Create a Dynamic PDF with PHP (Tutorial)

I have recently discovered a brilliant PHP library for creating PDF files. The library is FPDF. This tool allows you to create PDF documents with dynamic information.

Right, so how does it work?

Easy peasy – here’s a basic tutorial for getting you started with building dynamic PDF documents with PHP.

Downloading the FPDF library

Go to www.fpdf.org to download the library files (Yes the website is UGLY but don’t let that deter you!).
You should only need the file fpdf.php and the fonts library. This will need to be uploaded somewhere on your website’s directory.

Setting up our PHP file

Create your PHP file and link to the FPDF library.

<?php
  require_once('fpdf/fpdf.php');
?>

Set up some default values for your PDF Document:

<?php
  // Create your class instance
  $fpdf = new FPDF();
  // Set up the default page margins for your PDF
  // The parameters are margin left, margin top, margin right (units used are mm)
  $fpdf->SetMargins(0, 0, 0);
  // SetAutoPageBreak function will create a new page if our content exceeds the page limit. 0 stands for margin from bottom of the page before breaking.
  $fpdf->SetAutoPageBreak(true, 0);
  // AliasNbPages is optional if you want the ability to display page numbers on your PDF pages.
  $fpdf->AliasNbPages();
?>

Link to the font files to access the fonts you want to use:

<?php
  // We need to define the path to where our font files are located. To add additional fonts from the default ones supplied see http://www.fpdf.org/makefont/)
  define(‘FPDF_FONTPATH’, ‘font/’);
  // Setting up our fonts and styles – The first parameter is the string you will use in your code to access this font, the second is the style of the font you are setting (B = bold, I = italic, BI = Bold & Italic) and finally is the php file containing your font.
  $fpdf->AddFont(‘Verdana’, ”, ‘verdana.php’); // Add standard Arial
  $fpdf->AddFont(‘Verdana’, ‘B’, ‘verdanab.php’); // Add bolded version of Arial
  $fpdf->AddFont(‘Verdana’, ‘I’, ‘verdanai.php’); // Add italicised version of Arial
?>

FPDF comes with the standard fonts Courier, Helvetica/Arial, Times, Symbol & ZapfDingbats. So for these fonts, the above linking to the .php files isn’t necessary.

Next we need to add our first page to the PDF – this is also used to add any additional pages.

<?php
  $fpdf->AddPage();
?>

Adding Text

To add text to our PDF we will be using the functions Cell and MultiCell.

Cell – This is where you have a set amount of text that can fit within a certain width and height.

MultiCell – This is more for when you might have a few lines of text that perhaps does not have a set amount of characters. So instead you set a height per line rather than full cell height, and then set a width for the text to display within.

For example, to code the following:

We would use both functions Cell and MultiCell. We will need to set our font size and define which font we are using before using our functions.

<?php
  // Set font size
  $fpdf->SetFontSize(10);
  // Select our font family
  $fpdf->SetFont(‘Helvetica’, ”);
  // Now we use the Cell function
  $fpdf->Cell(56, 6, ‘Description’, 0, 0, ‘L’, FALSE);
  /* Parameters are as follows:
  56 – This is the width in mm that we set our Cell
  6 – This is the height in mm
  ‘Description’ – Text to display inside the Cell
  0 – This is for the border. 1 = border and 0 = no border.
  0 – This is the position for our next Cell/MultiCell. 0 will fit the next cell in to the right of this one and 1 will fit the next cell underneath.
  L – This is the alignment of our Cell. L = Left, R = Right and C = Centered.
  FALSE – This is whether or not we want our Cell to have background fill colour.
  */

  // Next we add our MultiCell.
  $fpdf->MultiCell(100, 6, “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse iaculis quam nec nibh fringilla euismod. Nam accumsan neque eget lorem scelerisque vestibulum.”, 0, ‘L’, FALSE);
  // These parameters are the same as the Cell function, however the value 6 is referring to the height for each line rather than in total and the Parameter for where the next Cell is to be positioned is not in the MultiCell function – Cells will automatically appear below.
?>

This will display in your PDF document as below: