Generate PDF from HTML View using DomPDF in CodeIgniter 4

If you are working on Codeigniter 4 app and at that time, you may want to generate a pdf file from html or views in codeigniter 4 app. Or you are searching how to create a PDF file from the HTML view template using the domPDF library in Codeigniter 4.

To generate dynamic pdf using dompdf in Codeigniter 4. In this tutorial guide, you will learn how to generate dynamic pdf using dompdf in Codeigniter 4 and as well as download it.

Generate PDF from HTML View using DomPDF in CodeIgniter 4

Follow the following steps to generate pdf file in codeigniter 4:

Step 1: Download Codeigniter Project
Step 2: Basic Configurations
Step 3: Setup Database Credentials
Step 4: Install Dompdf Library
Step 5: Create a Controller
Step 6: Create a View
Step 7: Define Routes
Step 8: Start Development Server

Step 1: Download Codeigniter Project

In this step, you will download the latest version of Codeigniter 4, Go to this link https://codeigniter.com/download Download Codeigniter 4 fresh new setup and unzip the setup in your local system xampp/htdocs/ . And change the download folder name “demo”

Step 2: Basic Configurations

Next, you will set some basic configuration on the app/config/app.php file, so let’s go to application/config/config.php and open this file on text editor.

Set Base URL like this

public $baseURL = 'http://localhost:8080';
To
public $baseURL = 'http://localhost/demo/';

Step 3: Setup Database Credentials

In this step, you need to connect our project to the database. you need to go app/Config/Database.php and open database.php file in text editor. After opening the file in a text editor, you need to set up database credentials in this file like below.

public $default = [
'DSN' => '',
'hostname' => 'localhost',
'username' => 'root',
'password' => '',
'database' => 'demo',
'DBDriver' => 'MySQLi',
'DBPrefix' => '',
'pConnect' => false,
'DBDebug' => (ENVIRONMENT !== 'production'),
'cacheOn' => false,
'cacheDir' => '',
'charset' => 'utf8',
'DBCollat' => 'utf8_general_ci',
'swapPre' => '',
'encrypt' => false,
'compress' => false,
'strictOn' => false,
'failover' => [],
'port' => 3306,
];

Step 4: Install Dompdf Library

In this step, install DomPDF plugin using Composer package. So open your terminal and execute the following command on it:

composer require dompdf/dompdf

After that, Visit app/Config/Autoload.php file and search for $psr4 array, here you have to register the dompdf service.

public $psr4 = [
APP_NAMESPACE => APPPATH, // For custom app namespace
'Config' => APPPATH . 'Config',
'Dompdf' => APPPATH . 'ThirdParty/dompdf/src',
];

Step 5: Create a Controller

In this step, Visit app/Controllers and create a controller name PdfController.php. In this controller, you need to add the following methods into it:

<?php
namespace App\Controllers;
use CodeIgniter\Controller;

class PdfController extends Controller
{

public function index()
{
return view('pdf_view');
}

function htmlToPDF(){
$dompdf = new \Dompdf\Dompdf();
$dompdf->loadHtml(view('pdf_view'));
$dompdf->setPaper('A4', 'landscape');
$dompdf->render();
$dompdf->stream();
}

}

Step 6: Create a View

In this step, you need to create one view files name pdf-view.php and update the following code into your file:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
<title>Codeigniter 4 PDF Generate Example - Tutsmake.com</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.0/css/bootstrap.min.css">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container mt-5">
<h2>Codeigniter 4 Generate PDF From View using DOMPdf</h2>
<div class="d-flex flex-row-reverse bd-highlight">
<a href="<?php echo base_url('PdfController/htmlToPDF') ?>" class="btn btn-primary">
Download PDF
</a>
</div>
<table class="table table-striped table-hover mt-4">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Profile</th>
<th>City</th>
<th>Date</th>
<th>CTC</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Airi Satou</td>
<td>Accountant</td>
<td>Tokyo</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>2008/11/28</td>
<td>$162,700</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Angelica Ramos</td>
<td>Chief Executive Officer (CEO)</td>
<td>London</td>
<td>47</td>
<td>2009/10/09</td>
<td>$1,200,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ashton Cox</td>
<td>Junior Technical Author</td>
<td>San Francisco</td>
<td>66</td>
<td>2009/01/12</td>
<td>$86,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bradley Greer</td>
<td>Software Engineer</td>
<td>London</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>2012/10/13</td>
<td>$132,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Brenden Wagner</td>
<td>Software Engineer</td>
<td>San Francisco</td>
<td>28</td>
<td>2011/06/07</td>
<td>$206,850</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Brielle Williamson</td>
<td>Integration Specialist</td>
<td>New York</td>
<td>61</td>
<td>2012/12/02</td>
<td>$372,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bruno Nash</td>
<td>Software Engineer</td>
<td>London</td>
<td>38</td>
<td>2011/05/03</td>
<td>$163,500</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Caesar Vance</td>
<td>Pre-Sales Support</td>
<td>New York</td>
<td>21</td>
<td>2011/12/12</td>
<td>$106,450</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cara Stevens</td>
<td>Sales Assistant</td>
<td>New York</td>
<td>46</td>
<td>2011/12/06</td>
<td>$145,600</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cedric Kelly</td>
<td>Senior Javascript Developer</td>
<td>Edinburgh</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>2012/03/29</td>
<td>$433,060</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Step 7: Define Routes

In this step, you need to create a route that renders the table into the view, place the following code in app/Config/Routes.php file.

$routes->get('/', 'PdfController::index');

Step 8: Start Development Server

In this step, open your terminal and execute the following command to start development sever:

php spark serve

Then, Go to the browser and hit below the URL:

http://localhost:8080

Conclusion

In this Codeigniter 4 generate pdf from views using dompdf library example. In this tutorial you have successfully generated pdf file from view using dompdf library in codeigniter 4.