phpdftk API Documentation

PdfWriter
in package

Ergonomic PDF document builder.

PdfWriter is the friendly facade: it owns a PdfFileWriter under the hood and provides one method per "thing a user wants to put in a document" — pages, fonts, content streams, images, bookmarks, page labels, named destinations, signatures.

The byte-level file-assembly logic (header, xref, trailer, signature patching) lives in PdfFileWriter in the core package.

Usage: $writer = new PdfWriter(); $page = $writer->addPage(612, 792); $font = $writer->addFont(new Type1Font(StandardFont::Helvetica)); $cs = $writer->addContentStream($page); $cs->beginText()->setFont('F1', 12)->moveTextPosition(72, 720)->showText('Hi')->endText(); $writer->save('/path/to/output.pdf');

Table of Contents

Methods

__construct()  : mixed
addCompositeFont()  : Font
Build and register a Type 0 composite font from TrueType font data.
addContentStream()  : ContentStream
Create a content stream, register it, and attach it to a page.
addFont()  : Font
Register a font, auto-assign a resource name (F1, F2, …), and return the name.
addImage()  : string
Add an image to a page as an XObject, using ImageParser to detect format.
addOpenTypeFont()  : Font
Build and register an OpenType CFF composite font.
addOutlineItem()  : PdfReference
addPage()  : Page
Add a new page. Accepts either a Rectangle (from phpdftk/geometry) or explicit width/height floats. Default is US Letter (612×792 pt).
checkConformance()  : array<int, ConformanceResult>
Run conformance checks without generating the PDF.
fileWriter()  : PdfFileWriter
Escape hatch to Level 0 — returns the underlying PdfFileWriter for direct object-model control.
generate()  : string
Generate the complete PDF as a binary string.
getCatalog()  : Catalog
getConformanceResults()  : array<int, ConformanceResult>
Get the conformance results from the last generate() call.
getContentStreams()  : array<int, ContentStream>
Return all content streams added to the document.
getEncodingWarnings()  : array<int, string>
Diagnostics for codepoints that were substituted with `?` because the font's encoding could not represent them. Empty when every glyph landed cleanly. Each entry names the font resource, the codepoint, and how many times it was requested.
getFonts()  : array<string, Font|Type0Font>
Return all registered fonts, keyed by resource name.
getPageTree()  : PageTree
getPdfVersion()  : PdfVersion
getVersionWarnings()  : array<int, string>
register()  : PdfReference
Register any arbitrary PdfObject (annotations, form fields, etc.).
save()  : void
Write the PDF to a file, creating parent directories as needed.
setCeilingVersion()  : void
setConformance()  : void
Set one or more conformance profiles (e.g. PDF/A-1b, PDF/UA-1).
setConformanceProfiles()  : void
Set multiple conformance profiles at once (e.g. PDF/A-2a + PDF/UA-1).
setDeprecationHandler()  : void
setEncryption()  : void
Configure encryption for the generated PDF.
setInfo()  : void
setLinearized()  : void
Enable or disable linearized (web-optimized) PDF output.
setMetadata()  : void
setNamedDestinations()  : void
setOutline()  : Outline
setPageLabels()  : void
setSigner()  : void
Configure digital signing for this document.
setStrictDeprecation()  : void
setStrictVersionMode()  : void
setTimestamper()  : void
Configure a document-level timestamp using a TSA client.
setTsaClient()  : void
Configure a TSA client for RFC 3161 timestamping.
syncInfoToMetadata()  : void
toBytes()  : string
Alias for {@see generate()} — returns the raw PDF bytes as a string.
writeTo()  : int
Write the generated PDF to an open stream resource.

Methods

addCompositeFont()

Build and register a Type 0 composite font from TrueType font data.

public addCompositeFont(TrueTypeData $data, array<string|int, int> $usedCodepoints[, Page|Page|null $page = null ]) : Font

Creates the full CID font stack: Type0Font -> CIDFontType2 -> FontDescriptor -> FontFile2, plus a ToUnicode CMap. The font is subset to include only the glyphs needed for the given codepoints.

Parameters
$data : TrueTypeData

Parsed TrueType font data

$usedCodepoints : array<string|int, int>

Unicode codepoints used in the document

$page : Page|Page|null = null

If set, add font only to this page

Return values
Font —

Opaque font handle

addFont()

Register a font, auto-assign a resource name (F1, F2, …), and return the name.

public addFont(Font $font[, Page|Page|null $page = null ]) : Font

The font is added to ALL existing pages' resources. For per-page fonts, add directly to page->resources.

Parameters
$font : Font
$page : Page|Page|null = null
Return values
Font

addImage()

Add an image to a page as an XObject, using ImageParser to detect format.

public addImage(string $path, Page|Page $page) : string

Returns the resource name (e.g. 'Im1') for use in content streams.

