Laravel 5 Export to PDF using laravel-dompdf

In this article, we will discuss Laravel 5 Export to PDF. I will show an example, so you can easily generate a pdf file for your Laravel App. We will create pdf from a view, in this view, we will write the HTML code and load data dynamically from the database as per the requirement. After that, we will export this view as a PDF file.

Before proceeding, I’m assuming you are familiar with the basics of the Laravel framework. If no then you can start with given articles.

• Laravel Setup
• Laravel Default Authentication Setup
• Understanding Laravel Middleware
• All You Need to Know Laravel Routing
• Setup Virtual Host with Xampp Server

# Setup laravel-dompdf package through the composer

Firstly, we need to install the “barryvdh/laravel-dompdf” package. It’s easy to install using given composer command:

composer require barryvdh/laravel-dompdf

# Configure package with the Laravel App

After executing the above command, time to update Service Provider to the providers and facade to the aliases array in config/app.php.

'providers' => [
  Barryvdh\DomPDF\ServiceProvider::class,
],

'aliases' => [
  'PDF' => Barryvdh\DomPDF\Facade::class,
]

Let publish the assets from the vendor using the given artisan command.

php artisan vendor:publish

After executing the above command, list of available packages shown. You can select as per your need. Now, we are selecting the “Provider: Barryvdh\DomPDF\ServiceProvider” and the new file is copied to the config/dompdf.php. This file contains the global settings for the dompdf package.

# Setup blade view template for PDF

We are creating the simple HTML table for this example. You can update this HTML as per your requirement.

<h1>Customer List</h1>

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>ID</th>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Email</th>
      <th>Phone</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    @foreach($data as $customer)
      <tr>
        <td>{{ $customer->id }}</td>
        <td>{{ $customer->name }}</td>
        <td>{{ $customer->email }}</td>
        <td>{{ $customer->phone }}</td>
      </tr>
    @endforeach
  </tbody>
</table>

In this, we are creating just HTML template where just generate a table. This table contains the customer details such as customer name, email, phone and etc. You can change the view as per your PDF required.

# Setup blade view to display all the listed records

In this view, we create a view which displays our customer list with the export button. Export button is used to trigger the export pdf functionality.

@section('content')
<h1>Customer List</h1>
<a href="{{ URL::to('/customers/pdf') }}">Export PDF</a>

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>ID</th>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Email</th>
      <th>Phone</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    @foreach($data as $customer)
      <tr>
        <td>{{ $customer->id }}</td>
        <td>{{ $customer->name }}</td>
        <td>{{ $customer->email }}</td>
        <td>{{ $customer->phone }}</td>
      </tr>
    @endforeach
  </tbody>
</table>
@endsection

# Setup Model

<?php
namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Customer extends Model
{
    public $table = 'customers';
    protected $fillable = [
        'name', 'email', 'mobileno'
    ];
}

# Register routes for our app

Register the route for export pdf. When an URL customer/pdf hits the report generate and store on the server then download start. You can control the storage path as per your need.

Route::get('/customers/pdf','CustomerController@export_pdf');

# Update controller with export pdf function

Here’s our controller function where all logics performed.

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use PDF;

class CustomerController extends Controller
{
  public function export_pdf()
  {
    // Fetch all customers from database
    $data = Customer::get();

    // Send data to the view using loadView function of PDF facade
    $pdf = PDF::loadView('pdf.customers', $data);

    // If you want to store the generated pdf to the server then you can use the store function
    $pdf->save(storage_path().'_filename.pdf');

    // Finally, you can download the file using download function
    return $pdf->download('customers.pdf');
  }
}

Finally, everything’s ready now when we click on the export pdf button then download start. Feel free to comment if any query.

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