Bloated PDF created by TCPDF - php

In a web app developed in PHP we are generating Quotations and Invoices (which are very simple and of single page) using TCPDF lib.
The lib is working just great but it seems to generate very large PDF files. For example in our case it is generating PDF files as large as 4 MB (+/- a few KB).
How to reduce this bloating of PDF files generated by TCPDF?
Here is code snippet that I am using
ob_start();
include('quote_view_bag_pdf.php'); //This file is valid HTML file with PHP code to insert data from DB
$quote = ob_get_contents(); //Capture the content of 'quote_view_bag_pdf.php' file and store in variable
ob_end_clean();
//Code to generate PDF file for this Quote
//This line is to fix a few errors in tcpdf
$k_path_url='';
require_once('tcpdf/config/lang/eng.php');
require_once('tcpdf/tcpdf.php');
// create new PDF document
$pdf = new TCPDF();
// remove default header/footer
$pdf->setPrintHeader(false);
$pdf->setPrintFooter(false);
// add a page
$pdf->AddPage();
// print html formated text
$pdf->writeHtml($quote, true, 0, true, 0); //Insert Variables contents here.
//Build Out File Name
$pdf_out_file = "pdf/Quote_".$_POST['quote_id']."_.pdf";
//Close and output PDF document
$pdf->Output($pdf_out_file, 'F');
$pdf->Output($pdf_out_file, 'I');
///////////////
enter code here
Hope this code fragment will give some idea?

You need to see what it is putting inside the PDF. Is it embedding lots of images or fonts?
You can examine the contents with lots of PDFtools. If you have Acrobat 9.0, there is a blog article showing how to do this at http://pdf.jpedal.org/java-pdf-blog/bid/10479/Viewing-PDF-objects

Finally I have managed to solve the problem.
The problem was that by mistake I had inserted a link to email id in the web page that was getting rendered to PDF. By just removing this link the size of the generated PDF went down to just 260 kb!
Thanks everyone who tried to help me out in solving this problem.

Current TCPDF version now includes font subsetting by default to dramatically reduce PDF size.
Check the TCPDF website at http://www.tcpdf.org and consult the official forum for further information.

Related

pdf file output created with FPDF are empty (PHP)

Hi and thanks by advance for you helps.
I'm trying to write on a PDF with FPDF on PHP.
I'm actually working on WordPress.
If I'm using this code on my first website, it's working well:
if (isset($_GET["obtenir-mon-analyse"])){
$pdfFile = getcwd() . '/wp-content/themes/childtheme/ressources/PDF_analyse_template.pdf';
require_once('library/fpdf/fpdf.php');
require_once('library/fdpi/src/autoload.php');
// initiate FPDI
$pdf = new setasign\Fpdi\Fpdi();
// add a page
$pdf->AddPage("L");
// set the source file
$pdf->setSourceFile($pdfFile);
// import page 1
$tplIdx = $pdf->importPage(1);
// use the imported page and place it at point 10,10 with a width of 100 mm
$pdf->useTemplate($tplIdx, 0,0 );
$pdf->Output('I');
}
But, with the same code on another website, the PDF generated by the output function is empty (0kb).
Also, the template is working because FDPF is well detecting the available page number.
PS:
The 2 website are hosting on the same host.
I have not any error.
I really don't know where is the problem.
Thanks a lot.
I think nobody will see this answer but:
On wordpress
With the plugin WP-optimize
If you use the mimify option on HTML, you will not be able to use FPDF

How to insert an image from PHP into PDF 1.7

I'm creating a web app that allows a canvas form to insert an image from a HTML canvas into a particular position in multiple PDF files. I had this working with python flask as a back-end but the people that I'm making it for only want it in PHP. I have tried using libraries like FPDI but they only work with PDF versions up to 1.4 while the PDF files we are using are version 1.7.
Does anyone know any possible libraries that can help me solve this issue. I would prefer not to convert the PDF files if possible.
Cheers
With TCPDF you can insert images into a PDF (v.1.7) file:
Requirements
composer require tecnickcom/tcpdf
Example
<?php
require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
$pdf = new TCPDF();
$pdf->setPDFVersion('1.7');
$pdf->setAutoPageBreak(true);
$pdf->setPrintHeader(false);
$pdf->setPrintFooter(false);
$pdf->AddPage();
// Insert image
$pdf->setJPEGQuality(100);
$pdf->image(__DIR__ . '/example.jpg', 10, 10);
// Close and output PDF document
//$pdf->output('doc.pdf', 'I');
// Save the pdf file
$content = $pdf->output('', 'S');
file_put_contents('example.pdf', $content);
We (Setasign, creator of FPDI) offer a commercial add-on that let you import PDFs which uses a compression technic that was introduced in PDF 1.5.
You may also try to downgrade these documents with an external program. I'm aware of some people using Ghostscript for this.
Generally you should know that you do not insert an image into the existing PDF but you create a completely new PDF while importing a single page into a reusable structure which you place onto a newly created page. On top of this you place the image.
With FPDI you cannot edit a PDF document.

