Module Pages2Pdf

[Juergen]

Is it possible to include child pages in the PDF??

I have created a pricelist and each item of the pricelist is a single page. On the pricelist template I output all child pages with a foreach loop. The result is my pricing table.

Unfortunately on the PDF the content of the child pages is not visible, so I have an empty page.

[LostKobrakai]

I've not used the Pages2PDF module by now, but you can use the WirePDF module, which is part of the installation, to render any html content you pass to it. 

[Juergen]

Thanks LostKobrakai. Thats a quite good idea to try it out.

[Wanze]

Is it possible to include child pages in the PDF??

I have created a pricelist and each item of the pricelist is a single page. On the pricelist template I output all child pages with a foreach loop. The result is my pricing table.

Unfortunately on the PDF the content of the child pages is not visible, so I have an empty page.

You have the full ProcessWire API available in your Pages2Pdf templates.

Did you output the children also in the template inside "site/templates/pages2pdf"? If so, they should appear in the PDF files.

Only problem I can think of is that the PDF enginge can't handle your markup, you might need to simplify the HTML. But for testing purposes, you can also just list the prices-pages in a simple list. If it does still not work, please post the content of your pages2pdf "pricelist" template.

Cheers

[Juergen]

Did you output the children also in the template inside "site/templates/pages2pdf"? If so, they should appear in the PDF files.

This was the problem. I have forgotten to include the child pages template. Thanks Wanze

[Webrocker]

Hi Wanze,

thanks for this cool module! this really did save some headscratching for a current project I'm working on.

Do you have a tip how I can include my ./template/_init.php file for the "pdf"template? I need to use some vars that are declared site-wide in this _init.php file.

I'm sure this can easily be achived, esp. after seeing that there's a hookable createPDF function… but I'm not sure how this "prepend file to template" would be addressed…? Sorry if this is something totally obvious, I'd glady take a rtfm link, as well ;-)

cheers
Tom

[Wanze]

Hi Tom,

Thanks. Simplest solution would be to include the file inside your PDF templates, like this:

// We are in a template file under /site/templates/pages2pdf/, include /site/templates/_init.php
include('../_init.php');

Cheers

[Webrocker]

Hi,

ok, I forgot to mention that I need to use some of the "_init.php" vars in the _header/_footer.php inside ./pages2pdf.

I tried to include the _init there, and then in the template as you suggested, but a simple var_dump for one of the "_init" variables returns empty.

to give you a bit of background; I use thiis approach: https://processwire.com/talk/topic/10447-using-translatable-strings-across-template-files/#entry99012

for the template translation thing, but somehow the templates inside pages2pdf are ignorant of the "_string.php" file.

I have some "translateble" strings in _header/footer.php, but they're ignorant of the translations.

cheers

Tom

UPDATE: Ok, after some more debugging I see that the  include_once('../_init.php') works like you presumed, the vars are there. something else must interfer with the translation thing, at least it is not caused by a not-working include. sorry for the bother.

UPDATE 2: After even more debugging and testing; the _init needs to be included in all three php files: _header.php, page.php, _footer.php - it seems to be scoped to that file alone where it is included. I somehow was expectng that the incude in the _header.php alone would be enough, but after reflecting how the PDF is looking -- where _header and _footer are repeated on every "page" of the PDF -- it makes sense that this didn't work out. However, I think having three identical includes that are repeatetly called during the creation of the PDF is not really the best way to go about this, even if it now works… ?

[Wanze]

@Webrocker

Glad it works for you!

However, I think having three identical includes that are repeatetly called during the creation of the PDF is not really the best way to go about this, even if it now works…   ?

I don't see a problem here if your include does not do some heavy stuff, in this case you should cache the results. But I think there's no easy alternative... ProcessWire does the same for you in the background when you're using the prependTemplate file option, it is just included "automaticaly" in every ProcessWire template. I could check if this setting is enabled and include the prepended file in the background, but this might not be desired in another situation

[LostKobrakai]

WirePdf's $pdf->mpdf doesn't return the mpdf instance for me and a quick look through the code seems to confirm that. 

