FPDF
Set-up the library
Before we start
You will need to download and install composer:, (*1)
(NOTE: this project is not related with composer team so they can change the way to download and use it. Please refer to getcomposer.org to get latest updates about how to get composer), (*2)
php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"
php composer-setup.php
php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"
Now that you have the composer.phar file, you can move it to your project folder, in order to use it as part of it:, (*3)
mv composer.phar /path/to/your/project/root/composer.phar
php composer.phar -V
(NOTE: your composer.phar file should be added into your .gitignore file, due it's not a file related with your project), (*4)
Or you can move it as a global system binary (the how-to-install process is based on this method):, (*5)
mv composer.phar /usr/bin/composer
composer -V
Install
Just include your package in your composer.json file:, (*6)
{
"require": {
"david-garcia/fpdf": "^1.1"
}
}
Then run the composer command to install the dependency:, (*7)
composer install
Alternatively you can just require the package to deal with all of it automatically:, (*8)
composer require david-garcia/fpdf
Usage
Step 1. Include the composer autoload:, (*9)
require "vendor/autoload.php";
Step 2. Include the use statements for FPDF:, (*10)
use DavidGarciaCat\FPDF\FPDF;
Step 3. Create a PDF file:, (*11)
$fpdf = new new FPDF();
$fpdf->output();
Scripts
FPDF allows to build and implement stripts to expand and enhance the experience working with the library., (*12)
This project is implementing the currently published Scripts in FPDF website as Design Pattern Decorators.
Just set-up the main library as a Facade and then inject it in any Decorator constructor:, (*13)
use DavidGarciaCat\FPDF\FPDF;
use DavidGarciaCat\FPDF\Script\BookmarkDecorator;
$fpdf = new BookmarkDecorator(new FPDF());
What is FPDF?
FPDF is a PHP class which allows to generate PDF files with pure PHP, that is to say without using the PDFlib library. F from FPDF stands for Free: you may use it for any kind of usage and modify it to suit your needs., (*14)
FPDF has other advantages: high level functions. Here is a list of its main features:, (*15)
- Choice of measure unit, page format and margins
- Page header and footer management
- Automatic page break
- Automatic line break and text justification
- Image support (JPEG, PNG and GIF)
- Colors
- Links
- TrueType, Type1 and encoding support
- Page compression
FPDF requires no extension (except Zlib to enable compression and GD for GIF support). The latest version requires at least PHP 5.1, however this project is based on PHP 5.5 or newer versions., (*16)
Please browse www.fpdf.org for Tutorials and Documentation. The tutorials will give you a quick start. The complete online documentation is available OnLine and you can downlaod it in multiple languages. It is strongly advised to read the FAQ which lists the most common questions and issues., (*17)
A Script section is available and provides some useful extensions (such as bookmarks, rotations, tables, barcodes...)., (*18)
ToDo
-
Provide all FPDF Scripts natively
FPDF has several scripts, but we need to download and include all of them manually, in order to use them. This project already moved the FPDF code to namespaces and is starting to include other FPDF Scripts, however the real goal is to include all these functionalities natively, as part of the project.
-
Scrutinizer CI Code coverage
Base FPDF source code, downloadable at www.fpdf.org's website, does not include automated tests, so there's no code coverage. This project wants to provide tests, in order to enhance the code quality and offer the expected warranties that all of us want for a project like this.
-
Scrutinizer CI Code score
Base FPDF and FPDF Scripts are probably not designed in the right way, and code score is really poor due a high complexity and some missed checks. This project wants to improvide the code quality.
Wallogit.com