Keep only the first page of a PDF document with PHP

I have many PDFs that are generated and uploaded to my server.
The problem is they contain the same page three times (3 pages in total with the same content).
My goal is to edit the PDF with PHP so that it contains only one page.
Is there any library that allows me to simply load a PDF and keep only the first page?
Thank you!
Using FPDI, you can create a function to extract the first page of a PDF file:
function first_page ($path) {
$pdf = new FPDI();
$pdf->AddPage();
$pdf->setSourceFile($path);
$pdf->useTemplate($pdf->importPage(1));
return $pdf;
}
Then output the extracted PDF as you would do with FPDF:
// Extract first page from /path/to/my.pdf
// and output it to browser with filename "MyPDF".
first_page('/path/to/my.pdf')->Output('MyPDF', 'I');
FPDF (http://www.fpdf.org/) or MDPF (http://www.mpdf1.com/mpdf/index.php) are great libraries for work with PDF files. I have experiences only with creating PDF; but I assume that one of those libraries can solve your problem.
Edit: Here is some example with FPDF
https://gist.github.com/maccath/3981205

Modifying PDF and reuse embedded font

I want to modify a PDF document with PHP. I found the libs FPDF and FPDI which allows to create and modify PDF files. Here is my very simple code:
<?php
require_once('include/fpdf.php');
require_once('include/fpdi.php');
// initiate FPDI
$pdf = new FPDI();
// add a page
$pdf->AddPage();
// set the sourcefile
$pdf->setSourceFile('input.pdf');
// import page 1
$page1 = $pdf->importPage(1);
// insert the page
$pdf->useTemplate($page1);
// now write some text above the imported page
$pdf->AddFont('calibri');
$pdf->SetFont('calibri','',11);
$pdf->Write(0, "This is just a simple text");
header("Content-Type: application/pdf");
$pdf->Output();
That works very well, but I see that the inserted text adds something like a reference to the system font instead of the already embedded font. How can I simply reuse the embedded font?
If that is not possible with that libs feel free to point me to a third free lib.
I know that I can just use characters which are already used, but this is no problem in my special case. I have checked that all possible characters are used in the right case sensitivity.
I bet your embedded font from the imported PDF page is not called calibri. (Lower-case only spelling of fontnames in PDFs is very rare.)
And I also bet, that the PDF will not have Calibri embedded as a full set. It's rather likely that it is a subset only. And as a subset, the fontname will be composed of a random 6 letter uppercase prefix + the original font name, like this:
AXBTZV+Calibri
You have to find that exact name and try with this. (However, I'm not sure if how your PHP library works, if it can do that at all, and if it would handle the modification of the PDF text writing code in the correct way. Gimme the PDF and I most likely can do it in a Text Editor, though...)
Reusing fonts in PDFs is mostly not possible since only the characters that are used in the PDF are stored. So if you never used an uppercase W in your PDF template and want to add text with one, then it cannot be displayed.
This does not answer your question but rather tells you not to try it at all.

Modify first page of PDF file in PHP [duplicate]

