Scenario:

We have some data sotred in a data base that must be returned as PDF.

Sounds easy but what if I tell you that between that data you need to attach other PDF files?

It makes everything more complicated. We already saw how to convert from Word to PDF in PHP and Concatenate PDF in PHP but that’s not enough…

First download in your work space TCPDF and FPDI.

Then you can use this class I did for this.

//CONFIG
require_once('tcpdf/tcpdf.php');
require_once('fpdi/fpdi.php');//concatenation
//END CONFIG


class PDFmaker extends FPDI{
	  /////////////////////////////////////////////////
  // PROPERTIES, PUBLIC
  /////////////////////////////////////////////////
	//here we set the default font, margins, etc.
	//TODO define the default parameters for font, etc.

	protected $idDocument;
	public $header;


	function PDFmaker(){
		parent::__construct('P','mm', 'A4', true, 'UTF-8', false);
	}


	function configPdfFile(){
		//set margins
		$this->SetMargins(20, 30, 20);//(PDF_MARGIN_LEFT, PDF_MARGIN_TOP, PDF_MARGIN_RIGHT);
	}

	 //Page header
    public function Header() {

		// set header fonts
		$this->setHeaderFont(Array('arial', '', PDF_FONT_SIZE_MAIN));

    	//Set the margins
    	$this->SetY(5);

    	// Colors, line width and bold font
        $this->SetFillColor(255, 255, 255);
        $this->SetTextColor(0);
        $this->SetDrawColor(0, 0, 0);
        $this->SetLineWidth(0.1);
        $this->SetFont('', '');

        $this->SetX(50);
        //Carriage return to the following line
        $this->Ln();

        // Color and font restoration
        $this->SetFillColor(255, 255, 255);
        $this->SetTextColor(0);
        $this->SetFont('');
         // Line break
        $this->Ln(20);

    }

    // Page footer
    public function Footer() {
    	//Set footer margin
    	$this->SetFooterMargin(PDF_MARGIN_FOOTER);
       // set header and footer fonts
		$this->setHeaderFont(Array(PDF_FONT_NAME_MAIN, '', PDF_FONT_SIZE_MAIN));
		$this->setFooterFont(Array(PDF_FONT_NAME_DATA, '', PDF_FONT_SIZE_DATA));

        // Position at 1.5 cm from bottom
        $this->SetY(-15);
        // Set font
        $this->SetFont('helvetica', 'I', 8);
        // Page number
        $this->Cell(0, 10, 'Page '.$this->getAliasNumPage().'/'.$this->getAliasNbPages(), 0, 0, 'C');
    }

    public function addPdfText($htmlMyText=""){

    	//check if there is already a page in the document. If there is no page it must be created before
    	if($this->getPage()==0){
    		$this->AddPage('P',"");
    	}
    	else{//if there is already a page, the cursor must point to it
    		$this->setPage($this->getPage(), false);
    	}
    	$this->writeHTML($htmlMyText, false, false, false, false, 'J');
    	//Without the following line, next time we use addPdfText the first line of the new content will overlap the last line that was already written in the document
    	$this->Ln(10, false);
    	//Now we leave the cursor in the last page, ready for a future addition of more content
    	$this->lastPage();


    }

 	protected function AddPagePdf($orientation='', $format='') {
			if (!isset($this->original_lMargin)) {
				$this->original_lMargin = $this->lMargin;
			}
			if (!isset($this->original_rMargin)) {
				$this->original_rMargin = $this->rMargin;
			}
			// terminate previous page
			$this->endPage();
			// start new page
			$this->startPagePdf($orientation, $format);
		}

	protected function startPagePdf($orientation='', $format='') {
			if ($this->numpages > $this->page) {
				// this page has been already added
				$this->setPage($this->page + 1);
				$this->SetY($this->tMargin);
				return;
			}
			// start a new page
			if ($this->state == 0) {
				$this->Open();
			}
			++$this->numpages;
			$this->swapMargins($this->booklet);
			// save current graphic settings
			$gvars = $this->getGraphicVars();
			// start new page
			$this->_beginpage($orientation, $format);
			// mark page as open
			$this->pageopen[$this->page] = true;
			// restore graphic settings
			$this->setGraphicVars($gvars);
			// mark this point
			$this->setPageMark();
			// print page header
			//$this->setHeader();
			// restore graphic settings
			$this->setGraphicVars($gvars);
			// mark this point
			$this->setPageMark();
			// print table header (if any)
			//$this->setTableHeader();
		}

    public function addPdfFile($file){

	    //check if there is already a page in the document. If there is no page it must be created before
	    	if($this->getPage()==0) $this->AddPage('P',"");
	    	else $this->setPage($this->getPage(), false);//if there is already a page, the cursor must point to it

     		$pagecount = $this->setSourceFile($file);
            for ($i = 1; $i <= $pagecount; $i++) {
                 $tplidx = $this->ImportPage($i);
                 $s = $this->getTemplatesize($tplidx);
                 $this->AddPagePdf('P', array($s['w'], $s['h']));
                 $this->Ln($s['h'], false);
                 $this->useTemplate($tplidx);
			}
            $this->lastPage();
    }

}

And as an example of usage:

include_once('pdfMaker.php');
	//Create the pdf object and configure it
	$pdf = new  PDFmaker();
	$pdf->configPdfFile();

	$pdf->SetCreator("some name");
	$pdf->SetAuthor("some name");
	$pdf->SetTitle("some title");
	$pdf->SetSubject("some subject");

	//set auto page breaks
	$pdf->SetAutoPageBreak(TRUE, PDF_MARGIN_BOTTOM);

	//set image scale factor
	$pdf->setImageScale(PDF_IMAGE_SCALE_RATIO);

	$pdf->AddPage();
	$pdf->Bookmark(" ".$anyName, 0, 0);
	$pdf->addPdfText("
".$anyName."
");

	$pdf->addPdfFile($pdf_path);

	//ADD TOC
		// add a new page for TOC
		$pdf->AddPage();
		// write the TOC title
		$pdf->MultiCell(0, 0, 'Content table', 0, 'C', 0, 1, '', '', true, 0);
		$pdf->Ln();
		// add table of content at page 1
		$pdf->addTOC(1, '', '.');
	//End TOC

	//Close and output PDF document
	$pdf->Output("pdf_file_name", 'I');