PDFs in Drupal

Portable Document Files (PDFs) are one of the most common file formats in use. They have a reputation as a nearly immutable document rendering compared to regular text or a Word file and appear almost identical across all platforms. Because of this perceived stability, PDFs have thousands of uses, from getting that pixel-perfect print layout to sending secure documents. It’s a vital format to be able to work with, but making use of PDFs, particularly on the web, can be tricky.

Drupal 8 has the tools to make PDF creation easy and useful to your users, and with the use of Composer alongside Drupal even more tools become available. This session is designed to demonstrate and explore real world solutions to the challenges of PDFs at all levels. Topics covered include:

• Browser Print-to-PDF styling
• PDF print modules like Entity Print and Printable
• Implementing DOMPDF, TCPDF, and other PDF rendering libraries
• Utilizing PDF templates for less rendering overhead
• Combining PDFs into single documents with tools like FPDI

Attendees should expect that while some examples will be purely based in the admin menus of Drupal, most examples will demonstrate Composer usage as well as some significant PHP coding.

• Presentation Video: https://youtu.be/TAVGWAvTMqs
• Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gIe-8luEgM-XdGSu4Ch59z91plDaz8xCHsVI-xJ06FQ/edit?usp=sharing
• Code Examples: https://github.com/irondan/demo_time