PDF generation

adavis

I need to be able to create PDF's on the fly from a combination of user form input and my mySQL database tables.

My sysadmin is not willing to install PDFLIB on the server and don't think I can do it myself. This site if for a not-for-profit private Christian school, so I don't think I'd have to buy a license from pdflib in any event. But, he is standing firm on this since he donates to server space and I've already pushed my limit to the max asking for things like php, mysql, htaccess, etc... I've gotten all these issues worked out, but now he says no more extras, even if they're free.

So... I need another (or several other) alternative(s). I have looked at fpdf and the PHP Pdf creation that I found at sourceforge, but they are fairly limited as to what I want to do. I don't mind learning something new if it doesn't take too terrible much time to learn. I have a day job, ya know 😉

Thanks in advance and have a blessed Christmas.

nemonoman

For not much money, you could save yourself some hassle. I use dot5hosting

http://dot5hosting.com/hosting.html

which has plans including MySQL, PHP, unlimited popmail accounts, unlimited subdomains, etc. for less than $6/mo (if paid as annual). They have PHP with pretty much every conceivable module available.

I happen to use this service, but there are others of similar quality and price. Look around.

If even $6/mo is too much, I've heard of free or near free sites.

adavis

Unfortunately moving this particular site is not an option. Plus, hosting is donated (free) where anywhere I moved it to would not be donated OR free. Like I said, a not-for-profit school where the tuition only covers about 2/3's of the actual operating costs.

nemonoman

How much are your personal headaches worth? Would you pay $6 for an upgrade to your computer? For a better, faster piece of software? Sounds like you've had mucho negative discussions to get you this far -- how much time/money did that take -- of YOURS? To me $6/mo sounds like a personal bargain.

adavis

Sorry, but you don't understand. I donate my time. The server space is donated. If I didn't love the school and WANT to do this site, I would just walk away from it. I follow their rules or don't play. The first 3 years I had the site, it was on an NT server with no database, no php, only perl. After a year I went to server side includes, perl, and flat files. In August, I finally convinced them to move it to a UNIX server and install php and mysql. I installed phpMyAdmin and figured out the htaccess protection on my own. Hey, I'm living up town. Maybe next August, I can convience them to install pdflib but for now, I've pushed my limit.

I'm using PHP PDF Creation which I found on sourceforge, but I'd like to do some things like rotate text 90 degrees in columns of tables, and a few other things like that. If I didn't want to bother with all that and worry about nice looking printouts, I'd just generate it and say tough.

Also, I'm using this opportunity to learn php/mysql throughly so I can better use it on my paying job.

Merry Christmas 🙂