Copybara bot | be50d49 | 2023-11-30 00:16:42 +0100 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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| 2 | <html>
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| 3 | <head>
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| 4 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
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| 5 | <title>FAQ</title>
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| 6 | <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="fpdf.css">
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| 7 | <style type="text/css">
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| 8 | ul {list-style-type:none; margin:0; padding:0}
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| 9 | ul#answers li {margin-top:1.8em}
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| 10 | .question {font-weight:bold; color:#900000}
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| 11 | </style>
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| 12 | </head>
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| 13 | <body>
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| 14 | <h1>FAQ</h1>
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| 15 | <ul>
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| 16 | <li><b>1.</b> <a href='#q1'>What's exactly the license of FPDF? Are there any usage restrictions?</a></li>
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| 17 | <li><b>2.</b> <a href='#q2'>I get the following error when I try to generate a PDF: Some data has already been output, can't send PDF file</a></li>
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| 18 | <li><b>3.</b> <a href='#q3'>Accented letters are replaced by some strange characters like é.</a></li>
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| 19 | <li><b>4.</b> <a href='#q4'>I try to display the Euro symbol but it doesn't work.</a></li>
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| 20 | <li><b>5.</b> <a href='#q5'>I try to display a variable in the Header method but nothing prints.</a></li>
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| 21 | <li><b>6.</b> <a href='#q6'>I have defined the Header and Footer methods in my PDF class but nothing shows.</a></li>
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| 22 | <li><b>7.</b> <a href='#q7'>I can't make line breaks work. I put \n in the string printed by MultiCell but it doesn't work.</a></li>
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| 23 | <li><b>8.</b> <a href='#q8'>I use jQuery to generate the PDF but it doesn't show.</a></li>
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| 24 | <li><b>9.</b> <a href='#q9'>I draw a frame with very precise dimensions, but when printed I notice some differences.</a></li>
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| 25 | <li><b>10.</b> <a href='#q10'>I'd like to use the whole surface of the page, but when printed I always have some margins. How can I get rid of them?</a></li>
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| 26 | <li><b>11.</b> <a href='#q11'>How can I put a background in my PDF?</a></li>
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| 27 | <li><b>12.</b> <a href='#q12'>How can I set a specific header or footer on the first page?</a></li>
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| 28 | <li><b>13.</b> <a href='#q13'>I'd like to use extensions provided by different scripts. How can I combine them?</a></li>
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| 29 | <li><b>14.</b> <a href='#q14'>How can I open the PDF in a new tab?</a></li>
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| 30 | <li><b>15.</b> <a href='#q15'>How can I send the PDF by email?</a></li>
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| 31 | <li><b>16.</b> <a href='#q16'>What's the limit of the file sizes I can generate with FPDF?</a></li>
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| 32 | <li><b>17.</b> <a href='#q17'>Can I modify a PDF with FPDF?</a></li>
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| 33 | <li><b>18.</b> <a href='#q18'>I'd like to make a search engine in PHP and index PDF files. Can I do it with FPDF?</a></li>
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| 34 | <li><b>19.</b> <a href='#q19'>Can I convert an HTML page to PDF with FPDF?</a></li>
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| 35 | <li><b>20.</b> <a href='#q20'>Can I concatenate PDF files with FPDF?</a></li>
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| 36 | </ul>
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| 37 |
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| 38 | <ul id='answers'>
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| 39 | <li id='q1'>
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| 40 | <p><b>1.</b> <span class='question'>What's exactly the license of FPDF? Are there any usage restrictions?</span></p>
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| 41 | FPDF is released under a permissive license: there is no usage restriction. You may embed it
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| 42 | freely in your application (commercial or not), with or without modifications.
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| 43 | </li>
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| 44 |
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| 45 | <li id='q2'>
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| 46 | <p><b>2.</b> <span class='question'>I get the following error when I try to generate a PDF: Some data has already been output, can't send PDF file</span></p>
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| 47 | You must send nothing to the browser except the PDF itself: no HTML, no space, no carriage return. A common
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| 48 | case is having extra blank at the end of an included script file.<br>
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| 49 | <br>
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| 50 | The message may be followed by this indication:<br>
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| 51 | <br>
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| 52 | (output started at script.php:X)<br>
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| 53 | <br>
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| 54 | which gives you exactly the script and line number responsible for the output. If you don't see it,
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| 55 | try adding this line at the very beginning of your script:
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| 56 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 57 | <pre><code>ob_end_clean();</code></pre>
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| 58 | </div>
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| 59 | </li>
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| 60 |
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| 61 | <li id='q3'>
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| 62 | <p><b>3.</b> <span class='question'>Accented letters are replaced by some strange characters like é.</span></p>
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| 63 | Don't use UTF-8 with the standard fonts; they expect text encoded in windows-1252.
