Laravel 4 create PDF (use dompdf)

After not updating this blog for a few days, now I want to share how to create PDF in laravel using dompdf package from https://github.com/barryvdh/laravel-dompdf. Ok for installation follow this steps:
First we must add the barryvdh/laravel-dompdf to the composer with command:

aim@linux-yr22:~$ composer require barryvdh/laravel-dompdf:* --no-update
aim@linux-yr22:~$ composer update

Then we must add service provider to app/config/app.php:

	'providers' => array(

		'Illuminate\Foundation\Providers\ArtisanServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Auth\AuthServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Cache\CacheServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Session\CommandsServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Foundation\Providers\ConsoleSupportServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Routing\ControllerServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Cookie\CookieServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Database\DatabaseServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Encryption\EncryptionServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Filesystem\FilesystemServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Hashing\HashServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Html\HtmlServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Log\LogServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Mail\MailServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Database\MigrationServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Pagination\PaginationServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Queue\QueueServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Redis\RedisServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Remote\RemoteServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\ReminderServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Database\SeedServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Session\SessionServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Translation\TranslationServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Validation\ValidationServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\View\ViewServiceProvider',
		'Illuminate\Workbench\WorkbenchServiceProvider',
		'Barryvdh\Debugbar\ServiceProvider',
		'Barryvdh\DomPDF\ServiceProvider',
	),

Then add Facade for shorter code. What facade? I will explain later in below paragraph.

	'aliases' => array(

		'App'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\App',
		'Artisan'         => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Artisan',
		'Auth'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth',
		'Blade'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Blade',
		'Cache'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache',
		'ClassLoader'     => 'Illuminate\Support\ClassLoader',
		'Config'          => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Config',
		'Controller'      => 'Illuminate\Routing\Controller',
		'Cookie'          => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cookie',
		'Crypt'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Crypt',
		'DB'              => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB',
		'Eloquent'        => 'Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model',
		'Event'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Event',
		'File'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\File',
		'Form'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Form',
		'Hash'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash',
		'HTML'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\HTML',
		'Input'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Input',
		'Lang'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Lang',
		'Log'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log',
		'Mail'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Mail',
		'Paginator'       => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Paginator',
		'Password'        => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Password',
		'Queue'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Queue',
		'Redirect'        => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Redirect',
		'Redis'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Redis',
		'Request'         => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Request',
		'Response'        => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Response',
		'Route'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route',
		'Schema'          => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema',
		'Seeder'          => 'Illuminate\Database\Seeder',
		'Session'         => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Session',
		'SSH'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\SSH',
		'Str'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Str',
		'URL'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\URL',
		'Validator'       => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Validator',
		'View'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\View',
		'PDF' 			  => 'Barryvdh\DomPDF\Facade',

	),

And now open your laravel controller and add file PrintController.php:

<?php
class PrintController extends \BaseController 
{
	public function index()
	{
		$pdf = App::make('dompdf');
		$pdf->loadHTML('<h1>Hello World!!</h1>');
		return $pdf->stream();
	}
}

Then change the route to be like this:

<?php

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Application Routes
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Here is where you can register all of the routes for an application.
| It's a breeze. Simply tell Laravel the URIs it should respond to
| and give it the Closure to execute when that URI is requested.
|
*/

Route::get('/', 'PrintController@index');

And then run this laravel on your browser. If your code not wrong, you can get result like this:

And if we want use Facade, so we mush change the PrintController.php like this:

<?php
class PrintController extends \BaseController 
{
	public function index()
	{
		$pdf = PDF::loadHTML('<h1>Hello World!!</h1>');
		return $pdf->stream();
	}
}

So if we run this code, we can get same result from the above picture. But what different with Facade and no?

If we using facade, so the code can be shorter than if we not use facade code.

Ok we’ve made ​​a simple example create PDF using laravel.
May be you have question for me

How to create pdf from external view (from views folder)?

The answer is simple. Now create example view on views folder with name PrintView.php with code like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
	<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
	<h1>Hello World!!</h1>
</body>
</html>

So we must change PrintController again to be like this:

<?php
class PrintController extends \BaseController 
{
	public function index()
	{
		$pdf = PDF::loadView('PrintView');
		return $pdf->stream();
	}
}

Now run your laravel and you can get result same on above picture.

And how about add parameter to view?

This is easy to add, you must change little code from PrintView.php and PrintController.php like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
	<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
	<h1><?php echo $param ?></h1>
</body>
</html>

So we must change PrintController again to be like this:

<?php
class PrintController extends \BaseController 
{
	public function index()
	{
		$parameterr = array();
		$parameter['param'] = "Hello World!!";

		$pdf = PDF::loadView('PrintView', $parameter);
		return $pdf->stream("Hello.pdf");
	}
}

Now run your laravel and you can get result same on above picture.
The question again.

How if I want to create pdf without the preview page before, but I would like to directly download the message?

For the answer so just change your PrintController.php to be like this:

<?php
class PrintController extends \BaseController 
{
	public function index()
	{
		$pdf = PDF::loadView('PrintView');
		return $pdf->download('test.pdf'); //this code is used for the name pdf
	}
}

Run your laravel again and you can get result like this:

Bonus: you can create custom pdf method using chain code like this:

<?php
class PrintController extends \BaseController 
{
	public function index()
	{
		PDF::loadView('PrintView')->setPaper('a4')->setOrientation('landscape')->setWarnings(false)->save('/home/aim/Documents/test.pdf');

		return "Success";
	}
}

Explanations: from line 6, I create pdf with view from external view (folder views) with paper is “a4” and orientation is landscape with warning is false (not showing) and save the document to “/home/aim/Documents/test.pdf”. The “/home/aim/Documents/test.pdf” is my directory if you’re using Linux OS. So the file is automatic saved and user can open the pdf in directory /home/aim/Documents with name test.pdf.
Source and more info: https://github.com/barryvdh/laravel-dompdf