There are multiple PDF libraries that you can use in your projects to generate PDF dynamically either from HTML or from static content.
These are independent libraries that you can use directly in your Php projects or Frameworks. You can download them directly from GITHUB or install them in your projects using the composer.
Here is the detailed list from which you can use anyone.
1-Dompdf
https://github.com/dompdf/dompdf
Dompdf is an HTML to PDF converter
Features
It can Handles most CSS 2.1 and a few CSS3 properties, including @import, @media & @page rules
It can support most presentational HTML 4.0 attributes
It can supports external stylesheets, either local or through http/ftp (via fopen-wrappers)
It can supports complex tables, including row & column spans, separate & collapsed border models, individual cell styling
Image support (gif, png (8, 24 and 32 bit with alpha channel), bmp & jpeg)
Has no dependencies on external PDF libraries, thanks to the R&OS PDF class
Inline PHP support
Basic SVG support
Requirements
PHP version 7.1 or higher
DOM extension
MBString extension
php-font-lib
php-svg-lib
Install with composer
To install with Composer, simply require the latest version of this package
composer require dompdf/dompdf
Quick Start
// reference the Dompdf namespace
use Dompdf\Dompdf;
// instantiate and use the dompdf class
$dompdf = new Dompdf();
$dompdf->loadHtml('hello world');
// (Optional) Setup the paper size and orientation
$dompdf->setPaper('A4', 'landscape');
// Render the HTML as PDF
$dompdf->render();
// Output the generated PDF to Browser
$dompdf->stream();
Examples – https://dompdf.net/examples.php
2-FPDF
http://www.fpdf.org/
FPDF is a PHP class which allows to generate PDF files with core PHP, that is to say without using the PDFlib library. F from FPDF stands for Free: you may use it for any kind of usage and modify it to suit your needs.
It requires no extension (except Zlib to enable compression and GD for GIF support). The latest version requires at least PHP 5.1.
Download Latest version from here – http://www.fpdf.org/en/dl.php?v=182&f=zip
Example
<?php
require('fpdf.php');
$pdf = new FPDF();
$pdf->AddPage();
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',16);
$pdf->Cell(40,10,'Hello World!');
$pdf->Output();
?>
3-mPDF
mPDF
mPDF is a PHP library that generates PDF files from UTF-8 encoded HTML.
Requirements
mPDF >=7.0 is supported on PHP ^5.6 || ~7.0.0 || ~7.1.0 || ~7.2.0
PHP 7.3 is supported since mPDF v7.1.7
PHP 7.4 is supported since mPDF v8.0.4
PHP mbstring and gd extensions have to be loaded.
Install via Composer
composer require mpdf/mpdf
Example
<?php
require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
$mpdf = new \Mpdf\Mpdf();
$mpdf->WriteHTML('<h1>Hello world!</h1>');
$mpdf->Output();
4-Snappy
Snappy
Snappy is a PHP library allowing thumbnail, snapshot or PDF generation from a url or a html page. It uses the excellent WebKit-based wkhtmltopdf and wkhtmltoimage.
Install via composer
composer require knplabs/knp-snappy
Example
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use Knp\Snappy\Pdf;
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
// or you can do it in two steps
$snappy = new Pdf();
$snappy->setBinary('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
Display the pdf in the browser
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
echo $snappy->getOutput('http://www.github.com');
Download the pdf from the browser
$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="file.pdf"');
echo $snappy->getOutput('http://www.github.com');
If you know some more awesome PHP library to generate PDF, please share it with us.
Enjoy!
