Template-Based DOCX, DOC & PDF Generationwith Zend Framework 2.

@JonathanMaronE-Mail or Google+.

PHPConf Taiwan 2012November 03, 2012 at 10:10.

About Jonathan Maron

Head of Web Development and Operations. I work for a software and hardware

manufacturer in Taipei, Germany and USA. We manufacture digital cameras for

industrial, scientific and medical applications. We author desktop and server software

components.

http://www.theimagingsource.comhttp://www.textcontrol.com

New approach to generating DOCX, DOC, PDF etc. files

with Zend Framework 2.

Creating PDFs with PHP

HTML-to-PDFapproach:

domPDF. HtmlToPdf. HTML_ToPDF. wkhtmltopdf. etc.

Programmaticapproach:

Zend_Pdf. PDFlib. FPDF. Cpdf. etc.

Ralf Eggert quote

“I personally consider the current version [of

Zend_Pdf] to be limited in scope. It is extremely

difficult, if not impossible, to achieve usable

results. At the moment, developers, including myself, are looking for

alternatives [...]”PHP MagazinFebruary 2011 – March 2011, Ralf Eggert.

The template approach.

LiveDocx and Zend Framework 2

LiveDocx is a SOAP-based document generation service.

ZendService_LiveDocx (New BSD license): PHP 5.3 implementation of LiveDocx. Easy-to-use PHP API to rich SOAP service. Native component of the Zend Framework 2.

PHP 5 SoapClient and NuSOAP supported. All languages with SOAP are supported.

Sounds interesting.

But how does it work?

3 steps of document generation

STEP 1: In a word processor, create a template containing merge-fields.

STEP 2: Populate merge-fields in PHP.

STEP 3: Write generated document* to disk.

* DOCX, DOC, HTML, RTF, PDF, TXT

Document generation process (1)

Data

LiveDocx

Document

Template + Data = Document.

Template

Step 1: Creating a template (2)

Steps 2 & 3: Assign data & create doc

Multiple output formats, one API

Sample 2:

Merging complex data structures.

Repeating blocks (loops)

Sample 3:

Merging image data.

Merging image data

Sample 4:

Exporting to one ormore image files.

Exporting to image files

Multiple output formats, one API

Working with templates:Local vs. remote.

Using local templates

Specify template in every request.

Using remote templates

Upload template once.

Reference template in all subsequent requests.

Supported file formats.

Supported template formats (input)

DOCX - Office Open XML format. DOC - Microsoft Word DOC format. RTF - Rich text format. TXD - TX Text Control format.

Supported document formats (output)

DOCX - Office Open XML format. DOC - Microsoft Word DOC format. HTML - XHTML 1.0 transitional format. RTF - Rich text format. PDF - Acrobat portable document format. TXD - TX Text Control format. TXT - ANSI plain text.

Supported image export formats

Documents can also be exported to images: BMP - Bitmap image file format. GIF - Graphics interchange format. JPG - Joint photographic experts group format. PNG - Portable network graphics format. TIFF - Tagged image file format.

Supported image import formats

Images can be imported from: BMP - Bitmap image file format. GIF - Graphics interchange format. JPG - Joint photographic experts group format. PNG - Portable network graphics format. TIFF - Tagged image file format. WMF - Windows meta file format.

Case study:

PHP Unconferences.

PHP Unconferences

Well established unconferences about PHP. PHP Unconference Europe (Manchester, UK):

1st year: 100 attendees in February 2011.

PHP Unconference Hamburg (Germany):

6th year: 320 attendees in August 2012.

LiveDocx was used to create: Attendee badges (approx. 450 units). Vote posters (approx. 100 units).

Live demonstrations

SAMPLE 1: license-agreement

SAMPLE 2: telephone-bill

SAMPLE 3: conference-pass

SAMPLE 4: bitmaps

Get involved! Try it out yourself!

ZendService_LiveDocx Web Site.http://www.phplivedocx.org and http://goo.gl/oXUcf

Download Demo VMware Virtual Machinehttp://goo.gl/3aAGb (great way to get started)

ZendService_LiveDocx Source and Demos.https://github.com/jonathanmaron/ZendService_LiveDocx

LiveDocx Web Site and Blog.http://www.livedocx.com

Sign up for a LiveDocx account.https://www.livedocx.com/user/account_registration.aspx

Full-time web developer wanted!

You love PHP, Zend Framework, HTMLand Javascript.

You want to develop web applications with an international team of specialists in Germany and Taiwan.

You want to work at our Taipei office(Song-Shan District 10555, Taipei City).

Interested? Talk to me!

Public / Hosted / Cloud

LiveDocx Free is available for all to use.Documentation and registration at www.livedocx.com.

LiveDocx Premium hosted service is available.TWD 1,140.00 per month.

Cloud-based solutions in the pipeline.AWS EC2 and Windows Azure. Pay-as-you-go model.