How can Excel be used as a form for filling editable PDF documents in PHP, and what are the limitations of this approach?

To use Excel as a form for filling editable PDF documents in PHP, you can read the data from an Excel file using a library like PHPExcel, populate the PDF form fields with the data, and then save the filled PDF document. One limitation of this approach is that the formatting and layout of the Excel file may not directly translate to the PDF form, so adjustments may be needed. 

// Include PHPExcel library
require_once 'PHPExcel/Classes/PHPExcel.php';

// Load Excel file
$inputFileName = 'input.xlsx';
$inputFileType = PHPExcel_IOFactory::identify($inputFileName);
$objReader = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType);
$objPHPExcel = $objReader->load($inputFileName);

// Get data from Excel file
$sheet = $objPHPExcel->getSheet(0);
$data = $sheet->toArray();

// Populate PDF form fields
$pdf = new FPDM('input.pdf');
$pdf->Load($pdf->getFormUrl());
foreach ($data as $row) {
    $pdf->Merge($row, 'name');
}
$pdf->Merge();
$pdf->Output('output.pdf', 'F');

Keywords

Excel PDF documents PHP limitations editable.

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