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Converting HTML form data to pdf

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  • 07-01-2009 10:39am
    #1
    cracker
    Registered Users Posts: 197 ✭✭


    Hi

    I am starting a project in which I will be looking to take user input from web forms and create PDF's from them. It is not decided what web technology will be used (ASP, JSP, PHP etc) so a solution for any of these technologies would be welcome.

    Thanks

    Dave


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    #2
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    I'm PHP-biased, but it's one of the few languages which is easily portable between server and OS types.

    It also seems to have good few PDF implementations. The one with the most support is PDFLib, but it's not free. In fact it's insanely expensive. If this is a project for a corporate website or an intranet site for for a large company, then the expense may be justifiable. If not, then there are a few free alternatives suggested here. I've never used any of them though (not yet).


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    #3
    I_Love_Tomatoes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 44 ✭I_Love_Tomatoes


    I've donkeyed around with a trial version of pdflib. It worked well but we went with a totally different tool in the end.

    We used a thing called EBase. (type ebase technoligies into Google). They are a UK based company. Basically they specialise in web based data capture, whereby forms capture data, pump it into a database if necessary, and you can produce PDF if needs be based on the data. It worked very well once we got the hang of it. It is very robust and powerful, and importantly, it produced flawless HTML and there were no crappy browser issues. However it'll cost you several thousand. Trial editions can be ordered by phone which will give you full access for about month on one PC I think... so you have time to test it.

    I remember aswell when we paid for it they give you 5 days on site training - they flew a guy over. If your project is mission-critical, then you will definitely need this and be willing to pay for it. The product is not without its flaws... but as a programmer you should be able to work around any flaws (not like other environments don't have theirs!).


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    #4
    cracker
    Registered Users Posts: 197 ✭✭cracker


    Thanks for the replies. I have also found cete software. They do java and .net libraries and have a community edition of both. I have had a quick play with the java version and it seems straight forward to do either a java app or jsp pages. I will give the .NET version a try but all of my .NET work has been with windows apps so not sure how I will manage with this.


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