Generating PDF Files in Laravel Using Dompdf: A Complete Guide

Published on : April 26,2023

Laravel is a popular PHP web framework that provides a simple and elegant way to build web applications. One of the common requirements in many web applications is the ability to generate PDF files. PDF files are widely used for generating reports, invoices, and other documents that need to be printed or shared with others. In this article, we will look at how to generate PDF files in Laravel using a popular package called "Dompdf".

What is Dompdf?

Dompdf is an HTML to PDF converter written in PHP. It can convert HTML documents to PDF format, and it is widely used for generating PDF files in PHP applications. Dompdf is easy to use and provides a simple API for generating PDF files. It also supports CSS, which allows you to apply styles to your PDF documents.

Installing Dompdf in Laravel

To use Dompdf in Laravel, we need to install the package using Composer. Open your terminal and navigate to your Laravel project directory. Then, run the following command to install the package:

composer require dompdf/dompdf

After installing the package, we need to add the service provider and alias to our Laravel configuration. Open the config/app.php file and add the following lines to the providers array:

Dompdf\ServiceProvider::class,

And add the following line to the aliases array:

'PDF' => Dompdf\Facade::class,

Generating PDF Files in Laravel

Now that we have installed and configured Dompdf in Laravel, let's look at how to generate PDF files. To generate a PDF file, we first need to create an HTML document that we want to convert to PDF. We can use Laravel's view system to create the HTML document. In this example, we will create a simple invoice template.

Create a new view file called invoice.blade.php in the resources/views directory, and add the following code:

htmlCopy code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Invoice</title>
    <style>
        body {
            font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
            font-size: 14px;
            margin: 0;
            padding: 0;
        }
        .header {
            background-color: #333;
            color: #fff;
            padding: 10px;
        }
        .content {
            padding: 10px;
        }
        .footer {
            background-color: #333;
            color: #fff;
            padding: 10px;
            text-align: right;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <div class="header">
        <h1>Invoice</h1>
    </div>
    <div class="content">
        <p>Invoice Number: {{ $invoice->number }}</p>
        <p>Date: {{ $invoice->date }}</p>
        <table>
            <thead>
                <tr>
                    <th>Description</th>
                    <th>Price</th>
                    <th>Quantity</th>
                    <th>Amount</th>
                </tr>
            </thead>
            <tbody>
                @foreach ($invoice->items as $item)
                <tr>
                    <td>{{ $item->description }}</td>
                    <td>{{ $item->price }}</td>
                    <td>{{ $item->quantity }}</td>
                    <td>{{ $item->amount }}</td>
                </tr>
                @endforeach
            </tbody>
        </table>
    </div>
    <div class="footer">
        Total: {{ $invoice->total }}
    </div>
</body>
</html>

In this example, we have created a simple HTML invoice template that contains

After creating the invoice template, we need to generate the PDF file using Dompdf. To do this, we can use the PDF facade provided by Dompdf. We need to pass the HTML document as a string to the loadHtml() method of the PDF facade. We can then call the output() method to generate the PDF file.

Open the controller where you want to generate the PDF file and add the following code:

use PDF;

public function generatePDF($id)
{
    // Fetch invoice data from database
    $invoice = Invoice::find($id);

    // Generate PDF file
    $pdf = PDF::loadHtml(view('invoice', compact('invoice'))->render());
    return $pdf->download('invoice.pdf');
}

In this example, we have created a method called generatePDF() that takes an id parameter. We first fetch the invoice data from the database using the find() method. We then create a PDF file using the PDF facade by passing the HTML document to the loadHtml() method. We then call the download() method to download the PDF file with the name "invoice.pdf".

Finally, we need to create a route to access the generatePDF() method. Open the routes/web.php file and add the following route:

Route::get('invoice/{id}/pdf', 'InvoiceController@generatePDF');

In this example, we have created a route that maps to the generatePDF() method of the InvoiceController class. We have also added a parameter {id} to the route, which represents the invoice id.

Now, we can access the PDF file by visiting the URL http://localhost:8000/invoice/{id}/pdf. When we visit this URL, Laravel will generate the PDF file and prompt the user to download the file.

Conclusion

In this article, we have looked at how to generate PDF files in Laravel using the Dompdf package. We have installed and configured the Dompdf package, created an HTML invoice template, and generated a PDF file from the HTML template. We have also created a route to access the PDF file. Laravel provides a simple and elegant way to generate PDF files using third-party packages like Dompdf.

Categories : Laravel

Tags : Laravel PDF generation Dompdf Laravel Dompdf Laravel PDF generator

Abhay Dudhatra

I am a full-stack developer who is passionate about creating innovative solutions that solve real-world problems. With expertise in technologies such as PHP, Laravel, Angular, Vue, Node, Javascript, JQuery, Codeigniter, and Bootstrap, I love to share my knowledge and help others in the industry through writing tutorials and providing tips. Consistency and hard work are my mantras, and I constantly strive to improve my skills and stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in the field. As the owner of Open Code Solution, I am committed to providing high-quality services to my clients and helping them achieve their business objectives.