[Wolves] php generated text over image or rewrite entire doc?

[Wayne Morris]

On 20/06/2012 13:03, Andy D'Arcy Jewell wrote:
> On 20/06/12 12:54, Jon Farmer wrote:
>> <snip>
>> Personally I would find that a nasty approach. If it needs to be
>> editable then you need to find something the EU is familiar with i.e a
>> word processor. If you want a PDF I would generate it from scratch with
>> something like PHP rather than convert from an image <shudder>.
>>
> I wasn't advocating converting to and from PDF's - you would obviously 
> keep all the details in a database. I think the OP stated or inferred 
> that it shouldn't be editable, as it's a legal document.
>
The original document is a load of legalese, think mobile phone contract 
type wording with small print, ocr or just a retype is a possibility, 
but can just imagine one line
getting corrupted, missed on proof read and thousands created - then 
some wisearse spotting it and publishing it on the internet,
and everyone being able to avoid the contract terms and getting a free 
phone or whatnot for example -- as the original creator would point out 
- they spend a lot of
cash on lawyers to draft the original, they wouldn't be too happy with 
some bodged rewrite letting users escape their clutches.
Once created and printed, user will still have to sign a paper copy - so 
not worried about it being a pdf - just something that will allow user 
to hit print and an A4 portrait form,
followed by a landscape one which a pdf should allow.

Adam Sweet has pointed me to http://www.fpdf.org/ which I haven't had a 
try of yet, but I'm unsure if this kind of thing is actually suited to a 
php/mysql output - I tried one that failed on database connection (and 
was French so was unable to figure why) - so I'm guessing that if its 
converting the file rather than running it as php then there are going 
to be issues there - i probably will need to run it, then export the 
results to somewhere else then php it...phew..