WirePDF

A powerful ProcessWire module for generating PDF documents from pages with full support for UTF-8/Cyrillic characters, multiple fonts, and all ProcessWire field types including ProFields.

Features

• PDF Generation: Convert any ProcessWire page to PDF
• Multiple Engines: Support for mPDF (recommended) and Dompdf
• Full Field Support: All native ProcessWire fields plus ProFields (Table, Repeater, RepeaterMatrix, Combo)
• Typography: 14 font options including DejaVu Sans for multilingual support
• Customization: Configurable margins, paper sizes, headers, footers, and watermarks
• Security: PDF password protection and permission restrictions
• Image Handling: Automatic filtering of external images that can't be embedded
• Smart Detection: Handles single and multiple values for images, files, and pages
• UTF-8 Support: Full support for Cyrillic and other international characters

Requirements

• ProcessWire 3.0 or later
• PHP 8.0 or later
• Composer
• mPDF library (recommended) or Dompdf

Installation

Method 1: Composer in Module Directory (Recommended)

This method keeps all dependencies contained within the module folder.

1. Clone the repository into /site/modules/:

   cd /site/modules
   git clone https://github.com/mxmsmnv/WirePDF.git

2. Install dependencies:

   cd WirePDF
   composer install

3. Go to Modules → Refresh
4. Click Install next to WirePDF

Method 2: Global Composer (Legacy)

Install dependencies in the root vendor directory:

cd /path/to/your/processwire
composer require mpdf/mpdf

Then install the module as usual.

Verify Installation

After installation, go to Setup → Modules → WirePDF and check the Library Status section to confirm mPDF is installed correctly.

Optional: Install Dompdf

If you want to use Dompdf as an alternative engine:

cd /path/to/your/processwire/site/modules/WirePDF
composer require dompdf/dompdf

Setup

Create PDF Generator Template

Create a new template file: /site/templates/pdf-generator.php

Copy the complete pdf-generator.php code into this file.

Create PDF Page

1. Create a new page (e.g., /pdf/)
2. Assign the pdf-generator template
3. Access via: https://yoursite.com/pdf/?id=1234

Configuration

Go to Setup → Modules → WirePDF to configure:

Library Status

View the installation status of PDF libraries:

• mPDF: Installed or Not installed with installation command
• Dompdf: Installed or Not installed (optional) with installation command

Paper Settings

• Paper Size: A3, A4, A5, Letter, Legal, Ledger
• Orientation: Portrait or Landscape

Margins (mm)

• Top, Right, Bottom, Left
• Header, Footer

Typography

• Default Font: 14 options including:
  • DejaVu Sans (recommended for multilingual)
  • Helvetica, Arial, Times New Roman
  • Monospace fonts (Courier, etc.)
• Font Size: 6-24pt

Header & Footer

• Enable/disable header and footer
• Custom text with variables:
  • {PAGENO} - Current page number
  • {nbpg} - Total pages
  • {DATE} - Current date (format: dd.mm.yyyy)
  • {sitename} - Your site domain

Example footer: Page {PAGENO} of {nbpg} | {DATE} | {sitename}

Images

• Enable/disable images in PDF
• Image DPI (72-300)

Watermark

• Custom watermark text
• Opacity (0.0-1.0)

Security

• PDF password protection
• User and owner passwords
• Restrict copying and printing

Debug & Logging

• Debug Mode: Enable detailed error messages on PDF generation failure
• Enable Logging: Toggle logging on/off to control log entries
• Log Location: ProcessWire Logs (Setup > Logs > wirepdf)

What gets logged:

• All essential generation info in single-line format
• Page information, template, filename, settings, execution time
• Success/failure status with clear indicators ([ok]/[fail])
• Errors and exceptions with details

Viewing logs:

1. Go to Setup > Logs in ProcessWire admin
2. Click on wirepdf log
3. View all PDF generation events with timestamps

Example log output:

[ok] PDF Generated | Palette (ID: 1220) | Template: palette | File: palette.pdf | Paper: Letter/portrait | Engine: mpdf | Time: 0.007s
[ok] PDF Generated | Page Not Found (ID: 27) | Template: error404 | File: page-not-found.pdf | Paper: Letter/portrait | Engine: mpdf | Time: 0.511s
[fail] PDF Failed | ErrorPage (ID: 404) | Time: 1.234s

Best practices:

• Production: Disable logging to reduce log entries
• Development: Enable logging when debugging generation issues
• Monitoring: Check ProcessWire logs regularly for errors and performance issues

Usage

Basic Usage

// Generate PDF from any page
$page->toPdf([
    'filename' => 'my-document.pdf'
]);

Custom Options

$page->toPdf([
    'filename' => 'report.pdf',
    'paper_size' => 'A4',
    'orientation' => 'landscape',
    'margin_top' => 30,
    'margin_bottom' => 30,
]);

Using Custom HTML

$html = '<h1>Custom Report</h1><p>Content here...</p>';

$page->toPdf([
    'html' => $html,
    'filename' => 'custom-report.pdf'
]);

Using Custom Template

$page->toPdf([
    'template' => 'pdf-invoice.php',
    'filename' => 'invoice.pdf'
]);

Save to File

$pdfModule = $modules->get('WirePDF');
$pdfModule->savePdf(
    $page,
    '/path/to/document.pdf',
    ['paper_size' => 'Letter']
);

URL Parameters

Access PDFs via URL:

https://yoursite.com/pdf/?id=1234

Where 1234 is the page ID you want to convert.

