Saving pdf in the background using html2pdf - pdf

Am tryng to automatically generate pdfs using html2pdf class. I got the following code which is working fine, only that someone has to save the pdf manually. However, Whenever a new product is added, I would like to automatically save the pdf to some folder without user intervention, and store this value in a database for future reference.
How do I go about saving the pdf 'silently' i.e. in the background without showing any popups or requiring the user to intervene?
Thanks in advance.
include('pdf_content.php');
$content = ob_get_clean();
// convert to PDF
require_once('html2pdf/html2pdf.class.php');
try
{
$html2pdf = new HTML2PDF('P', 'A4', 'en');
$html2pdf->pdf->SetDisplayMode('fullpage');
$html2pdf->setDefaultFont('Arial');
$html2pdf->writeHTML($content, isset($_GET['vuehtml']));
//$html2pdf->Output($file_name.'_'.date("dmY").'.pdf');
$html2pdf->Output($product_id.'_'.$file_name.'_'.date("dmY").'.pdf');

You can try calling this script everytime a new product is added, although then you wouldn't really do it in the "background"...
For more information, please note the question "How can I run a PHP script in the background after a form is submitted?"
EDIT:
If you wish to save the file on the server instead of outputting it to the browser, you can use different parameters. See also the html2pdf-wiki. Be aware that you cannot save the file on the user's computer unnoticed!
$html2pdf->Output('directory/file_xxxx.pdf', 'F');

Related

How can i generate and download PDFs in Flask without saving them in my Webapp?

im trying to get a PDF with the ReportLab Module which works fine so far. My problem is that im saving the PDF with the .build()-method in my Webapps directory. What i want is that i can send the PDF for downloading without saving it before. That is somehow possible with the wkhtmltopdf module, but i dont want to use any other servers for this.
The process would be like: User presses a button 'download as pdf', a pdf is generated and instant returned as a download without saving it first.
Do you know if this is possible?
You want to create the PDF server side, return it to the client, without saving the PDF (for example, in S3)?
Yes, this is possible, you create the PDF in memory using
buffer = io.BytesIO()
myPDF = canvas.Canvas(buffer, pagesize=letter)
Then after creating your pdf you save it using
myPDF.save()
buffer.seek(0)
Then when you are ready to return the PDF as a reponse you can return it with:
response = HttpResponse(buffer, content_type='application/pdf')
response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="{}"'.format("myFile.pdf")
return response

How to get rid of unwanted extra pages when converting a goole document to pdf via google-apps-script?

I have an old script that (among other things) converts a google document to pdf.
It used to work ok, but now two extra blank pages appear in the pdf version of the file.
I just discovered that this problem affects also the "download as pdf" menu option in google documents. There is a number of workarounds in that case, but I need a workaround for google-apps-script.
In this post the solution to a similar problem seems to involve a fine tuning of the page size. I tried something like that, but it does not trivially apply.
I also tried some other (kind of random) variations for the page size and margins, but to no avail.
Below I'm pasting a minimal working example. It should create a document file "test" and its pdf version "test.pdf" in your main drive folder.
Any help getting rid of the two extra pages is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
function myFunction() {
// this function
// - creates a google document "test",
// - writes "this is a test" inside it
// - saves and closes the document
// - creates a pdf version of the document, called "test.pdf"
//
// the conversion is ok, except two extra blank pages appear in the pdf version.
// create google document
var doc = DocumentApp.create('test');
var docFile = DriveApp.getFileById( doc.getId() );
// set margins (I need landscape layout)
// this is an attempt to a solution, inspired by https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18426817/extra-blank-page-when-converting-html-to-pdf
var body = doc.getBody();
body.setPageHeight(595.2).setPageWidth(841.8);
var mrg = 40; // in points
body.setMarginTop(mrg).setMarginBottom(mrg);
body.setMarginLeft(mrg).setMarginRight(mrg);
// write something
body.appendParagraph('this is a test').setHeading(DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING2).setAlignment(DocumentApp.HorizontalAlignment.CENTER);
// save and close file
doc.saveAndClose();
// convert file to pdf
var docblob = docFile.getAs('application/pdf');
// set pdf name
docblob.setName("test.pdf");
// save pdf file
var file = DriveApp.createFile(docblob);
}
I found the source of the problem and a solution in this post on the google product forum, dating 8 months back.
The extra pages appear in the pdf if the option in view -> print layout is not checked.
I did some further tests, with my accounts and my colleagues'.
The results are consistent:
when view -> print layout is not checked two extra pages appear in the pdf version of the document
when view -> print layout is checked the pdf version of the document has the expected number of pages.
this setting affects also the documentApp services in Google Apps Script. That is: the above script produces the expected pdf version only if the "view->print layout" option in Google Documents is checked.
I do not see how this behaviour could be a "feature", so I think it's a bug. By the way "print layout" does not seem to have any visible effect on my documents (other than messing up the pdf version). I'm surprised that after 8 months the bug is still out there.
Number 3 above surprised me, because I did not think that an option set manually in a (any) google document would affect my scripts.
I'm currently looking for a way of setting the "print layout" option from inside the script. So far I had no luck with that.

