TCPDF and mysql - varying the data extracted

PHP
1

Hi
I have a table (applicant) and I am looking at producing a pdf displaying various items of data from this table.

I have succeeded in getting the look I want but in my query I use a fixed applicantid (in this case an id of 4). What I want to be able to do is to have the id cary according to the url. In other words, when someone comes from one web page to this one and the url is of the format …/pdf_production.php?applicantid=42.

I’m not sure I’ve explained that very well but I hope someone can help - I think this is the last thing I need to sort out.

Many thanks in advance.

The code I have so far is:

<?php require_once('../Connections/process.php'); ?>
<?php 
require_once('../tcpdf/config/lang/eng.php');
require_once('../tcpdf/tcpdf.php');
     
// get data from users table 

mysql_select_db($database_process, $process);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM applicant WHERE applicantid = '4'"); 

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 
  { 
    $appid = $row['applicantid']; 
    $idcode = $row['idcode']; 
    $type = $row['type']; 
    $company = $row['company']; 
    $email = $row['email']; 
  } 
   
// create new PDF document 
$pdf = new TCPDF(PDF_PAGE_ORIENTATION, PDF_UNIT, PDF_PAGE_FORMAT, true, 'UTF-8', false);  

$pdf->SetPrintHeader(false); $pdf->SetPrintFooter(false); 

// set default monospaced font 
$pdf->SetDefaultMonospacedFont(PDF_FONT_MONOSPACED); 

//set margins 
$pdf->SetMargins(PDF_MARGIN_LEFT, PDF_MARGIN_TOP, PDF_MARGIN_RIGHT); 

//set auto page breaks 
$pdf->SetAutoPageBreak(TRUE, PDF_MARGIN_BOTTOM); 

//set image scale factor 
$pdf->setImageScale(PDF_IMAGE_SCALE_RATIO);  

//set some language-dependent strings 
$pdf->setLanguageArray($l);  

// --------------------------------------------------------- 

// set font 
$pdf->SetFont('dejavusans', '', 10); 

// add a page 
$pdf->AddPage(); 
// create some HTML content 
$txt = <<<EOD
Below are the details I require

Company type: $type
Company Name: $company
Company email: $email

EOD;


// output the HTML content 
// $pdf->writeHTML($htmlcontent, true, 0, true, 0); 
$pdf->Write(0, $txt, '', 0, 'L', true, 0, false, false, 0);

// $pdf->writeHTML($inlinecss, true, 0, true, 0); 

// reset pointer to the last page 
// $pdf->lastPage(); 

//Close and output PDF document 
$pdf->Output('example_006.pdf', 'I'); 

//============================================================+ 
// END OF FILE                                                  
//============================================================+ 
?>
2

You need to read the URL extension called applicantid and fit that into your code


<?php 
require_once('../tcpdf/config/lang/eng.php');
require_once('../tcpdf/tcpdf.php');
 
if(isset($_GET['applicantid'])){
  $appidpassed = $_GET['applicantid'];
}else{
  $appidpassed = 4; // set this to your default value if no URL value is present
}
 
 
// get data from users table 
 
mysql_select_db($database_process, $process);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * 
                    FROM applicant 
                    WHERE applicantid = '$appidpassed'
                    LIMIT 1
                    "); 
 
// rest of your code

As you are only ever picking one record from the database you should really LIMIT your results to a single output on your query.

This will also remove the need to have a while statement in the next piece of code, with only one dataset returned you can omit the while { }

3

Many thanks. I’ll try that later.

Also, do you happen to know how I can amend the filename the pdf saves with to include (say) the applicatid?

4

Yes just play with the code at the bottom of your script


//Close and output PDF document 
$docname = 'pdf_document_' . $appidpassed . '.pdf';
$pdf->Output($docname, 'I');

will call the doucment

pdf_document_xx.pdf where xx is the number passed in the URL or the default value is no number was passed.

You may need to expand this code to prevent two documents being saved with the same name, perhaps add a time stamp or other unique identifier to the name.

5

That’s brilliant - it all works fine.

Sorry to be a pain but if I want to save the pdf to a location rather than see it in the browser (for example to a folder called documents) how to amend the Output line?

Once again, very many thanks.

Graham

6

Im not familiar with the PD classs your using but in the first instance id try and just add a directory to the file name.

You must make sure the the directory exists on the server before trying it out.


 //Close and output PDF document 
$directory = 'pdf_store\\';
$docname = 'pdf_document_' . $appidpassed . '.pdf';
$path = $directory . $docname;
$pdf->Output($path, 'I' );