I have a site setup on Bluehost with WP 3.1 and Php 5. Based on user login, I need WordPress to make available a PDF file for the user to download. Each month there will be a new file (it’s a monthly newsletter). This much is easy. The catch is I need the file that each member downloads to be customized with information that member has supplied.
I think this should be as simple as a script that searches the PDF for “text string A” and replaces it with “text string B”, then saves the file with a new name. There are plenty of scripts that create pdfs on the fly, edit existing pdfs, combine pdfs or add/remove pages, and more. But I haven’t found anything that specifically does this.
The file in question is highly stylized with graphics and fonts. It is designed to be printed. Converting to Word and re-saving as a PDF which many PDF editors do, wreaks havoc on the look and feel of the document.
Here are the work flows I envision:
Admin work flow
Site admin creates document in desktop publishing program such as Apple iWorks Pages or Microsoft Publisher;
exports to PDF (preps file as necessary);
logs into site;
uploads PDF (preps file as necessary);
Notifies members that new file is available for download.
Member work flow:
Member logs in to WordPress site;
verifies their custom information;
makes any changes desired to custom info, and saves;
clicks on download page;
downloads customized PDF.
Among other things, the member’s custom information that prints in the document includes:
First name and Last name
Company Name
Phone number
Web site
Email address
Return mailing address (4 lines)
Biography – a 250 character text string.
I realize this last field could be a problem. This text is contained in an object (a box on the page) and it would be most desirable for the member to be able to force line breaks where they want to; e.g., to keep certain words together on a line, or to prevent a one word last line.
Bottom line, I’m looking for either a commercial or open source solution that can do this, and/or someone who can install it for me to these specs.
For the find/replace bits, you should use tokens in the content you create, and build out a custom component to find/replace them with the user-entered information. You should do this pre-PDF-generation…
If you’re looking to fill boxes with user info (e.g. a form) you should probably use something like ezPDF in a custom solution… I’ve never seen any simple framework for anything like that…
I looked at PDF24, but it appears to me that is for creating PDFs on the fly from existing posts/pages. I don’t see anything there about editing an existing PDF file.
Not sure what you are referring to when you say ezPDF. There appear to be dozens of products going by that name. Can you be more specific?
I know this is beyond my skill set, even if it worked out of the box – I’m not even sure I would know how to install it. If that’s the script to use, and it needs to be tweaked, then I’m one step closer. Thank you for that.
I’m prepared to pay someone to implement this. Any takers?
Hello, were you able to find a solution for this? I am looking to do something very similar on my WP site but haven’t been able to find a viable solution.
This topic is from over three years ago, and the chances of the OP returning at this stage are not great. @Wakar_Ahmad_Khan - I suggest you open a new topic in the CMS category.
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