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Does anyone know of a good method for editing PDFs in PHP? Preferably open-source/zero-license cost methods. :)
I am thinking along the lines of opening a PDF file, replacing text in the PDF and then writing out the modified version of the PDF?
On the front-end
If you are taking a 'fill in the blank' approach, you can precisely position text anywhere you want on the page. So it's relatively easy (if not a bit tedious) to add the missing text to the document. For example with Zend Framework:
<?php
require_once 'Zend/Pdf.php';
$pdf = Zend_Pdf::load('blank.pdf');
$page = $pdf->pages[0];
$font = Zend_Pdf_Font::fontWithName(Zend_Pdf_Font::FONT_HELVETICA);
$page->setFont($font, 12);
$page->drawText('Hello world!', 72, 720);
$pdf->save('zend.pdf');
If you're trying to replace inline content, such as a "[placeholder string]," it gets much more complicated. While it's technically possible to do, you're likely to mess up the layout of the page.
A PDF document is comprised of a set of primitive drawing operations: line here, image here, text chunk there, etc. It does not contain any information about the layout intent of those primitives.
There is a free and easy to use PDF class to create PDF documents. It's called FPDF. In combination with FPDI (http://www.setasign.de/products/pdf-php-solutions/fpdi) it is even possible to edit PDF documents.
The following code shows how to use FPDF and FPDI to fill an existing gift coupon with the user data.
require_once('fpdf.php');
require_once('fpdi.php');
$pdf = new FPDI();
$pdf->AddPage();
$pdf->setSourceFile('gift_coupon.pdf');
// import page 1
$tplIdx = $this->pdf->importPage(1);
//use the imported page and place it at point 0,0; calculate width and height
//automaticallay and ajust the page size to the size of the imported page
$this->pdf->useTemplate($tplIdx, 0, 0, 0, 0, true);
// now write some text above the imported page
$this->pdf->SetFont('Arial', '', '13');
$this->pdf->SetTextColor(0,0,0);
//set position in pdf document
$this->pdf->SetXY(20, 20);
//first parameter defines the line height
$this->pdf->Write(0, 'gift code');
//force the browser to download the output
$this->pdf->Output('gift_coupon_generated.pdf', 'D');
If you need really simple PDFs, then Zend or FPDF is fine. However I find them difficult and frustrating to work with. Also, because of the way the API works, there's no good way to separate content from presentation from business logic.
For that reason, I use dompdf, which automatically converts HTML and CSS to PDF documents. You can lay out a template just as you would for an HTML page and use standard HTML syntax. You can even include an external CSS file. The library isn't perfect and very complex markup or css sometimes gets mangled, but I haven't found anything else that works as well.
Don't know if this is an option, but it would work very similar to Zend's pdf library, but you don't need to load a bunch of extra code (the zend framework). It just extends FPDF.
http://www.setasign.de/products/pdf-php-solutions/fpdi/
Here you can basically do the same thing. Load the PDF, write over top of it, and then save to a new PDF. In FPDI you basically insert the PDF as an image so you can put whatever you want over it.
But again, this uses FPDF, so if you don't want to use that, then it won't work.
Zend Framework can load and edit existing PDF files. I think it supports revisions too.
I use it to create docs in a project, and it works great. Never edited one though.
Check out the doc here
The PDF/pdflib extension documentation in PHP is sparse (something that has been noted in bugs.php.net) - I reccommend you use the Zend library.
Tcpdf is also a good liabrary for generating pdf in php
http://www.tcpdf.org/
We use pdflib to create PDF files from our rails apps. It has bindings for PHP, and a ton of other languages.
We use the commmercial version, but they also have a free/open source version which has some limitations.
Unfortunately, this only allows creation of PDF's.
If you want to open and 'edit' existing files, pdflib do provide a product which does this this, but costs a LOT
<?php
//getting new instance
$pdfFile = new_pdf();
PDF_open_file($pdfFile, " ");
//document info
pdf_set_info($pdfFile, "Auther", "Ahmed Elbshry");
pdf_set_info($pdfFile, "Creator", "Ahmed Elbshry");
pdf_set_info($pdfFile, "Title", "PDFlib");
pdf_set_info($pdfFile, "Subject", "Using PDFlib");
//starting our page and define the width and highet of the document
pdf_begin_page($pdfFile, 595, 842);
//check if Arial font is found, or exit
if($font = PDF_findfont($pdfFile, "Arial", "winansi", 1)) {
PDF_setfont($pdfFile, $font, 12);
} else {
echo ("Font Not Found!");
PDF_end_page($pdfFile);
PDF_close($pdfFile);
PDF_delete($pdfFile);
exit();
}
//start writing from the point 50,780
PDF_show_xy($pdfFile, "This Text In Arial Font", 50, 780);
PDF_end_page($pdfFile);
PDF_close($pdfFile);
//store the pdf document in $pdf
$pdf = PDF_get_buffer($pdfFile);
//get the len to tell the browser about it
$pdflen = strlen($pdfFile);
//telling the browser about the pdf document
header("Content-type: application/pdf");
header("Content-length: $pdflen");
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=phpMade.pdf");
//output the document
print($pdf);
//delete the object
PDF_delete($pdfFile);
?>

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