fill in PDF form using data in MySQL database

Question

I am working on an online time card system to replace the paper time cards. What I have done is create a webpage in PHP that takes the time in and out along with job description and other values the user inputs and stores them in a MySQL database. Everything is working just fine.

What I would like to work on next is to take the information from the database for the specific user and week and have it fill in a PDF template file I have created from scanning the old paper time card and making it into a PDF form. I dont know if this is possible I have been researching it online and all I can come up with is how to generate a new PDF file. I am hoping someone here can point me to a source of information on how to do this.

Here is an example of exactly what I want to do http://try.fillpdf-service.com/

Answer 1

Take a look ath this

http://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/

It can be invoked as a command line tool and among the other functions let fill form fields, (on an already existing PDF you supply).

Answer 2

Hi congratulation for you about done the 1st step in time, You can use very complete pdf generator php class TCPDF It started in 2002, TCPDF is now one of the world's most active Open Source projects, used daily by millions of users and included in thousands of CMS and Web applications.

http://www.tcpdf.org/ for genarating your pdf what kind your want this class has very useful documnet and simple to use

Cheers, Farzam

Answer 3

Maybe FPDF is quite old, but still good to handle for PDF generation. Just take a Template PDF (create as you like) and put the informations you want on it. You will have to place your data on the specific positions, see the tutorial section for a better understanding. Another popular solution is to use Zend_PDF from well known Zend Framework, but I think FPDF would be a tick easier to work with if you are not very experienced.