Generating PDFs from websites using code

Currently, I have my resume available online as an HTML page at www.mysite.com/resume.html. Whenever I need a PDF version of it, I rely on Google Chrome's print dialog to save it as a PDF using my print CSS stylesheet.

However, I am looking for a way to easily access an always up-to-date PDF version at www.mysite.com/resume.pdf without the manual process through Google Chrome. Is there a method to automatically generate a resume.pdf from the resume HTML? It would be convenient if I could create a script that runs periodically, like once every 24 hours.

Answer №1

If you're looking for a solution to convert web pages to PDF, PhantomJS is the way to go. By invoking an instance of WebKit from the command line, you can easily generate PDF files.

Check out PhantomJS here:

http://phantomjs.org/

For step-by-step instructions on exporting screen output to a file, visit this link:

http://phantomjs.org/screen-capture.html

Here's an example of how to use it:

phantomjs rasterize.js 'http://www.example.com/resume.html' resume.pdf

Answer №2

Google Chrome has launched their new headless feature.

This feature enables users to generate a PDF file. For instance, on Windows, you can open your command prompt and navigate to:

C:\Users\{{your_username}}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome SxS\Application>

Once there, input the following command:

chrome --headless --print-to-pdf="d:\\{{path and file name}}.pdf" https://google.com

Answer №3

If you're interested in achieving this on the server-side with PHP, have you considered using the Browsershot library? This library utilizes Puppeteer (NodeJS package) and a headless browser like Chrome or Chromium.

It's quite effective and much simpler to set up and use compared to alternatives like wkhtmltopdf, which doesn't require a NodeJS package or a headless browser. Personally, I find Browsershot to be more reliable as wkhtmltopdf can encounter issues depending on the server environment (such as Linux distro and version). The most stable way to install wkhtmltopdf is usually by downloading and compiling it from source directly on your server rather than relying on a package manager).

Furthermore, if you are focused on working within a Laravel project, there's a helpful wrapper library for Browsershot that you can utilize.

For detailed guidance on how to get started, take a look at this tutorial.

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