Using PHP to Read and Generate PDF Files

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The Portable Document Format (PDF) is widely used for sharing documents that require preservation of formatting, fonts, and other attributes. PDFs are particularly useful for legal contracts, technical manuals, and academic papers. In this article, we’ll explore how to read and generate PDF files using PHP, providing developers with an essential guide for working with these files in various applications.

Generating PDFs with PHP

Using the TCPDF Library

TCPDF is a popular PHP library for generating PDF documents. It provides an array of features such as header and footer customization, pagination, and HTML content rendering.

Here is a simple example:

<?php
require_once('tcpdf/tcpdf.php');

$pdf = new TCPDF(PDF_PAGE_ORIENTATION, PDF_UNIT, PDF_PAGE_FORMAT, true, 'UTF-8', false);

$pdf->SetCreator(PDF_CREATOR);
$pdf->SetAuthor('John Doe');
$pdf->SetTitle('Sample PDF');

$pdf->AddPage();

$pdf->SetFont('helvetica', '', 12);

$htmlContent = '<h1>Welcome to TCPDF</h1><p>This is a sample PDF.</p>';

$pdf->writeHTML($htmlContent, true, false, true, false, '');

$pdf->Output('sample.pdf', 'I');
?>

Customizing PDFs