/CakePDF

PDF Component to use with CakePHP

Primary LanguagePHP

CakePHP PDF plugin v2.0.1

This plugin contains a component to generate PDFs using views. The CakePDF plugin is compatible with CakePHP 2.0+.

Installation

  • Download the repository and extract it in app/Plugin/CakePdf or on one of your plugin paths.

  • Add a prefix in app/Config/core.php. The config declaration will be something like this Configure::write('Routing.prefixes', array('admin', 'pdf'));.

  • Load the plugin:

     <?php CakePlugin::load('CakePdf'); ?>

Usage

In a controller add component declaration with something similar to the following:

<?php
class Post extends AppController {
	public $components = array(
		'CakePdf.CakePdf'
	);

	public function pdf_index() {
		// content of your action
	}
}
?>

In the view you only need use HTML or PHP code, it will be converted to PDF and force to download.

Configure

By default CakePdf use the prefix pdf to render actions. If you want to change it you can set a prefix property on component.

...
public $components = array(
    'CakePdf.CakePdf' => array(
        'prefix' => 'mypdf'
    )
);

public function mypdf_index() {
    // content of your action
}
...

Do not forget to add your custom prefix in app/Config/core.php file.

You can also set a custom layout, filename, orientation, charset, paper. By default we have the following properties:

...
public $components = array(
    'CakePdf.CakePdf' => array(
        'prefix' => 'pdf',
        'layout' => 'CakePdf.pdf',
        'filename' => '{name_of_action}.pdf', // this is the name on output pdf (when force download occurs)
        'orientation' => 'P',  // accept 'P' for portrait and 'L' for landscape
        'paper' => 'A4' // accept all paper types of tcpdf library
    )
);
...

In addition to this you can create a header app/View/Elements/pdf/header.ctp or footer app/View/Elements/pdf/footer.ctp files to place it on every page generated in your pdf.

 ...
public $components = array(
    'CakePdf.CakePdf' => array(
        'header' => '{name_of_header_file_element}',
        'footer' => '{name_of_footer_file_element}'
    )
);
...

Additional Methods

  • setFilename($filename) : It will change the output filename.
  • addStyle($files) : Add css expressions to render in pdf view. The $files argument accepts a string path of file, or an array of path files (it automatically refer to folder webroot/css/).
  • dispatch($method, $params) : Used to perform the TCPDF methods that where not directly implemented in this component.