How to Create a PDF on the Fly Using PHP

Create online PDF files using PHP.

PDF files provide your website visitors with a read-only document. The document settings prevent users from changing the layout and text, and the PDF reader is a freely distributed application from Adobe. PDF format is a standard on the Internet, and PHP provides you with the ability to create these files on-the-fly. This type of programming is useful when you want to create a PDF file that depends on user input on your website.

Instructions

1. Create a new PDF file. Two lines of code are required when creating the file. The first opens a PDF object, and the second line of code specifies the file name. The following code creates the PDF file:

   $pdfObject = PDF_new();
   PDF_open_file("pdffile.pdf", "");

2. Set the PDF font. You can use any installed font on the server. The set font is used in the page for your text. the following code sets your font:

   $font= PDF_findfont($pdfObject, "Arial", "host", 0);
   PDF_setfont($pdfObject, $font, 10);

3. Write some text to the file. You can now write to the file. The following code writes a simple, one-line paragraph to the file:

   PDF_show_xy($pdf, "PDF file created by PHP", 50, 750);

4. Close the file once you are finished writing to it. The following code closes the file and releases the server's resources:

   PDF_close($pdf);

References

• Asta Host: Create PDF With Php - Create On-the-Fly PDF on the Web Server