It would be wonderful if Couch could automatically create a downloadable PDF file of a page - or sequence of pages. Many CMSs - specially wiki-flavoured ones - have this capability. It comes in handy for various applications, such as creating downloadable receipts, or creating customised printable content for members (like certificates or stationery).

There are a couple of powerful open-source php PDF libraries out there, who do not depend on other
libraries being pre-installed or compiled - they work with php "out-of-the-box". They are:

TCPDF - extremely powerful and LGPL Licensed:
http://www.tcpdf.org

FPDF - not as full-featured, but easier to use and has an even more permissive license:
http://www.fpdf.org

The way I imagine it could work, would be through a 'pages'-like tag, which would generate a link to the downloadable pdf file. For instance, to generate a link to download an automatically generated pdf file of the receipt currently being viewed by the user:

Code: Select all

<cms:pdf masterpage='receipt.php' page_name=k_page_title />

An extra parameter could be used to set the page size of the outputted document:

Code: Select all

<cms:pdf masterpage='receipt.php' page_name=k_page_title page_size='A4' />

To output a pdf version of the entire documentation for 'version 1.4.5' of some software, set on A5 size in landscape, we could use:

Code: Select all

<cms:pdf masterpage='doc.php' folder_name='Version 1.4.5" page_size='A5' landscape=1 />

Perhaps this is something that could be considered for Couch version 2.0?,,,

+1 vote from me.

I use mPDF for this .
http://www.mpdf1.com

When mPDF is loaded you can easily create a couch template for creating a pdf.

This couch/mPDF template would look like this:

Code: Select all

<?php require_once( 'couch/cms.php' ); include("mpdf.php");?>

   <cms:template title='your PDF' hidden='1'></cms:template>

     <cms:pages masterpage='couch_page.php'>
   
      <cms:php>

              $html = ' 
                Here your normal couch code.....
              
              ';


//========mpdf  settings below=======================================
//==============================================================
//==============================================================



$mpdf=new mPDF('c','A4');
$mpdf->SetTitle('Your title');
$mpdf->WriteHTML($html);
$mpdf->Output();
exit;

//==============================================================
//==============================================================
//==============================================================


</cms:php>

      </cms:pages>
<?php COUCH::invoke(); ?> 

For sure PDF output by an couch tag would make this much easier.

[KK]

Good suggestion. Shouldn't be difficult to create an addon doing this.
I have some reservations about the following though -

output a pdf version of the entire documentation for 'version 1.4.5' of some software

This, as opposed to single pages, could possibly take a very long time with the risk of the operation timing out - something that end-users always detest.
What do you say? What are your experiences?

With regards to making the PDF of a single page, I find the following quick-n-dirty approach the easiest (works with Chrome) -
1. Create a CSS for print media
2. Display a printer icon on the front-end pages that uses JS to send the page to the printer.
3. Ask the client to choose 'Save as PDF' in the printing dialog box.

Good suggestion. Shouldn't be difficult to create an addon doing this.

Wonderful!!!

I have some reservations about the following though (...)
This, as opposed to single pages, could possibly take a very long time with the risk of the operation timing out - something that end-users always detest.
What do you say? What are your experiences?

I have used some Wikis in the past that were able to output the entire 'book' as a single pdf file. The operation, if I remember correctly, did take several seconds, and the user was informed while that it may take a while.

Outputting a whole book on-the-fly is handy, for sure, but it is a very specific use-case. It is particularly useful for documentation and manuals that are constantly being updated.

The "quick-and-dirty" approach of creating a PDF from the print-dialog box is fine, if the user is savvy, but being able to have a clickable link would be truly awesome!

+1 vote from me.

I use mPDF for this .
http://www.mpdf1.com

When mPDF is loaded you can easily create a couch template for creating a pdf.

This couch/mPDF template would look like this:

Code: Select all

<?php require_once( 'couch/cms.php' ); include("mpdf.php");?>

   <cms:template title='your PDF' hidden='1'></cms:template>

     <cms:pages masterpage='couch_page.php'>
   
      <cms:php>

              $html = ' 
                Here your normal couch code.....
              
              ';


//========mpdf  settings below=======================================
//==============================================================
//==============================================================



$mpdf=new mPDF('c','A4');
$mpdf->SetTitle('Your title');
$mpdf->WriteHTML($html);
$mpdf->Output();
exit;

//==============================================================
//==============================================================
//==============================================================


</cms:php>

      </cms:pages>
<?php COUCH::invoke(); ?> 

For sure PDF output by an couch tag would make this much easier.

I did try this code now, but i just get CAN NOT FIND PAGE. Must i have some special code between the

$html = '
Here your normal couch code.....

';

Hi,

I suppose couch can't find your template

<cms:template title='your PDF' hidden='1'></cms:template>

Hi,

I suppose couch can't find your template

<cms:template title='your PDF' hidden='1'></cms:template>

Is it possible to explain abit more on how to implement this.

If i have a page view ks.php showing some info.

On this view page i wanna have the PDF link.

Must i put the code you show here in my view page, or must i make a new couch page and put code there*?

Hope you can reply on this. Realt need PDF function

hi,

Must i put the code you show here in my view page, or must i make a new couch page and put code there*?

Did you download mpdf ? http://www.mpdf1.com

When downloaded you could make a couch template like posted before.

change

Code: Select all

include("mpdf.php");

to the path of your mpdf file.

Now this couch template will generate a pdf , you can use your normal couch code in the html variable

Code: Select all

$html = '
                Here your normal couch code.....
              ';

Do we have a couch tag/plugin for this? If not i would vote for this too. Would be a great addon for our cms.

Hello @Tomarnst, @luxlogica, @kimheggen, @KK Sir,

I am trying to generate pdf using the mpdf (https://github.com/mpdf/mpdf.github.io).

