CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cssformspdf
WebDevKev
WebDevKev

Reputation: 285

How do I output HTML form data to PDF?

I need to collect data from a visitor in an HTML form and then have them print a document with the appropriate fields pre-populated. They'll need to have a couple of signatures on the document, so it has to be printed.

The paper form already exists, so one idea was to scan it in, with nothing filled out, as an image. I would then have the HTML form data print out using CSS for positioning and using the blank scanned form as a background image.

A better option, I would think, would be to automatically generate the PDF with this data, but I'm not sure how to accomplish either.

Suggestions and ideas would be greatly appreciated! =)

Upvotes: 9

Views: 46952

Answers (4)

xtrem
xtrem

Reputation: 1779

XSL-FO is what I would recommend. XSL-FO (along with XSLT and XPath) is a sub-standard of XSL that was designed to be an abstract representation of a formatted document (that contains, text, graphic elements, fonts, styles, etc).

XSL-FO documents are valid xml documents, and there exist tools and apis that allow you to convert an XSL-FO documet to MS Word, PDF, RTF, etc. Depending on the technology you use, a quick google search will tell you what is available.

Here are a few links to help you get started with XSL-FO:

Upvotes: 0

Anagio
Anagio

Reputation: 3075

This is actually a great php library for converting HTML to PDF documents http://code.google.com/p/dompdf/ there are many demo's available on the site

Upvotes: 0

Christopher
Christopher

Reputation: 267

I would have to respectfully disagree with Osvaldo. Using CSS to align on a printed document would take ages to do efficiently in the aspect of cross-browser integration. Plus, if Microsoft comes out with a new browser, you're going to have to constantly update for the new use in browsers.

If you know any PHP (Which, if you know JavaScript and HTML, basic PHP is very simple), here's a good library you can use, FDPF:

Thankfully, PHP doesn't deprecate a whole lot of methods and the total code is less than 10 lines if you have to go in and change things around.

Upvotes: 5

Osvaldo
Osvaldo

Reputation: 270

You can control printed documents acceptably well with CSS, so I would suggest you to try that option first. Because it's easier.

Upvotes: 2

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