[Solved] Form to PHP to PDF: Conversion Assistance

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I’ve recently use pdftk (server) to do so: https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/

First, install it on a webserver or locally.

Then, here’s a PHP class I adapted from the web (copy it and name it PdfFormToPdftk.php):

<?php

class PdfFormToPdftk {
    /*
     * Path to raw PDF form
     * @var string
     */
    private $pdfurl;

     /*
     * Path to PDFKTK
     * @var string
     */
    private $pdftkpath;

    /*
     * Path to temp files
     * @var string
     */
    private $tmppath;

    /*
     * Errors
     * @var string
     */
    private $errors;

    /*
     * Last command done
     * @var string
     */
    private $lastcmd;

    /*
     * Form data
     * @var array
     */
    private $data;

    /*
     * Path to filled PDF form
     * @var string
     */
    private $output;

    /*
     * Flag for flattening the file
     * @var string
     */
    private $flatten;

    public function __construct($pdfurl, $data, $tmppath, $pdftkpath="/usr/bin/pdftk") {
        $this->pdfurl = $pdfurl;
        $this->data = $data;
        $this->tmppath = $tmppath;
        $this->pdftkpath = $pdftkpath;
    }

    private function tempfile() {
        return tempnam($this->tmppath, gethostname());
    }

    public function fields($pretty = false) {
        $tmp = $this->tempfile();

        exec("{$this->pdftkpath} {$this->pdfurl} dump_data_fields > {$tmp}");
        $con = file_get_contents($tmp);

        unlink($tmp);
        return $pretty == true ? nl2br($con) : $con;
    }

    private function makeFdf() {
        $fdf="%FDF-1.2
        1 0 obj<</FDF<< /Fields[";

        foreach ($this->data as $key => $value) {
            $fdf .= '<</T(' . $key . ')/V(' . $value . ')>>';
        }

        $fdf .= "] >> >>
        endobj
        trailer
        <</Root 1 0 R>>
        %%EOF";

        $fdf_file = $this->tempfile();
        file_put_contents($fdf_file, $fdf);

        return $fdf_file;
    }

    public function flatten() {
        $this->flatten = ' flatten';
        return $this;
    }

    private function generate() {

        $fdf = $this->makeFdf();
        $this->output = $this->tempfile();
        $cmd = "{$this->pdftkpath} {$this->pdfurl} fill_form {$fdf} output {$this->output}{$this->flatten} 2>&1";
        $this->lastcmd = $cmd;
        exec($cmd, $outputAndErrors, $returnValue);
        $this->errors = $outputAndErrors;
        unlink($fdf);
    }

    public function save($path = null) {
        if (is_null($path)) {
            return $this;
        }

        if (!$this->output) {
            $this->generate();
        }

        $dest = pathinfo($path, PATHINFO_DIRNAME);
        if (!file_exists($dest)) {
            mkdir($dest, 0775, true);
        }

        if (!copy($this->output, $path)) {
            echo "failed to copy $path...\n";
        }
        unlink($this->output);

        $this->output = $path;

        return $this;
    }

    public function download() {
        if (!$this->output) {
            $this->generate();
        }

        $filepath = $this->output;
        if (file_exists($filepath)) {

            header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
            header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
            header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=" . uniqid(gethostname()) . ".pdf');
            header('Expires: 0');
            header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate');
            header('Pragma: public');
            header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($filepath));

            readfile($filepath);

            exit;
        }
    }

}

You could use it like this in some script:

<?php
require_once 'PdfFormToPdftk.php';

$datas = ['firstname' => 'Foo', 'lastname' => 'Bar'];
$output_file="yourfile.pdf";
$template_pdf_file="templatefile.pdf"; //where your virgin pdf template contains at least 'firstname' and 'lastname' as editable fields. You might want to use Adobe Acrobat Pro and save it as a Adobe Static PDF Form
$path_to_pdftk_server="/opt/pdflabs/pdftk/bin/pdftk"; // type 'which pdftk' in your console to find yours

$pdf = new PdfFormToPdftk($template_pdf_file, $datas, "https://stackoverflow.com/", $path_to_pdftk_server);
$file = $pdf->save($output_file);

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solved Form to PHP to PDF: Conversion Assistance