PHP NEWB and Generating PDF Files

l00ph0le

Good Morning!!

I am just starting out in php and I have several questions that I need an answers too.

The most important question is the following :

I have a 140 Question Form that I need to store in a DB. I have figured out much of what is entailed involving capturing the data, validating it and the design of the Db. However,

I want to be able to remove this information from the DB and print out a nice beautiful PDF form as well. I have to do this because the agency I have to turn the forms over too requires a specific format of the form and its data.

I know that you can generata a pdf file with data from a database in PHP, However is it possible to:

Generate the entire pdf dynamically OR
Generate the forum using a Template and only pulling the required data from the DB?

MY second question is:

Are there any open source programs for drawing objects that are done in PHP That I could modify so my users can draw a necessary diagram for the above mentioned form?

Sincerely

Adam R. Hampton.

Merve

Using [man]PDF_open_pdi[/man], you can open a PDF file. This file can be your template, and you can modify it as required with the user-inputted data or data from the database.

I'm sorry, I'm not aware of any 'object-drawing' programs or scripts. But I should ask for clarification here: is this something that you require the user to draw in their web browser, or would it be alright to let the user upload an image of the diagram? I guess that you might have server space constraints though, that might prevent you from being able to let users upload images. Please clarify about this.

l00ph0le

Ideally, I would like to have the person to draw the necessary diagram on the form, however, I am considering uploading an image for now.

Warlock

Php can use pdf files?Hmm cool can that be used for filling pdf forms?

Merve

l00ph0le wrote:
Ideally, I would like to have the person to draw the necessary diagram on the form, however, I am considering uploading an image for now.

That sounds like something that you might be able to do with a Java Applet or Flash. PHP can interact with Flash, as far as I know, but I'm not familiar with the ming library at all. But I'd stray away from either of those because that requires users to install Flash and Java in their browsers, and even if most people do, some stubborn internet users refuse to install additional plugins. You might be able to something like this with advanced JavaScript or AJAX, but I'm completely unfamiliar with AJAX. Hopefully someone else can help you on this one...

For now, the image upload thing sounds like a good idea, but you might look into a JavaScript based solution if it's feasible and if it's what you'd like to have.