NYCPHP Meetup

[Dan Cech]

Aaron Fischer wrote:
> Greetings!
> 
> I'm beginning a project that will involve creating PDF documents.  So 
> far my research has turned up PDFlib 
> (http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.pdf.php) and FPDF (http://www.fpdf.org/).
> 
> So far it seems that FPDF will do what I need.  It has the added benefit 
> of being free (as opposed to PDFlib which would run at least $450).
> 
> Have folks used FPDF?  Would you recommend it? 
> 
> Are there are any other means to generate PDF that you would recommend?

I would heartily recommend the R&OS pdf class:

http://www.ros.co.nz/pdf/

It's broadly similar to fpdf and I've used it on several different
projects without any problems.

Another approach that could work very well for what you're describing is
to use fdf/xfdf to dynamically fill fields in an existing pdf document.

There are quite a few good examples of this to be found in the book
PDFHacks by Sid Steward, with an online example and source code
available here:

http://pdfhacks.com/form_session/

Dan

> If helpful, here's a brief project summary:
> I am developing an application that will allow nontraditional students 
> to apply for admission to our college.  The user will be able to create 
> an account and work on her application, saving and returning at any time 
> (data will be stored in MySQL).  The PDF aspect comes into play when the 
> applicant would like to preview the application with her data populating 
> the fields.  It will also be used for our support staff to print the 
> applications once they are completed.
> 
> Here's the blank application which would need to be created and 
> populated with student data (application is pages 2-4, instructions are 
> on page 1):
> http://www.smith.edu/admission/pdf/nontraditional_application05.pdf
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> -Aaron