Re: [fw-general] How are you using Zend_Pdf?

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 06:09:51 -0700 

Hi Sasa,
I've got similarly complex financial assistance forms I need to produce. Until Zend_Pdf has features for easily filling PDF templates, the solution I use is to author the form PDF document completely inside Adobe LiveCycle, making sure to define each fillable field as a real PDF form field (complete with field name, size, etc.). Then, I use PHP to dynamically create a FDF document which basically contains just the field names and values and a URL reference to the original PDF document. When Acrobat Reader opens the FDF, it downloads the PDF and automatically populates all the form fields with the dynamic values from the FDF. Since the FDF is easy to write, and separated from the PDF, it's pretty easy to populate even complex, multi-page forms. 

See this URL for more info: http://www.tgreer.com/fdfServe.html

Regards,
Bryce Lohr

Sasa Ebach wrote:

Hey Willie,

nice to see Zend_Pdf progressing.

I use it to pre fill an insurance form. Here ist the template:


http://www.rosa-kautionsversicherung.de/kautionsversicherung-premium-antrag/antrag.pdf 




It is quite a beast. Many fields. It is a lot of work to find all the 
coordinates of the fields, so I create a little tool the creates a 
grid on top of a PDF.


grid.php
+++
require_once 'Zend/Pdf.php';

$file = $argv[1];
$pagenumber = isset($argv[2]) ? intval($argv[2]) : 1;
$dest = str_replace('.pdf', '', $file) . "-grid-$pagenumber.pdf";

$pdf = Zend_Pdf::load($file);

$page = $pdf->pages[$pagenumber-1];
$width  = $page->getWidth();
$height = $page->getHeight();

$style = new Zend_Pdf_Style();
$style->setFillColor(new Zend_Pdf_Color_Html('#aaaaaa'));
$style->setLineColor(new Zend_Pdf_Color_Html('#a73e3a'));
$style->setLineWidth(.2);
$style->setLineDashingPattern(array(1, 2, 1, 2), .1);

$style->setFont(Zend_Pdf_Font::fontWithName(Zend_Pdf_Font::FONT_HELVETICA), 
4);


$page->setStyle($style);

for ($i = 20; $i < $height - 20; $i+=10)
{
  $page->drawLine(20, $i, $width-20, $i);
  $page->drawText($i, 11, $i);
  $page->drawText($i, $width-20, $i);
}

for ($i = 20; $i < $width - 20; $i+=10)
{
  $page->drawLine($i, 20, $i, $height-20);
  $page->drawText($i, $i, 15);
  $page->drawText($i, $i, $height-20);
}

puts("$file ($pagenumber) -> $dest\nw: $width, h: $height");
$pdf->save($dest);
+++


But still, it is a *lot* of work (takes hours) to find all coordinates 
of the above mentioned PDF. This is how I fill out the forms after all 
fields are validated:


+++
# just an excerpt
  $pdffelder[3] = array(
    'Grundbesitz/Immobilien ja' => array('X', 345, 780),
    'Grundbesitz/Immobilien nein' => array('X', 373, 780),
    'Vermietungfirma ja' => array('X', 345, 760),
    'Vermietungfirma nein' => array('X', 373, 760),

    'Teile Anlagevermögen' => 
array($f['Teile_des_Anlagevermoegens_der_Gesellschaft'], 305, 741),
    'Art Immobilien' => array($f['Art_der_Grundstuecke_und_Gebaeude'], 
195, 721),
    'Wert Immobilien' => 
array($f['Wert_der_Grundstuecke_und_Gebaeude'], 200, 701),

# it goes on like this, and later

$style = new Zend_Pdf_Style();

$style->setFont(Zend_Pdf_Font::fontWithName(Zend_Pdf_Font::FONT_COURIER), 
8);


foreach ($pdffelder as $pagenumber => $pdfdata)
{
  $page = $pdf->pages[$pagenumber];
  $page->setStyle($style);
  foreach ($pdfdata as $k => $v)
  {
    $page->drawText($v[0], $v[1], $v[2], 'UTF-8');
  }
}

$pdf->save('antrag.pdf');
+++


So, what would be a killer feature for me, would be the ability two 
define fields and coordinates in Acrobat. ID those and just write text 
to those IDs. I believe other packages are able to do this. This would 
also get rid of another problem of mine: line breaks or multiline 
fields and page breaks etc.


Thanks a lot for your work so far.

-sasa ebach






















					Reply via email to