You can convert HTML files to PDF format using PHP. In the tutorial below, we will show you how you can easily do this.
// Set parameters $apikey = 'YOUR-API-KEY'; $value = 'Test PDF conversion This is the body'; // can aso be a url, starting with http.. // Convert the HTML string to a PDF using those parameters. Note if you have a very long HTML string use POST rather than get. See example #5 $result = file_get_contents("https://api.html2pdfrocket.com/pdf?apikey=" . urlencode($apikey) . "&value=" . urlencode($value)); // Save to root folder in website file_put_contents('mypdf-1.pdf', $result);
Example also shows how you can download the file as an attachment, or show it inline in the web browser.
// Set parameters $apikey = 'YOUR-API-KEY'; $value = 'Test PDF conversion This is the body'; // can aso be a url, starting with http.. // Convert the HTML string to a PDF using those parameters. Note if you have a very long HTML string use POST rather than get. See example #5 $result = file_get_contents("https://api.html2pdfrocket.com/pdf?apikey=" . urlencode($apikey) . "&value=" . urlencode($value)); // Output headers so that the file is downloaded rather than displayed // Remember that header() must be called before any actual output is sent header('Content-Description: File Transfer'); header('Content-Type: application/pdf'); header('Expires: 0'); header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate'); header('Pragma: public'); header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($result)); // Make the file a downloadable attachment - comment this out to show it directly inside the // web browser. Note that you can give the file any name you want, e.g. alias-name.pdf below: header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=' . 'alias-name.pdf' ); // Stream PDF to user echo $result;
You can also convert an HTML string to a PDF by supplying the HTML directly. It can be as complex as you like and may include image references and stylesheeet information -- just make sure it is valid HTML
// Set parameters
$apikey = 'YOUR-API-KEY';
$value = 'http://www.google.com'; // can aso be an HTML string
// Convert the HTML string to a PDF using those parameters. Note if you have a very long HTML string in $value use POST rather than get. See example #5
$result = file_get_contents("https://api.html2pdfrocket.com/pdf?apikey=" . urlencode($apikey) . "&value=" . urlencode($value) . "&OutputFormat=jpg");
// Save to website folder - you can then stream to the user as a thumb or full size image
file_put_contents('my_image.jpg', $result);
Be sure to urlencode any extra parameters you send to the API, especially if they have funny HTML characters in them.
// Set parameters
$apikey = 'YOUR-API-KEY';
$value = 'http://www.google.com'; // can aso be an HTML string
// Note that by default all page margins are set to zero - so to make space in the bottom for the footer we set the bottom margin to a higher value
$result = file_get_contents("https://api.html2pdfrocket.com/pdf?apikey=" . urlencode($apikey) . "&value=" . urlencode($value) . "&MarginBottom=30&FooterUrl=" . urlencode("https://html2pdfrocket.com/Examples/footer.htm"));
// Output headers so that the file is downloaded rather than displayed
// Remember that header() must be called before any actual output is sent
// Make the file a downloadable attachment - comment this out to show it directly inside
header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=' . 'alias-name.pdf' );
header('Expires: 0');
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate');
header('Pragma: public');
header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($result));
echo $result;
For long strings PHP may have a limitation with GET but you can POST the parameters instead using this syntax
// Set parameters
$apikey = 'YOUR-API-KEY';
$value = 'HTML to PDF conversion A very long HTML body here..'; // can aso be a url, starting with http..
