How to print table from php file to TCPDF in following scenario? - php

Question

I have a php file(add_member.php). I'm creating a dynamic table by executing SQL query. The code of this file is as follows:
$sql = SELECT * FROM member_details WHERE lname='ABC';
$n = new data();
$res = $n -> querySend($sql);
?>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1">
<tr>
<td align="center"></td>
<td align="center">First Name</td>
<td align="center">Last Name</td>
<td align="center">Caste</td>
<td align="center">Residence address</td>
<td align="center">Education</td>
</tr>
<?php
$i=1;
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($res))
{
$member_no = $row['member_no'];
$total_member = "SELECT COUNT(*) AS total_member FROM family_member_details WHERE member_no =" .$member_no;
$total_res = $n -> querySend($total_member);
$row_total = mysql_fetch_array($total_res);
?>
<tr>
<td align="center" rowspan="<?php echo $row_total['total_member']+1;?>"><?php echo $i;?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row['fname'];?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row['lname'];?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row['caste'];?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row['residence_addr'];?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row['education'];?></td>
</tr>
<?php
$family_sql = "SELECT * from family_member_details WHERE member_no = $member_no";
$family_res = $n -> querySend($family_sql);
while($row1 = mysql_fetch_array($family_res))
{
?>
<tr>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row1['name']?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row1['name']?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row1['name']?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row1['name']?></td>
<td align="center"><?php echo $row1['name']?></td>
</tr>
<?php }
$i++;
} ?>
</table>
Now upon clicking on a button I want to create the same table into PDF file. For this purpose I decided to use TCPDF library. But for it I've to provide the HTML content to TCPDF file. Now my issue is how should I get the HTML of a dynamically generated table from PHP file and write this content to the text file? Can anyone please help me in this regard? Any help would be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

Instead of displaying your table directly to the browser page, simply store the text in a variable and echo it...then you can send the var to the TCPDF library.
$dyn_table = '<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td align="center">/td><th align="center">First Name</th><th align="center">Last Name</th><th align="center">Caste</th><th align="center">Residence address</th><th align="center">Education</th></tr>';
$i = 1;
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($res)) {
$member_no = $row['member_no'];
$total_member = "SELECT COUNT(*) AS total_member FROM family_member_details WHERE member_no =" . $member_no;
$total_res = $n->querySend($total_member);
$row_total = mysql_fetch_array($total_res);
$dyn_table .= '<tr><td align="center" rowspan="' . $row_total['total_member'] + 1 . '">' . $i . '</td><td align="center">' . $row['fname'] . '</td><td align="center">' . $row['lname'] . '</td><td align="center">' . $row['caste'] . '</td><td align="center">' . $row['residence_addr'] . '</td><td align="center">' . $row['education'] . '</td></tr>';
$family_sql = "SELECT * from family_member_details WHERE member_no = $member_no";
$family_res = $n->querySend($family_sql);
while ($row1 = mysql_fetch_array($family_res)) {
$dyn_table .= '<tr><td align="center">' . $row1['name'] . '</td><td align="center">' . $row1['name'] . '</td><td align="center">' . $row1['name'] . '</td><td align="center">' . $row1['name'] . '</td><td align="center">' . $row1['name'] . '</td></tr>';
}
$i++;
}
$dyn_table .= '</table>';
echo $dyn_table;
EDIT
In order to post this html to your TCPDF library, I would use AJAX to prevent another page request/load. I prefer to use JQuery as it simplifies this process immensely. Here is one way you could do it:
<input type="button" name="TCPDF" id="submitToTCPDF" />
<script type="text/javascript">
var url = 'php/script/to/handle/post';
var data = {'table_html': '<? echo $dyn_table; ?>'};
$('#TCPDF').click(function(){
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: url,
data: data,
success: function($result){
// Do whatever after html is submitted
}
});
});
</script>
You can read more about Jquery's AJAX post method in this StackOverflow question.