I have a list of students (clonable student.php), I need to generate Bonafide Certificate of the students. I took to AJAX to do so. But the issue is that in the XHR Response Payload I get a random string, which when manually appended to "data:application/pdf;base64,<string>" displays the pdf.

I am not able to open in new tab or download the pdf.

My codes are as follows:

Student List:

Code: Select all

<?php 
   require_once '../couch/cms.php'; 
   require_once __DIR__ . '/assets/vendor/autoload.php';
?>
<cms:template title="PDF Generation" clonable="1" parent="_pdf_generation_" order="1" >
   <cms:editable name="fname" label="First Name" type="text" order="1" />
   <cms:editable name="lname" label="Last Name" type="text" order="2" />
   <cms:editable name="dob" label="Date of Birth" type="datetime" order="3" default_time="@current" />
</cms:template>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <meta charset="utf-8">
      <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
      <meta name="author" content="GenXCoders Pvt Ltd (GXCPL)">
      <title>PDF Generation</title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.css" integrity="sha512-pli9aKq758PMdsqjNA+Au4CJ7ZatLCCXinnlSfv023z4xmzl8s+Jbj2qNR7RI8DsxFp5e8OvbYGDACzKntZE9w==" crossorigin="anonymous" referrerpolicy="no-referrer" />
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.css" integrity="sha512-5A8nwdMOWrSz20fDsjczgUidUBR8liPYU+WymTZP1lmY9G6Oc7HlZv156XqnsgNUzTyMefFTcsFH/tnJE/+xBg==" crossorigin="anonymous" referrerpolicy="no-referrer" />
      <style type="text/css">
         body {
            font-family: FontAwesome, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
         }
      </style>
   </head>
   <body>

      <div class="container">
         <div class="row">
            <div class="col-md-12">
               <h1>PDF Generation</h1>
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-12">
               <div class="table-responsive">
               <table class="table table-striped">
                  <thead>
                     <tr>
                        <th>#</th>
                        <th>First Name</th>
                        <th>Last Name</th>
                        <th>Date of Birth</th>
                        <th class="text-center">Action</th>
                     </tr>
                  </thead>
                  <tbody>
                     <cms:pages masterpage=k_template_name>
                     <cms:no_results>
                     <tr>
                        <td class="text-center" colspan="5">
                           - No record(s) found -
                        </td>
                     </tr>
                     </cms:no_results>
                     <tr>
                        <td>
                           <cms:show k_absolute_count />
                        </td>
                        <td>
                           <cms:show fname />
                        </td>
                        <td>
                           <cms:show lname />
                        </td>
                        <td>
                           <cms:date dob format='d-m-Y' />
                        </td>
                        <td class="text-center">
                           <button class="btn btn-danger btn-sm text-uppercase" type="button" data-id="<cms:show k_page_id />">
                              <i class="fa fa-file-pdf-o"></i> Generate PDF
                           </button>
                        </td>
                     </tr>
                     </cms:pages>
                  </tbody>
               </table>
               </div>
            </div>
         </div>
      </div>

      <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.0.0.js" integrity="sha256-jrPLZ+8vDxt2FnE1zvZXCkCcebI/C8Dt5xyaQBjxQIo=" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
      <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/3.3.7/js/bootstrap.js" integrity="sha512-hQeArtKSBTJ1segRjyRoDh409td70Loy62usBB3+Ox5Z1akisBzCoZWpU9+Q/N5GBbgUJ6Xo1fcdFgDDIRzLxA==" crossorigin="anonymous" referrerpolicy="no-referrer"></script>
      <script type="text/javascript">
         $("button").click(function(e) {
             e.preventDefault();
             var i = $(e.currentTarget).attr('data-id');
             $.ajax({
                 type: "POST",
                 url: "<cms:show k_site_link />pdf-generation/pdf-generation-ajax.php",
                 data: { 
                     id: i
                 }
             });
         });
      </script>
   </body>
</html>
<?php COUCH::invoke(); ?>

PDF Generator:

Code: Select all

<?php 
   require_once '../couch/cms.php'; 
   require_once __DIR__ . '/assets/vendor/autoload.php';
?>
<cms:template title="AJAX - PDF Generation" parent="_pdf_generation_" order="2" />
<cms:set page_id="<cms:gpc 'id' method='POST' />" scope="global" />
<cms:content_type 'application/pdf'/>

<cms:pages masterpage="pdf-generation/index.php" id=page_id limit="1">
   <cms:php>      
      $html = '
         <div>
            First Name: <cms:show fname />
         </div>
         <div>
            Last Name: <cms:show lname />
         </div>
         <div>
            Date of Birth: <cms:date dob format='d-m-Y' />
         </div>
      ';
   
      $mpdf = new \Mpdf\Mpdf(['format' => 'A4-L']);
      $mpdf->SetDisplayMode('fullpage');
      $mpdf->WriteHTML($html);
      $mpdf->Output();

   </cms:php>
</cms:pages>
<?php COUCH::invoke(); ?>

AJAX Script:

Code: Select all

$("button").click(function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    var i = $(e.currentTarget).attr('data-id');
    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: "<cms:show k_site_link />pdf-generation/pdf-generation-ajax.php",
        data: { 
            id: i
        }
    });
});

I tried the parameters:
I - Open in new tab
D - Download PDF to local storage
in $mpdf->Output(); with the file name set explicitly. But nothing happens.
F - Save to folder works fine, but that will need server access to download or view the files at the client end, which will not be a good option.

There are 13000+ records to be processed for generating Bonafide Certificates, Transfer Certificates, Other Documents.

I know this is not exactly a CouchCMS issue, but those who have worked on it, if they could shed some light, I would be really grateful.

Regards,
GenXCoders (Aashish)