latexcompiler

This project aims to create an intuitive way for laravel users to create PDF documents through LaTeX with minimal pain.

I leverage the blade template to write the actual LaTeX code and compile with pdflatex. This allows for the use of {{ }} to drop in variables and use all of the normal blade commands.

Installation

Available through composer:

composer require fvhockney/latexcompiler

Configuration

Publish the configuration file:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=fvlatex-config

This publishes the default configuration file to config/fvlatex.php where you can modify your default preferences.

NB: logging automatically merges from the vendor file fvlatexlogchannel.php to the default config/logging.php file on boot.

Usage

This packages is compatible with injection. You can use the fluent interface to pass in required and optional parameters.

Required

• ->with($data): (object|array) passes to the template to fill
• ->in($view) : (string) name of the view you wish to use to create the .tex document
• ->complie($name) : (string) the name of the file you want to use without any extensions

Optional

• ->runs($runs) : (integer) number of times you want pdflatex to run, defaults to config which is initially set at 2
• ->storagePath($path) : (string path) overrides the default storage path in config...useful for multi user systems
• ->deletePdf() : beta deletes the pdf from the storage path

Create Something

• ->run() : compiles the document in a build directory and moves it to the storage path. It then tears down the build directory
• ->fillTemplate() : fills in the tempplate but doesn't run the shell commands to compile the PDF.

Getting results

• ->pdfUrl : called after ->run() to get the storage location with the filename of the PDF.
• ->template : called after ->run() or ->fillTemplate to get the tex string

Try out

There is an example controller, tex template view, and form view included for you to try this out in your setup without having to waste time writing the form and tex files. Just copy the controller to your app/Http/Controllers, set up at GET route for the form and POST to the controller to get started.

IMPORTANT!!

Make sure you have tex installed on your system and that you provide the fully qualified path to where pdflatex is located.

LaTeX can be pretty finicky, so I highly recommend that you test your templates extensively on a local system before deploying. Also, there is currently no escaping of user inputs, so if your users input a reserved character in Tex, it will not be escaped automatically and could break the compilation sequence.

TODO

• Add to <pakagist.org>
• Add ability to escape user inputs
• Add ability to compile assets
• Find a better way to implement logging
• Give user more control over logging
• Add options to upload to cloud

Collaboration

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas about how to make this package better! Feel free to contact me, fork, or submit a pull request!