fit within the ($w, $h) box. $fitbox can be true or a 2 characters string indicating the image alignment inside the box. The first character indicate the horizontal alignment (L = left, C = center, R = right) the second character indicate the vertical algnment (T = top, M = middle, B = bottom).
	 * @param $hidden (boolean) If true do not display the image.
	 * @param $fitonpage (boolean) If true the image is resized to not exceed page dimensions.
	 * @param $alt (boolean) If true the image will be added as alternative and not directly printed (the ID of the image will be returned).
	 * @param $altimgs (array) Array of alternate images IDs. Each alternative image must be an array with two values: an integer representing the image ID (the value returned by the Image method) and a boolean value to indicate if the image is the default for printing.
	 * @return image information
	 * @public
	 * @since 1.1
	 */
	public function Image($file, $x='', $y='', $w=0, $h=0, $type='', $link='', $align='', $resize=false, $dpi=300, $palign='', $ismask=false, $imgmask=false, $border=0, $fitbox=false, $hidden=false, $fitonpage=false, $alt=false, $altimgs=array()) {

At least FPDF has a manual. Luckily that same manual applies largely to TCPDF - although not the extras that TCPDF has. The most useful addition is the tcpdf::WriteHTML($html_string) method which renders html markup as PDF. I haven't used that facility much so I'm not sure how well it uses CSS.

Other improvements are better rendering of non-latin text (eg Arabic) and the ability to embed SVG graphics.

 

[ginerjm]

Are you wanting to create a pdf document or a pdf image of an html page?  IMHO the latter is not an easy task with FPDF.

[Adamhumbug]

6 minutes ago, ginerjm said:

Are you wanting to create a pdf document or a pdf image of an html page?  IMHO the latter is not an easy task with FPDF.

I am wanting to create a pdf document.

Basically a branded document that pulls data from the database and builds a quote that would be sent to a client.

[ginerjm]

Ok then.  FPDF is very good at producing a document of data/text from a db or any other source.  You basically have to have a plan and you build it row by row as if you were working on an x/y grid where (usually) you write out 'cells' across a row.  Works very well if you are trying to output a table view of your data but also for a lot of other things.  I have used it to produce drawsheets for my handball events if you can envision what that looks like.

[Adamhumbug]

6 minutes ago, ginerjm said:

Ok then.  FPDF is very good at producing a document of data/text from a db or any other source.  You basically have to have a plan and you build it row by row as if you were working on an x/y grid where (usually) you write out 'cells' across a row.  Works very well if you are trying to output a table view of your data but also for a lot of other things.  I have used it to produce drawsheets for my handball events if you can envision what that looks like.

very useful info - thanks for that - i could well be back here for help but ill have a stab.

[ginerjm]

Here's a good starting point:

http://www.fpdf.org/

[Adamhumbug]

1 hour ago, ginerjm said:

Here's a good starting point:

http://www.fpdf.org/

Thanks ill take a look

[ginerjm]

OH, i'm sure you will.

HTH

[ali_254]

hi...

I used FPDF, but it does not support Farsi language...

Do you have a solution?

 

[Barand]

Try TCPDF.

It's FPDF with lots of extras. I haven't tried it with Farsi but it handles Arabic well, unlike FPDF.

[ali_254]

4 hours ago, Barand said:

Try TCPDF.

It's FPDF with lots of extras. I haven't tried it with Farsi but it handles Arabic well, unlike FPDF.

Thanks, does this library only work with Composer?

Can  work with it without composer?

[Barand]

My older version of TCPDF just collapsed like a house of cards when I tried and example page with PHPv8 throwing out errors everywhere - so that goes in the bin. As far as I know the newer versions use composer for installation.

I did manage a sample using TFPDF

Code

<?php
const ROOT = 'c:/inetpub/wwwroot';
require(ROOT.'/tfpdf/tfpdf.php');
include('db_inc.php');

$db = pdoConnect('exams');


$res = $db->query("SELECT name_en as en
                        , name_ar as ar 
                   FROM staff
                   ORDER BY RAND()
                   LIMIT 10
                   ");
$rows = $res->fetchAll();



class testpdf extends TFPDF {
    
    public function makePage($rows)
    {
        $this->AddPage();
        
        $this->setFont('', '', 10);
        foreach ($rows as $r) {
            $this->SetFont('arial','',10);
            $this->Cell(60, 10, $r['en'], 'TB', 0, 'L');
            $this->SetFont('calibri','',10);
            $this->Cell(60, 10, rtl($r['ar']), 'TB', 1, 'R');
        }
    }
}
 
$test = new testpdf();
$test->AddFont('calibri','','calibri.ttf',true);

$test->makePage($rows);

$test->output();

function rtl($str)
{
    $k = mb_strlen($str);
    for ($i=0; $i<$k; $i++) $a[] = mb_substr($str, $i, 1);
    $a = array_reverse($a);
    return join('', $a);
}
 
?>