Open images from Windows store application

I have created a windows store application and I want the user to open Documents, Excel files and picture from the app. I want the files to open in their default application. i.e. Docs in word and pictures in windows picture viewer.
I have used the following code:
FileOpenPicker openPicker = new FileOpenPicker();
openPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".Doc");
openPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".Docx");
openPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".png");
openPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".jpg");
StorageFile file = await openPicker.PickSingleFileAsync();
if (file!=null)
{
await Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchFileAsync(file);
}
When I run this and browse to a word document the file opens up fine using word, great.
But if I browse to an image file, it doesn't do anything. I don't get any errors.
Any ideas what I need to do?
Thanks
There is no error and, simply, nothing happens? That's strange.
Here's my go-to syntax, but it's basically yours:
Let's consider what should happen. When you "launch" a docx you are basically asking the default viewer to open for that file, in that case Word. With an image you are asking the image viewer to launch. Should it work? Yes.
Launching a docx when Word is not installed should not result in the behavior your are seeing. No. You should get prompted to find a viewer in the Store. Same with an image. Even without a viewer you should get something.
Not to be a dork here, but have you rebooted? It really sounds more like something strange has happened. You might also try appending "file:///" to the front of the URL to perhaps invoke the file viewer more explicitly. None of that should be necessary however.
Best of luck
One other thing you can do is to force app picker if default program could not be launched like following:
if (file != null)
{
var options = new Windows.System.LauncherOptions();
options.DisplayApplicationPicker = true;
bool success = await Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchFileAsync(file, options);
}

Capture and save a photo in XAML/C# for a Windows store application

I'm trying to take and save a photo using a windows surface device.
I'm using the code below to take a photo and this work but I'd like to automatically create a directory on the device's local drive and save this photo there without any dialog prompts.
So the code I use to capture to photo is as follows:
CameraCaptureUI camera = new CameraCaptureUI();
StorageFile file = await camera.CaptureFileAsync(CameraCaptureUIMode.Photo);
if (file!=null)
{
using (IRandomAccessStream ras=await file.OpenAsync(FileAccessMode.Read))
{
BitmapImage source = new BitmapImage();
source.SetSource(ras);
imageBuildingPhoto.Source = source; // this is just an image control.
}
}
So after this I'd like to automatically save the photo to a new directory. e.g.
My Pictures\NewDirectory\Photo1.jpg
Anybody got any idea how I can do this?
This is a windows store application written using C#4.5 and XAML.
Thanks in advance
Use the CopyAsync method on the StorageFile object you get back (file). You can specify a directory and file name. If you need to create your own directory structure, you will need to enable access to the appropriate library in the Package Manifest then create it in code. You will then use the StorageFolder class and its CreateFolderAsync method to create folders.
http://aka.ms/30Days has some great resources for learning about scenarios like this. Might be worth checking out.
Your code will need to look to see if that folder exists and create it if it does not. Your app will need to declare the capability to access the user's Photos library in the app manifest, too.
To take a picture, your code is correct. I have a walkthrough in case you want to verify it against some other code: http://blog.jerrynixon.com/2012/10/walkthrough-capturing-photos-in-your.html
To interact with the file system, this can be tricky, but I have a longer write up on that if you want to reference it: http://blog.jerrynixon.com/2012/06/windows-8-how-to-read-files-in-winrt.html
The answer to your question is, yes you can. I have done it in my own apps. Now, it's just a matter of you implementing it in yours. You will find it to be pretty easy.

Saving a user edited text field to a .js file in iOS

I'm creating an iOS5 app (programmed in Objective-C) which provides a couple of functions. One of them is to allow a user to fill out a text field with JavaScript. When the user presses a "Test" button, I want it to save to a specific JS file and move to a new view, displaying an HTML page that will display the results of that JavaScript on a canvas element.
Unfortunately for me, I have no idea how to save to a JS file for a text field. Nor do I know if this is actually the best way to achieve the results I'm after.
So can anyone tell me the code I'd need to place in the IBAction of my test button to save the file, or if there is a better way to get the user's script into the HTML file with the canvas element?
You have some options to do that.
Add a callback in WebView is possible only in desktop apps, but you can make a workaround.
1- Set a handler to click in javascript;
2- This handler parse the value via windows.location (trying to change the current url);
3- In UIWebviewDelegate set webView:shouldStartLoadWithRequest:navigationType: to recognize this values parsed by javascript and returning NO (canceling the url change).
After you have the code typed by user, is easier pass to the new one UIWebView. You can save the file via NSData or other class and load in by the path, or you can parse directly the code to be showed via NSString.
EDIT
I, still, belive what I said is what you want, but with a little more info. Yes, 3 NSString probably solve your problem. You even can call eval in javascript, via objective-c and parse user code too. Those logic ideas are a good approaching. You can choose the easier for you.
There are more info in this another Q&A
You can use html 5 local storage for that.