Parameters
$path : string
$page : Page|Page
Return values
string

addOpenTypeFont()

Build and register an OpenType CFF composite font.

public addOpenTypeFont(OpenTypeData $data, array<string|int, int> $usedCodepoints[, Page|Page|null $page = null ]) : Font

Creates the Type 0 → CIDFontType0 → FontDescriptor → CFFFontFile stack with a ToUnicode CMap for text extraction.

Parameters
$data : OpenTypeData

Parsed OpenType font data

$usedCodepoints : array<string|int, int>

Unicode codepoints used in the document

$page : Page|Page|null = null

If set, add font only to this page

Return values
Font —

Opaque font handle

addPage()

Add a new page. Accepts either a Rectangle (from phpdftk/geometry) or explicit width/height floats. Default is US Letter (612×792 pt).

public addPage([Rectangle|float $widthOrRect = 612 ][, float $height = 792 ]) : Page
Parameters
$widthOrRect : Rectangle|float = 612
$height : float = 792
Return values
Page

fileWriter()

Escape hatch to Level 0 — returns the underlying PdfFileWriter for direct object-model control.

public fileWriter() : PdfFileWriter
Return values
PdfFileWriter

generate()

Generate the complete PDF as a binary string.

public generate() : string
Return values
string

getEncodingWarnings()

Diagnostics for codepoints that were substituted with `?` because the font's encoding could not represent them. Empty when every glyph landed cleanly. Each entry names the font resource, the codepoint, and how many times it was requested.

public getEncodingWarnings() : array<int, string>
Return values
array<int, string>

getVersionWarnings()

public getVersionWarnings() : array<int, string>
Return values
array<int, string>

save()

Write the PDF to a file, creating parent directories as needed.

public save(string $path) : void
Parameters
$path : string

setConformance()

Set one or more conformance profiles (e.g. PDF/A-1b, PDF/UA-1).

public setConformance(ConformanceProfile $profile[, bool $strict = true ]) : void

When set, generate() will:

  1. Auto-inject XMP identification metadata (if not already present)
  2. Pin the PDF version to the profile minimum
  3. Run all applicable constraint checks
  4. In strict mode (default): throw ConformanceException on errors
  5. In lenient mode: collect results in getConformanceResults()
Parameters
$profile : ConformanceProfile
$strict : bool = true

Throw on conformance errors (default true)

setConformanceProfiles()

Set multiple conformance profiles at once (e.g. PDF/A-2a + PDF/UA-1).

public setConformanceProfiles(array<string|int, ConformanceProfile> $profiles[, bool $strict = true ]) : void
Parameters
$profiles : array<string|int, ConformanceProfile>
$strict : bool = true

Throw on conformance errors (default true)

setDeprecationHandler()

public setDeprecationHandler(Closure $handler) : void
Parameters
$handler : Closure

setInfo()

public setInfo(Info $info) : void

Use PdfDoc::setInfo() instead. This forwarder is retained for one minor release and will be removed.

Parameters
$info : Info

setLinearized()

Enable or disable linearized (web-optimized) PDF output.

public setLinearized([bool $linearized = true ]) : void

When enabled, the generated PDF places the first page's objects at the front of the file, allowing a viewer to display it before downloading the rest (ISO 32000-2 Annex F).

Parameters
$linearized : bool = true

setMetadata()

public setMetadata(string $xmpXml) : void
Parameters
$xmpXml : string

setSigner()

Configure digital signing for this document.

public setSigner(SignatureValue $signatureValue, Pkcs7Signer $signer[, int $placeholderBytes = 8192 ]) : void

The signing lifecycle works in three phases:

  1. Placeholder: A SignatureValue dictionary is emitted with a zeroed /Contents hex string large enough to hold the final PKCS#7 DER blob ($placeholderBytes controls the size).
  2. Byte-range: After the full PDF is assembled, the /ByteRange array is patched to cover everything except the /Contents value itself, so the signature covers the entire file.
  3. Patch: The Pkcs7Signer signs the byte-range data and the resulting DER is written into the /Contents placeholder.
Parameters
$signatureValue : SignatureValue
$signer : Pkcs7Signer
$placeholderBytes : int = 8192
Tags
see
PdfFileWriter::setSigner()

setStrictDeprecation()

public setStrictDeprecation([bool $strict = true ]) : void
Parameters
$strict : bool = true

setStrictVersionMode()

public setStrictVersionMode([bool $strict = true ]) : void
Parameters
$strict : bool = true

toBytes()

Alias for {@see generate()} — returns the raw PDF bytes as a string.

public toBytes() : string
Return values
string

writeTo()

Write the generated PDF to an open stream resource.

public writeTo(resource $stream) : int
Parameters
$stream : resource
Return values
int 

        

        
    




    

    

                                

                

                                
    

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