In this tutorial, we will learn how to install and export pdf in your PHP Laravel project. We will use barryvdh/laravel-dompdf Laravel PDF export package. If you want to install a fresh Laravel project you can check out the given below link.
The above tutorial will guide/help you to install the latest version of Laravel.
Table of Contents
1. Download and install barryvdh/laravel-dompdf package
Enter the following command to install Laravel dompdf package.
composer require barryvdh/laravel-dompdfThe above command will install dompdf package. Next, we will configure the Laravel project.
2. Configure barryvdh/laravel-dompdf Package in Laravel Project
Before we get started, we need to update barryvdh/laravel-dompdf service provider and facades in config/app.php file. Copy the following code and paste it in your app.php file.
'providers' => [
....
Barryvdh\DomPDF\ServiceProvider::class,
],
'aliases' => [
....
'PDF' => Barryvdh\DomPDF\Facade::class,
],3. Insert data to the table
For this tutorial, I will use the below table to get all data and export to pdf. If you want to create crud operation to test export dompdf you can follow step by step tutorial to generate the CRUD operation.
I will use the post table to export pdf data. Below is the sample table structure of the post table
mysql> desc posts;
+-------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id | bigint(20) unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
| name | varchar(255) | NO | | NULL | |
| description | text | NO | | NULL | |
| created_at | timestamp | YES | | NULL | |
| updated_at | timestamp | YES | | NULL | |
+-------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
4. Create a Model
Next, we will create the model for post table. To do so, enter the following command to create model file.
php artisan make:model Post5. Update web.php
Copy and paste the below code in your route/web.php file
Route::get('/', function () {
return view('welcome');
});
Route::get('download-all-post', 'PdfController@index');The first route will navigate to the welcome blade file where will place the download button. The second button will download/generate post's PDF.
6. Create a controller
Enter the following command to create controller.
php artisan make:controller PdfControllerThe above command will generate PdfController. Now let's create a function and view file to place the pdf download button.
#app/Http/Controllers/PdfController.php
public function index()
{
return view('welcome');
}
public function downloadPost()
{
$posts = Post::all();
$pdf = \PDF::loadView('pdf', compact('posts'));
return $pdf->download('posts.pdf');
}Now create a welcome blade file and add the below code.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="{{ str_replace('_', '-', app()->getLocale()) }}">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Laravel</title>
<!-- Fonts -->
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Nunito:200,600" rel="stylesheet">
</head>
<body>
<a href="/download-all-post" class="btn btn-primary">Download all posts</a>
</body>
</html>
7. Create a Blade file to design PDF layout
We will now create a blade file to get all the posts. downloadPost Function that we declared before will convert html table to PDF using dompdf
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td><b>Name</b></td>
<td><b>Description</b></td>
<td><b>Created At</b></td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
@foreach($posts as $post)
<tr>
<td>
{{$post->name}}
</td>
<td>
{{$post->description}}
</td>
<td>
{{$post->created_at->diffForHumans()}}
</td>
</tr>
@endforeach
</tbody>
</table>
</body>
</html>
