Generate PDF in CodeIgniter

Overview

In this example, I am going to show you how to generate PDF using the CodeIgniter framework PHP.

For generating PDF file in CodeIgniter, we use an external library dompdf. By using composer you can download this library into your project.

You need to run following command in your project's root directory.

Example:

composer require dompdf/dompdf

Here, we are using 3 files for generating PDF file:

Controller: 	Generate.php		application\controllers\Generate.php
Library: 	Pdf.php		        application\libraries\Pdf.php
View:		pdf_view.php            application\views\pdf_view.php

application/config/config.php

$config['composer_autoload'] = FALSE;
// to
$config['composer_autoload'] = TRUE;

application/libraries/Pdf.php

<?php 
use Dompdf\Dompdf;

class Pdf extends Dompdf {
	
	public function __construct() {
		parent::__construct();
	}
	
}

application/controllers/Generate.php

<?php 
use Dompdf\Dompdf;

class Generate extends CI_Controller {

	public function __construct() {
	    parent::__construct();
	    
	    $this->load->library("pdf");
	}
	
	public function generate_pdf() {
	    // Pass view
	    $this->load->view('pdf_view');
	    // Get Ouput from View
	    $html = $this->output->get_output();
		// Load $html in dompdf
		$this->pdf->loadHtml($html);
		// set page size and orientation
		$this->pdf->setPaper('A4', 'portrait');
		// generate pdf
		$this->pdf->render();
		// download or view pdf 
		$this->pdf->stream("file.pdf", array("Attachment"=> 1));	
	}
}

application/views/pdf_view.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My PDF Heading</h1>

<p>My PDF paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

How to run?

Open your browser and refer following link:

http://localhost/yourproject/Generate/generate_pdf