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| 64 | You can perform a conversion with iconv:
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| 65 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 66 | <pre><code>$str = iconv('UTF-8', 'windows-1252', $str);</code></pre>
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| 67 | </div>
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| 68 | Or with mbstring:
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| 69 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 70 | <pre><code>$str = mb_convert_encoding($str, 'windows-1252', 'UTF-8');</code></pre>
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| 71 | </div>
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| 72 | In case you need characters outside windows-1252, take a look at tutorial #7 or
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| 73 | <a href="http://www.fpdf.org/?go=script&id=92" target="_blank">tFPDF</a>.
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| 74 | </li>
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| 75 |
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| 76 | <li id='q4'>
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| 77 | <p><b>4.</b> <span class='question'>I try to display the Euro symbol but it doesn't work.</span></p>
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| 78 | The standard fonts have the Euro character at position 128. You can define a constant like this
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| 79 | for convenience:
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| 80 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 81 | <pre><code>define('EURO', chr(128));</code></pre>
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| 82 | </div>
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| 83 | </li>
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| 84 |
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| 85 | <li id='q5'>
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| 86 | <p><b>5.</b> <span class='question'>I try to display a variable in the Header method but nothing prints.</span></p>
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| 87 | You have to use the <code>global</code> keyword to access global variables, for example:
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| 88 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 89 | <pre><code>function Header()
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| 90 | {
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| 91 | global $title;
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| 92 |
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| 93 | $this->SetFont('Arial', 'B', 15);
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| 94 | $this->Cell(0, 10, $title, 1, 1, 'C');
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| 95 | }
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| 96 |
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| 97 | $title = 'My title';</code></pre>
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| 98 | </div>
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| 99 | Alternatively, you can use an object property:
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| 100 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 101 | <pre><code>function Header()
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| 102 | {
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| 103 | $this->SetFont('Arial', 'B', 15);
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| 104 | $this->Cell(0, 10, $this->title, 1, 1, 'C');
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| 105 | }
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| 106 |
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| 107 | $pdf->title = 'My title';</code></pre>
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| 108 | </div>
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| 109 | </li>
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| 110 |
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| 111 | <li id='q6'>
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| 112 | <p><b>6.</b> <span class='question'>I have defined the Header and Footer methods in my PDF class but nothing shows.</span></p>
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| 113 | You have to create an object from the PDF class, not FPDF:
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| 114 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 115 | <pre><code>$pdf = new PDF();</code></pre>
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| 116 | </div>
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| 117 | </li>
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| 118 |
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| 119 | <li id='q7'>
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| 120 | <p><b>7.</b> <span class='question'>I can't make line breaks work. I put \n in the string printed by MultiCell but it doesn't work.</span></p>
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| 121 | You have to enclose your string with double quotes, not single ones.
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| 122 | </li>
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| 123 |
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| 124 | <li id='q8'>
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| 125 | <p><b>8.</b> <span class='question'>I use jQuery to generate the PDF but it doesn't show.</span></p>
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| 126 | Don't use an AJAX request to retrieve the PDF.
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| 127 | </li>
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| 128 |
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| 129 | <li id='q9'>
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| 130 | <p><b>9.</b> <span class='question'>I draw a frame with very precise dimensions, but when printed I notice some differences.</span></p>
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| 131 | To respect dimensions, select "None" for the Page Scaling setting instead of "Shrink to Printable Area" in the print dialog box.
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| 132 | </li>
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| 133 |
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| 134 | <li id='q10'>
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| 135 | <p><b>10.</b> <span class='question'>I'd like to use the whole surface of the page, but when printed I always have some margins. How can I get rid of them?</span></p>
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| 136 | Printers have physical margins (different depending on the models); it is therefore impossible to remove
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| 137 | them and print on the whole surface of the paper.
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| 138 | </li>
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| 139 |
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| 140 | <li id='q11'>
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| 141 | <p><b>11.</b> <span class='question'>How can I put a background in my PDF?</span></p>
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| 142 | For a picture, call Image() in the Header() method, before any other output. To set a background color, use Rect().
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| 143 | </li>
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| 144 |
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| 145 | <li id='q12'>
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| 146 | <p><b>12.</b> <span class='question'>How can I set a specific header or footer on the first page?</span></p>
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| 147 | Just test the page number:
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| 148 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 149 | <pre><code>function Header()
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| 150 | {
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| 151 | if($this->PageNo()==1)
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| 152 | {
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| 153 | //First page
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| 154 | ...
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| 155 | }
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| 156 | else
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| 157 | {
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| 158 | //Other pages
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| 159 | ...
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| 160 | }
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| 161 | }</code></pre>
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| 162 | </div>
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| 163 | </li>
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| 164 |
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| 165 | <li id='q13'>
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| 166 | <p><b>13.</b> <span class='question'>I'd like to use extensions provided by different scripts. How can I combine them?</span></p>
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| 167 | Use an inheritance chain. If you have two classes, say A in a.php:
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| 168 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 169 | <pre><code>require('fpdf.php');
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| 170 |
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| 171 | class A extends FPDF
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| 172 | {
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| 173 | ...
