Question

I’m using CakePHP 2, CakeEmail and the CakePDF plugin

I’m trying to generate a PDF based on a view and attach it to an email. I’ve read the read me file but am still none the wiser. Do I have to actually create the file on the server?

This is my code so far (email gets sent but no PDF).

// Build PDF as attachment
        $CakePdf = new CakePdf();
        $CakePdf->template('email_view', 'default');
        //get the pdf string returned
        $pdf = $CakePdf->output();

        // SMTP Options
        $this->Email->smtpOptions = array(

            // Only to be used internally
            'port'=>'25',
            'timeout'=>'30',
            'host' => '111.111.111.111',
            'username'=>'',
            'password'=>''
         );
        $this->Email->template = 'newExpenseClaim';
        $this->Email->from    = 'Expense Tracker <[e-mail]>';
        $this->Email->to      = '[e-mail]'; 
        $this->Email->subject = 'New Expense Claim Submitted - Please Review';
        $this->Email->sendAs = 'both';
        $this->Email->delivery = 'smtp';

        $this->Email->attachments = $pdf;

        // Set username & url in email
        $this->set('user', $fu['User']['name']);
        $this->set('ms', $ms);
        $this->Email->send();
        $this->set('smtp_errors', $this->Email->smtpError);

Here is the read me from github:

https://github.com/ceeram/CakePdf

Any help would be gratefully received!

Answer 1

I eventually got this to work, heres what I did:

// Build PDF
$CakePdf = new CakePdf();

// Add disbursements onto array
$merged = array_merge($expenseClaim, $expenseTotal, $approvedBy, $disbursements);

$CakePdf->viewVars($merged);
$CakePdf->template('email_view', 'default');
$filename = 'expense-claim-' .$id. '.pdf';
$CakePdf->write(APP . 'files' . DS . $filename);

Basically, I merged all the data I needed to pass to the PDF view into one array then passed it using viewVars().

Hope this helps someone!