[bernhard]

had also problems with that so i included it manually... i thought i was doing something wrong with those instructions of the module's page

For advanced usage, you can also get the mPDF instance from the module:

$pdf = $modules->get('WirePDF');
// Get mPDF instance
$mpdf = $pdf->mpdf;
// Set back mPDF instance
$pdf->mpdf = $mpdf;

[Wanze]

Hi guys,

This is a bug. It should work if you add $this->initPDF() before this line: https://github.com/wanze/Pages2Pdf/blob/master/WirePDF.module#L91

I will fix it and update the module.

Cheers

[adrian]

Hi Wanze,

It looks like the current version of this can't be installed using PW's built-in by class name feature, because it tries to install Pages2df before WirePDF. It works fine if you use the URL option and point it to the zip on Github though because that way it downloads and extracts and shows you both modules with the option to install WirePDF.

[LostKobrakai]

I've already add this to github, as even the first option should be able to just download the thing without installing. https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire/issues/1387

[Wanze]

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for the information. Do you know if I can solve this somehow? Seems like ProcessWire should look for the missing dependency as well when using the classname installation-mode, but I'm not sure if this is easy possible.

Cheers

Edit: Thanks LostKobrakai for opening the issue

[LostKobrakai]

You could switch dependencies, where Pages2Pdf installs WirePDF, instead of requiring it to be installed previously.

[LostKobrakai]

Hi guys,

This is a bug. It should work if you add $this->initPDF() before this line: https://github.com/wanze/Pages2Pdf/blob/master/WirePDF.module#L91

I will fix it and update the module.

Cheers

That's really a bigger thing, as the whole mpdf instance is being overwritten on save, if one is using pageOrientation or something other "constructor argument".

[celfred]

Hi there,

I can't guarantee that this is an issue with pages2pdf, but let me point to my last Forum post : https://processwire.com/talk/topic/11065-urlsegment-issue-string-vs-integer/

Footer inclusion seems to mess things up. Maybe I'm missing something, though. If so, I'm sorry. (It sounds surprising that I would be the only one facing such a problem).

[LostKobrakai]

It would be a nice addition if one could directly use mpdf's functions on the wirepdf module instead of retrieving and setting the mpdf instance every time one does need a native functionality.

[Soma]

I'm having problem with this module not using translations in template __("Text"). It's always default language for those strings. 

Ah sorry, I forgot that the pages2pdf template aren't translated yet

[Wanze]

That's really a bigger thing, as the whole mpdf instance is being overwritten on save, if one is using pageOrientation or something other "constructor argument".

I removed the check to constructor arguments with the latest release on the dev branch. However, you always need to set the config options before saving the PDF file.

It would be a nice addition if one could directly use mpdf's functions on the wirepdf module instead of retrieving and setting the mpdf instance every time one does need a native functionality.

This feature is available on the dev branch, you should now be able to call any method on the mPDF instance directly trough WirePDF (as long as the method does not exist as public method on WirePDF already). Technically setting back the mPDF instance was not needed before, I removed this from the ReadMe.

If you find any time to get a copy from the dev branch and check if everything works for you, that would be great!

Cheers

[Spica]

Where to direct a custom PDF File Path in the WirePDF config to, e.g. for folder templates? Don t get it running.

[Wanze]

@Spica,

I don't understand your question, are you trying to set the path to the template that defines the markup of the PDF?

$pdf = $modules->get('WirePDF');
$pdf->markupMain = $config->paths->templates . 'pdf_template.php';

[Spica]

Sorry, typing error. I meant the CSS File Path in the WirePDF config mask declared with "Enter path and filename of a CSS file containing default styles to be used by mPDF for the HTML markup" for substituting the templates/pages2pdf/styles.css.

e.g ../../templates/vendor/my.css, or templates/vendor/my.css does not succeed.

[Wanze]

I think you need the full path to the file, e.g. /var/www/mysite/site/templates/myCss.css

If you don't know the path, check the output of "$config->paths->templates".

Let me know if it still does not work!