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| 174 | }</code></pre>
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| 175 | </div>
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| 176 | and B in b.php:
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| 177 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 178 | <pre><code>require('fpdf.php');
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| 179 |
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| 180 | class B extends FPDF
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| 181 | {
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| 182 | ...
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| 183 | }</code></pre>
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| 184 | </div>
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| 185 | then make B extend A:
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| 186 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 187 | <pre><code>require('a.php');
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| 188 |
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| 189 | class B extends A
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| 190 | {
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| 191 | ...
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| 192 | }</code></pre>
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| 193 | </div>
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| 194 | and make your own class extend B:
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| 195 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 196 | <pre><code>require('b.php');
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| 197 |
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| 198 | class PDF extends B
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| 199 | {
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| 200 | ...
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| 201 | }
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| 202 |
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| 203 | $pdf = new PDF();</code></pre>
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| 204 | </div>
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| 205 | </li>
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| 206 |
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| 207 | <li id='q14'>
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| 208 | <p><b>14.</b> <span class='question'>How can I open the PDF in a new tab?</span></p>
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| 209 | Just do the same as you would for an HTML page or anything else: add a target="_blank" to your link or form.
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| 210 | </li>
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| 211 |
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| 212 | <li id='q15'>
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| 213 | <p><b>15.</b> <span class='question'>How can I send the PDF by email?</span></p>
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| 214 | As for any other file, but an easy way is to use <a href="https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer" target="_blank">PHPMailer</a> and
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| 215 | its in-memory attachment:
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| 216 | <div class="doc-source">
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| 217 | <pre><code>$mail = new PHPMailer();
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| 218 | ...
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| 219 | $doc = $pdf->Output('S');
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| 220 | $mail->AddStringAttachment($doc, 'doc.pdf', 'base64', 'application/pdf');
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| 221 | $mail->Send();</code></pre>
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| 222 | </div>
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| 223 | </li>
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| 224 |
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| 225 | <li id='q16'>
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| 226 | <p><b>16.</b> <span class='question'>What's the limit of the file sizes I can generate with FPDF?</span></p>
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| 227 | There is no particular limit. There are some constraints, however:
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| 228 | <br>
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| 229 | <br>
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| 230 | - There is usually a maximum memory size allocated to PHP scripts. For very big documents,
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| 231 | especially with images, the limit may be reached (the file being built in memory). The
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| 232 | parameter is configured in the php.ini file.
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| 233 | <br>
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| 234 | <br>
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| 235 | - The maximum execution time allocated to scripts defaults to 30 seconds. This limit can of course
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| 236 | be easily reached. It is configured in php.ini and may be altered dynamically with set_time_limit().
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| 237 | <br>
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| 238 | <br>
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| 239 | You can work around the memory limit with <a href="http://www.fpdf.org/?go=script&id=76" target="_blank">this script</a>.
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| 240 | </li>
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| 241 |
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| 242 | <li id='q17'>
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| 243 | <p><b>17.</b> <span class='question'>Can I modify a PDF with FPDF?</span></p>
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| 244 | It's possible to import pages from an existing PDF document thanks to the
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| 245 | <a href="https://www.setasign.com/products/fpdi/about/" target="_blank">FPDI</a> extension.
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| 246 | Then you can add some content to them.
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| 247 | </li>
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| 248 |
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| 249 | <li id='q18'>
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| 250 | <p><b>18.</b> <span class='question'>I'd like to make a search engine in PHP and index PDF files. Can I do it with FPDF?</span></p>
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| 251 | No. But a GPL C utility does exist, pdftotext, which is able to extract the textual content from a PDF.
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| 252 | It's provided with the <a href="https://www.xpdfreader.com" target="_blank">Xpdf</a> package.
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| 253 | </li>
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| 254 |
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| 255 | <li id='q19'>
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| 256 | <p><b>19.</b> <span class='question'>Can I convert an HTML page to PDF with FPDF?</span></p>
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| 257 | Not real-world pages. But a GPL C utility does exist, <a href="https://www.msweet.org/htmldoc/" target="_blank">HTMLDOC</a>,
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| 258 | which allows to do it and gives good results.
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| 259 | </li>
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| 260 |
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| 261 | <li id='q20'>
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| 262 | <p><b>20.</b> <span class='question'>Can I concatenate PDF files with FPDF?</span></p>
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| 263 | Not directly, but it's possible to use <a href="https://www.setasign.com/products/fpdi/demos/concatenate-fake/" target="_blank">FPDI</a>
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| 264 | to perform that task. Some free command-line tools also exist:
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| 265 | <a href="https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/" target="_blank">pdftk</a> and
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| 266 | <a href="http://thierry.schmit.free.fr/spip/spip.php?article15" target="_blank">mbtPdfAsm</a>.
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| 267 | </li>
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| 268 | </ul>
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| 269 | </body>
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| 270 | </html>
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