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Dynamic pdf form avoiding fdf

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 7:31 am
by jason87
Hi everyone,
I've searched a lot for this topic, but all I keep running into is explanations on fdf.
I want to create a "setlist creator" for a band. We have all our songs, our repertoire, in a mysql table with columns for key etc. I'm imagining something like this:
Image
First off, the user, a member of the band, chooses the number of sets (with 12 songs each by default, maybe this can be changeable?)
Next, a page similar in concept to the image above, appears, and the dropdown boxes are fed by the mysql table containing songs. Also, the date is taken from the relevant "gig" record in another mysql table. The user then selects the order of the songs. I'm not sure whether it's possible to have the page with dropdown boxes for the following sets come below the first one on the same page, or if it's best to click a "next" button for each set to be filled out?
I want the finished product to be an X-paged (X be the number of sets) pdf file ready for print, but I want to avoid using fdf as my server does not support this.

I hope some of you will help me along the way. I'm not looking for some finished code served to me, I just want some points in the right direction. I have Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 for OSX.

Re: Dynamic pdf form avoiding fdf

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 7:57 am
by onion2k
When you say "fdf" I assume you mean "fpdf". Why doesn't your server support it? It's pure PHP. It doesn't need any extensions or anything. If you can run PHP then fpdf will work.

Re: Dynamic pdf form avoiding fdf

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:48 am
by jason87
I'm sure you're right, I've just seen it referred to as fdf on some websites, I don't really know. I asked my serverguys and they said no. I asked them again just now about fpdf, and they didn't know what it was, so I'm guessing from what you're saying, that they probably support it.
I've been reading various posts around different forums, and my concern is, from what I've read, which might be completely erroneous, that unless people have the adobe reader, fpdf won't function properly. I found this hard to believe, but if it's the case, I'd rather not use it.
I just want to do as previously described the best way possible, so if anyone has an idea of what they believe to be the best solution, I'd love to hear from them.

Re: Dynamic pdf form avoiding fdf

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:14 am
by Eran
PDF is an open format for rich documents. Adobe Reader is just one of many programs that reads this file format

I suggest that instead of relying on your server guys which apparently aren't very knowledgeable, try and create PDF documents using PHP and see if it works or not. I recommend Zend_Pdf as a nice component for creating PDF documents in PHP - http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.pdf.html (Requires PHP5)

Re: Dynamic pdf form avoiding fdf

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:22 am
by jason87
I have heard of Zend, but I'd rather learn to code the things I need, which aren't at all as complex as what Zend has the capacity to make.
I know how to make the dropdownboxes fed with songs from a mysql table and I know how to retrieve the date in the format I want, I just don't know that much about pdf templates or how php interacts with them.

Re: Dynamic pdf form avoiding fdf

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:52 am
by studylog
reading....