Supported Field Types

Native Fields

• Text - Single line text
• Textarea - Multi-line text
• CKEditor - Rich text with HTML
• Image - Single and multiple images
• File - File lists with sizes
• Page - Page references (single/multiple)
• Datetime - Formatted dates
• Checkbox - Yes/No
• URL - Web addresses
• Email - Email addresses

ProFields

• Table - Rendered as HTML tables
• Repeater - All repeater items with fields
• RepeaterMatrix - Matrix types with labels
• Combo - All combo subfields

Default Configuration

Paper Size: Letter (8.5 × 11in)
Orientation: Portrait
Margins: Top/Bottom 20mm, Left/Right 10mm
Header/Footer margins: 10mm
Font: Helvetica, 12pt
Footer: {PAGENO} / {nbpg}
Images: Enabled (96 DPI)
Logging: Enabled

External Images

External images (from other websites) are automatically removed from PDFs as mPDF cannot access them. Only local images from your site are included.

Variables Reference

Header/Footer Variables

Troubleshooting

Blank PDF Generated

Cause: mPDF cannot parse complex CSS or external resources

Solution:

• Check ProcessWire logs (Setup > Logs > wirepdf) for errors
• Enable Debug Mode in module settings
• Simplify your HTML/CSS
• Remove external images

Images Not Showing

Cause: External images or incorrect paths

Solution:

• Only use local images from your site
• Ensure image paths are correct
• Check image permissions

Memory Errors

Cause: Large PDFs with many images

Solution:

• Increase PHP memory limit
• Reduce image DPI in settings
• Optimize images before upload

Variables Not Working

Cause: Variables not properly configured

Solution:

• Use exact variable names: {PAGENO}, {nbpg}, {DATE}, {sitename}
• Check header/footer is enabled in settings
• Variables only work in header/footer, not in HTML content

Permission Errors

Cause: Cache directory not writable

Solution:

chmod -R 775 /site/assets/cache/WirePDF/

Excessive Logging

Problem: Too many log entries

Solution:

• Disable logging in module settings when not needed
• Use ProcessWire log pruning: Setup > Logs > Options
• ProcessWire automatically manages log rotation

Advanced Customization

Custom PDF Generator

Create your own generator template for specific needs:

<?php namespace ProcessWire;

// Custom logic
$pageId = $input->get->int('id');
$page = $pages->get($pageId);

// Build custom HTML
$html = '<h1>' . $page->title . '</h1>';
$html .= '<p>' . $page->body . '</p>';

// Generate with custom settings
$page->toPdf([
    'html' => $html,
    'filename' => 'custom-' . $page->name . '.pdf',
    'paper_size' => 'A4',
    'watermark' => 'CONFIDENTIAL',
    'enable_protection' => true,
    'user_password' => 'secret123'
]);

Hook into Generation

// In site/ready.php
$wire->addHookBefore('WirePDF::generatePdf', function($event) {
    $page = $event->arguments(0);
    // Custom logic before PDF generation
});

Log Files

Access logs through ProcessWire admin:

• Location: Setup > Logs > wirepdf
• Content: PDF generation process details, errors, warnings, execution times
• Features:
  • Automatic timestamping by ProcessWire
  • Built-in log viewer with filtering
  • Automatic log rotation and pruning
  • Download logs as text files
• Management: Use ProcessWire's log settings to control retention and size

Performance Tips

1. Optimize Images: Compress images before upload
2. Reduce DPI: Use 96 DPI for web, 150 DPI for print
3. Simple CSS: Avoid complex CSS that mPDF can't parse
4. Cache PDFs: Generate once, serve multiple times
5. Pagination: Break large documents into smaller PDFs
6. Disable Logging: Turn off logging in production for better performance

Security Notes

• PDF generator should be protected with ProcessWire permissions
• Use password protection for sensitive documents
• External images are automatically blocked
• Validate user input in custom generators
• Review logs for suspicious activity

Browser Support

PDFs can be displayed inline or downloaded in all modern browsers:

• Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
• Mobile browsers (iOS Safari, Chrome Mobile)

License

MIT License - free to use in commercial and non-commercial projects

Credits

• Author: Maxim Alex — maxim@smnv.org — smnv.org
• mPDF: https://mpdf.github.io/
• ProcessWire: https://processwire.com/

Made with love for ProcessWire