$postdata = http_build_query(
array(
'apikey' => $apikey,
'value' => $value,
'MarginBottom' => '30',
'MarginTop' => '20'
)
);
$opts = array('http' =>
array(
'method' => 'POST',
'header' => 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
'content' => $postdata
)
);
$context = stream_context_create($opts);
// Convert the HTML string to a PDF using those parameters
$result = file_get_contents('https://api.html2pdfrocket.com/pdf', false, $context);
// Save to root folder in website
file_put_contents('mypdf-1.pdf', $result);
Instead of using the Footer and Header Left/Right parameters which allow basic text, you can have a full HTML based header or footer by including a URL or a string to an HTML snippet in the HeaderUrl/HeaderHtml or FooterUrl/FooterHtml parameters. You can use page numbering, fonts, colours and images to lay out the header as you see fit here is an example of a standard HTML header. As by default page margins are set to 0 to allow full access to the page, make sure you specify are margin parameter large enough to allow the header or footer to fit. Make sure your header/footer code starts with <!DOCTYPE html> and include the <html> and <body> tags
// Set parameters
$apikey = 'YOUR-API-KEY';
$value = 'http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/';
// Make sure your margins are large enough to allow the header to fit
$postdata = http_build_query(
array(
'apikey' => $apikey,
'value' => $value,
'MarginBottom' => '30',
'MarginTop' => '10',
'HeaderUrl' => 'https://html2pdfrocket.com/examples/basicheader.html'
)
);
$opts = array('http' =>
array(
'method' => 'POST',
'header' => 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
'content' => $postdata
)
);
$context = stream_context_create($opts);
// Convert the HTML string to a PDF using those parameters
$result = file_get_contents('https://api.html2pdfrocket.com/pdf', false, $context);
// Save to root folder in website
file_put_contents('mypdf-1.pdf', $result);
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script>
function subst() {
var vars = {};
var x = window.location.search.substring(1).split('&');
for (var i in x) { var z = x[i].split('=', 2); vars[z[0]] = unescape(z[1]); }
var x = ['frompage', 'topage', 'page', 'webpage', 'section', 'subsection', 'subsubsection'];
for (var i in x) {
var y = document.getElementsByClassName(x[i]);
for (var j = 0; j < y.length; ++j) y[j].textContent = vars[x[i]];
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body style="border:0; margin: 0;" onload="subst()">
<table style="border-bottom: 1px solid black; width: 100%">
<tr>
<td class="section"></td>
<td style="text-align:right">
Page <span class="page"></span> of <span class="topage"></span>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<script>
function subst() {
var vars = {};
var x = document.location.search.substring(1).split('&');
for (var i in x) { var z = x[i].split('=', 2); vars[z[0]] = unescape(z[1]); }
var x = ['frompage', 'topage', 'page', 'webpage', 'section', 'subsection', 'subsubsection'];
for (var i in x) {
var y = document.getElementsByClassName(x[i]);
for (var j = 0; j < y.length; ++j) y[j].textContent = vars[x[i]];
if (vars['page'] == 1) { // If page is 1, set FakeHeaders display to none
document.getElementById("FakeHeaders").style.display = 'none';
}
if (vars['page'] == 3) { // If page is 3, set FakeHeaders display to none
document.getElementById("FakeHeaders").style.display = 'none';
}
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body style="border:0;margin:0;" onload="subst()">
<table style="border-bottom: 1px solid pink; width: 100%; margin-bottom:5px;" id="FakeHeaders">
<tr>
<th>Your awesome table column header 1</th>
<th>Column 2</th>
<th style="text-align:right">
Page <span class="page"></span>/<span class="topage"></span>
</th>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
For PDF conversion taking more than 30 seconds or input/output files more than 6 Mb, you need to use the batch/asynchronous parameters.
<?php
function PostToWeb($postData) : string {
$apiUrl = 'https://api.html2pdfrocket.com/pdf';
$opts = array('http' =>
array(
'method' => 'POST',
'header' => 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
'content' => http_build_query($postData)
)
);
$context = stream_context_create($opts);
$data = file_get_contents($apiUrl, false, $context);
return $data;
}
// Set parameters
$apikey = 'YOUR-API-KEY';
$sHTMLToConvert = 'https://www.google.com';
//as an alternative to polling, you can pass the webhook option parameter from your website
//where the api could post back once the pdf file is ready
//the same JSON Result is posted back with Status=Ready and the PDFLink
$webhook = 'https://b2b-example.customer.com/my-webhook';
$postdata = array(
'apikey' => $apikey,
'value' => $sHTMLToConvert,
'Batch' => true,
'Webhook' => $webhook
);
$data = json_decode(PostToWeb($postdata), true);
$postdata['PdfToken'] = $data["PdfToken"];
do
{
//polling every 30 seconds to check if the pdf file is ready
$data = json_decode(PostToWeb($postdata), true);
if ($data["Status"] === "Ready")
{
$result = file_get_contents($data["PdfLink"]);
file_put_contents('myFile.pdf',$result);
break;
}
sleep(30);
}while(true)
?>
Need another PHP example? Would you mind dropping us a quick one line note to say which example you would have liked and we'll put the most commonly used ones here.
Html2PDF Rocket is based on an open source technology. It is a free and easy to use web service to convert html webpages into PDF files or images. HTML2PDF Rocket is trusted by over 10,500 companies worldwide.
An HTML to PDF API is a web service that will read your webpage and dynamically generate a PDF or an image. It will convert the contents of a webpage to a PDF file. It handles fairly complex documents and layouts, including images.
Converting HTML to PDF is great for reporting, creating brochures, and printing invoices. Just create one HTML or PHP webpage, and use it as a source to generate downloadable PDF or viewable PDF pages. PDF is a fixed-layout document created by Adobe Systems. It is a perfect document for downloading text or HTML content in a file, with consistent layout that does not depend on the device for viewing and does not require internet connection.
The number #1 reason a conversion fails to come out how you expect is because it contains references to external links or images that don't exist - or you are trying to link to localhost! If there is a conversion error, please check the page using your webbrowsers 'developer' network tab to ensure there are no 404 errors.