Question

I am developing an application in which i have to create multi page PDF the datas from plist and email such PDF. The content which is to be converted to PDF contains text as well as some images. I have seen some posts regarding this, but could not glean too much from it. Will be greatful if any one can guide in this.

here is my code for pdf creation done by me.

// create some sample data. In a real application, this would come from the database or an API. 
NSString* path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"sampleData" ofType:@"plist"];
NSDictionary* data = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:path];

NSLog(@"collections %@",data);
NSArray* students = [data objectForKey:@"Students"];
NSLog(@"collections students %@",students);



// get a temprorary filename for this PDF
path = NSTemporaryDirectory();

NSLog(@"path here %@",path);

self.pdfFilePath = [path stringByAppendingPathComponent:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d.pdf", [[NSDate date] timeIntervalSince1970]]];

NSLog(@"pdf file path and Name %@",self.pdfFilePath);

// Create the PDF context using the default page size of 612 x 792.
// This default is spelled out in the iOS documentation for UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToFile
UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToFile(self.pdfFilePath, CGRectZero, nil);

// get the context reference so we can render to it. 
CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();

int currentPage = 0;

// maximum height and width of the content on the page, byt taking margins into account. 
CGFloat maxWidth = kDefaultPageWidth - kMargin * 2;
CGFloat maxHeight = kDefaultPageHeight - kMargin * 2;

// we're going to cap the name of the class to using half of the horizontal page, which is why we're dividing by 2
CGFloat classNameMaxWidth = maxWidth / 3;

// the max width of the grade is also half, minus the margin
CGFloat gradeMaxWidth = (maxWidth / 3) - kColumnMargin;
CGFloat yearMaxWidth = (maxWidth / 3) - kColumnMargin;


// only create the fonts once since it is a somewhat expensive operation
UIFont* studentNameFont = [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:17];
UIFont* classFont = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:15];

CGFloat currentPageY = 0;


UIGraphicsBeginPDFPageWithInfo(CGRectMake(0, 0, kDefaultPageWidth, kDefaultPageHeight), nil);
currentPageY = kMargin;

// iterate through out students, adding to the pdf each time. 
for (NSDictionary* student in students)
{

    // every student gets their own page 
    // Mark the beginning of a new page.


    NSString* title = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Order List"];

    CGSize size2 = [title sizeWithFont:studentNameFont forWidth:maxWidth lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];

    [title drawAtPoint:CGPointMake(kMargin, currentPageY) forWidth:maxWidth withFont:studentNameFont lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];
    currentPageY += size2.height;

    CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor(context, [[UIColor blueColor] CGColor]);
    CGContextMoveToPoint(context, kMargin, currentPageY);
    CGContextAddLineToPoint(context, kDefaultPageWidth - kMargin, currentPageY);
    CGContextStrokePath(context);

    // draw the student's name at the top of the page. 
    NSString* name = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ %@", 
                      [student objectForKey:@"FirstName"], 
                      [student objectForKey:@"LastName"]];

    CGSize size = [name sizeWithFont:studentNameFont forWidth:maxWidth lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];
    [name drawAtPoint:CGPointMake(kMargin, currentPageY) forWidth:maxWidth withFont:studentNameFont lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];
    currentPageY += size.height;

    NSString* dob = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Grade"];

    CGSize size1 = [name sizeWithFont:studentNameFont forWidth:maxWidth lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];
    [dob drawAtPoint:CGPointMake(kMargin+ classNameMaxWidth + kColumnMargin, currentPageY) forWidth:maxWidth withFont:studentNameFont lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];
    currentPageY += size1.height;

    NSString* year = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Years"];

    CGSize size3 = [dob sizeWithFont:studentNameFont forWidth:maxWidth lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];
    [year drawAtPoint:CGPointMake(kMargin+ classNameMaxWidth +gradeMaxWidth+ kColumnMargin, currentPageY) forWidth:maxWidth withFont:studentNameFont lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];
    currentPageY += size3.height;

    // draw a one pixel line under the student's name
    CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor(context, [[UIColor blueColor] CGColor]);
    CGContextMoveToPoint(context, kMargin, currentPageY);
    CGContextAddLineToPoint(context, kDefaultPageWidth - kMargin, currentPageY);
    CGContextStrokePath(context);

    // iterate through the list of classes and add these to the PDF. 
    NSArray* classes = [student objectForKey:@"Classes"];
    for(NSDictionary* class in classes)
    {
        NSString* className = [class objectForKey:@"Name"];
        NSString* grade = [class objectForKey:@"Grade"];
        NSString *year=[class objectForKey:@"Year"];

        // before we render any text to the PDF, we need to measure it, so we'll know where to render the
        // next line.
        size = [className sizeWithFont:classFont constrainedToSize:CGSizeMake(classNameMaxWidth, MAXFLOAT) lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap];

        // if the current text would render beyond the bounds of the page, 
        // start a new page and render it there instead
        if (size.height + currentPageY > maxHeight) {
            // create a new page and reset the current page's Y value
            UIGraphicsBeginPDFPageWithInfo(CGRectMake(0, 0, kDefaultPageWidth, kDefaultPageHeight), nil);
            currentPageY = kMargin;
        }

        // render the text
        [className drawInRect:CGRectMake(kMargin, currentPageY, classNameMaxWidth, maxHeight) withFont:classFont lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap alignment:UITextAlignmentLeft];

        // print the grade to the right of the class name
        [grade drawInRect:CGRectMake(kMargin + classNameMaxWidth + kColumnMargin, currentPageY, gradeMaxWidth, maxHeight) withFont:classFont lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap alignment:UITextAlignmentLeft];
       [year drawInRect:CGRectMake(kMargin +classNameMaxWidth*2+ kColumnMargin , currentPageY, yearMaxWidth, maxHeight) withFont:classFont lineBreakMode:UILineBreakModeWordWrap alignment:UITextAlignmentLeft];


        currentPageY += size.height;

    }


    // increment the page number. 
    currentPage++;

}

Answer 1

You can use FDPF.
http://www.fpdf.org/.

Please go through the manual. If you face any problem in the way then please post .

Happy to help you:-)