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php-pdftk-mcpdf

A PDF conversion and form utility based on pdftk AND mcpdf.

This is a crude integration of mcpdf as an extra layer - use php-pdftk custom commands to use mcpdf. This is specifically meant to be used when filling forms with UTF-8 characters. NOTE: This implementation depends upon you having symlinked "mcpdf" to execute mcpdf.

Features

php-pdftk-mcpd brings the full power of pdftk and mcpdf to PHP - and more.

• Fill forms, either from a XFDF/FDF file or from a data array (UTF-8 safe for unflattened forms, requires pdftk 2.x !)
• Create XFDF or FDF files from PHP arrays (UTF-8 safe!)
• Create FDF files from filled PDF forms
• Combine pages from several PDF files into a new PDF file
• Split a PDF into one file per page
• Add background or overlay PDFs
• Read out meta data about PDF and form fields
• Set passwords and permissions
• Remove passwords

Requirements

• The pdftk command must be installed and working on your system
• The mcpdf command must be installed and working on your system if you want to write UTF-8 chars
• This library is written for pdftk 2.x versions. You should be able to use it with pdftk 1.x but not all methods will work there. For details consult the man page of pdftk on your system.
• There is a known issue on Ubuntu if you installed the pdftk package from snap. This version has no permission to write to the /tmp directory. You can either set another temporary directory as described below or use another package. For Ubuntu 18.10 there's also a pdftk-java package available via apt which should work fine. You can also install this package on Ubuntu 18.04 if you download it manually. Also check this answer on askubuntu.

Note: The pdftk version from the alternative PPA ppa:malteworld/ppa is no longer available. The author instead now points to his answer on askubuntu linked above.

Installation

This is meant as a drop-in replacement for your local php-pdftk installation. There is no composer package yet.

Examples

Create instance for PDF files

There are several ways to tell the Pdf instance which file(s) it should use. Some files may also require a password or need an alias to be used as a handle in some operations (e.g. cat or shuffle).

Note: In version 2.x of pdftk a handle can be one or more upper case letters.

Operations

Please consult the pdftk man page for each operation to find out how each operation works in detail and which options are available.

For all operations you can either save the PDF locally through saveAs($name) or send it to the browser with send(). If you pass a filename to send($name) the client browser will open a download dialogue whereas without a filename it will usually display the PDF inline.

IMPORTANT: You can always only perform one of the following operations on a single PDF instance. Below you can find a workaround if you need multiple operations.

Fill Form

Fill a PDF form with data from a PHP array or an XFDF/FDF file. Note how the Pdf instance is created using the options array.

Note: When filling in UTF-8 data, you should always add the needAppearances() option. This will make sure, that the PDF reader takes care of using the right fonts for rendering, something that pdftk can't do for you. Also note that flatten() doesn't really work well if you have special characters in your data.

Create a XFDF/FDF file from a PHP array

This is a bonus feature that is not available from pdftk.

Cat

Assemble a PDF from pages from one or more PDF files.

Shuffle

Like cat() but create "streams" and fill the new PDF with one page from each stream at a time.

Burst

Split a PDF file into one file per page.

Add background PDF

Add another PDF file as background.

Add overlay PDF

Add another PDF file as overlay.

Attach Files

Add file attachments to the document or to a specific page.

Unpack Files

Copy file attachments from a PDF to the given directory.

Generate FDF

Create a FDF file from a given filled PDF form.

Get PDF data

Read out metadata or form field information from a PDF file.

How to perform more than one operation on a PDF

As stated above, you can only perform one of the preceeding operations on a single PDF instance. If you need more than one operation you can feed one Pdf instance into another:

Options

You can combine the above operations with one or more of the following options.

Shell Command

The class uses php-shellcommand to execute pdftk. You can pass $options for its Command class as second argument to the constructor:

Temporary File

Internally a temporary file is created via php-tmpfile. You can also access that file directly, e.g. if you neither want to send or save the file but only need the binary PDF content:

If you have permission issues you may have to set a directory where your pdftk command can write to:

API

Please consult the source files for a full documentation of each method.