Adding an image and a text flow to a PDF file - PHP

Since my personal experience always dictates that it’s much better to refresh topics covered in a previous article before learning new ones, I’m going to list two hands-on examples that were developed in the preceding tutorial regarding the incorporation of a simple image and text flow to a given PDF file.

Here are the corresponding code samples, so have a close look at them, please:

// example creating a basic PDF document and include a sample
image

  try {

// create new instance of the 'PDFlib' class

  $pdf=new PDFlib();

// open new PDF file

   if(!$pdf->begin_document("","")){

throw new PDFlibException("Error creating PDF document. ".$pdf-
>get_errmsg());

}

  $pdf->set_info("Creator","example.php");

  $pdf->set_info("Author","Alejandro Gervasio");

  $pdf->set_info("Title","Example on using PHP to create PDF
docs");

  $pdf->begin_page_ext(421,595,"");

   $font=$pdf->load_font("Helvetica-Bold","winansi","");

  $pdf->setfont($font,24.0);

  $pdf->set_text_pos(50,500);

  $pdf->show("PHP is great for creating PDFs!");

// load image

   $img=$pdf->load_image("jpeg","sample_image.jpg","");

// display image on page

  $pdf->fit_image($img,390,575,"");

// close image resource

  $pdf->close_image($img);

// end page

  $pdf->end_page_ext("");

// end document

  $pdf->end_document("");

// get buffer contents

   $buffer=$pdf->get_buffer();

// get length of buffer

   $len=strlen($buffer);

// display PDF document

  header("Content-type: application/pdf");

  header("Content-Length: $len");

  header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=example.pdf");

   echo $buffer;

}

  catch (PDFlibException $e){

   echo 'Error Number:'.$e->get_errnum()."n";

   echo 'Error Message:'.$e->get_errmsg();

   exit();

}

// example creating a basic PDF document and display a text flow

  try{

// create new instance of the 'PDFlib' class

  $pdf=new PDFlib();

// open new PDF file

if(!$pdf->begin_document("","")){

throw new PDFlibException("Error creating PDF document. ".$pdf-
>get_errmsg());

}

  $pdf->set_info("Creator","example.php");

  $pdf->set_info("Author","Alejandro Gervasio");

  $pdf->set_info("Title","Example on using PHP to create PDF
docs");

  $pdf->begin_page_ext(421,595,"");

   $font=$pdf->load_font("Helvetica-Bold","winansi","");

  $pdf->setfont($font,24.0);

  $pdf->set_text_pos(50,500);

  $pdf->show("PHP is great for creating PDFs!");

// create text flow

$textflow=$pdf->create_textflow('This is a sample
string','fontname=Tahoma fontsize=30 encoding=winansi');

// display text flow

  $pdf->fit_textflow($textflow,50,450,400,220,'');

// delete text flow

  $pdf->delete_textflow($textflow);

// end page

  $pdf->end_page_ext("");

// end document

  $pdf->end_document("");

// get buffer contents

   $buffer=$pdf->get_buffer();

// get length of buffer

   $len=strlen($buffer);

// display PDF document

  header("Content-type: application/pdf");

  header("Content-Length: $len");

  header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=example.pdf");

   echo $buffer;

}

catch (PDFlibException $e){

  echo 'Error Number:'.$e->get_errnum()."n";

  echo 'Error Message:'.$e->get_errmsg();

 exit();

}

As you’ll probably recall, the first example demonstrates very clearly how to include a “sample_image.jpg” image into a concrete PDF file, while the second one shows how to create and display a basic text flow in the same file, using some of the most relevant methods that come bundled with the PDFLib library.

Of course, in both cases the incorporation of additional content to a specific PDF file is always performed after it has been opened, via the respective “begin_document()” method that you saw before. Now, do the above hands-on examples ring any bells to you? I'm sure they do!

Okay, assuming that including images and blocks of text into a sample PDF document is now a familiar process to you, it’s time to continue exploring many other methods packaged with the PDFLib library. In the next section I’m going to teach you how to draw a few simple rectangles on a given PDF file, so if you’re interested in finding out more on this process, please click on the link that appears below and keep on reading.