PDF document page abstraction is represented by Zend_Pdf_Page class.
PDF pages either are loaded from existing PDF, or created.
New page can be obtained by creating new Zend_Pdf_Page object or calling
Zend_Pdf::newPage() method, which returns Zend_Pdf_Page object.
The difference is that Zend_Pdf::newPage() method creates a page, already attached to
the document. In difference from unattached pages it can't be used with several PDF documents,
but has a little bit better performance.
[5]. It's your choice, which approach should be used.
Zend_Pdf::newPage() method and Zend_Pdf_Page constructors take the same
set of parameters specifying page size. It either the size of page ($x, $y) in a points (1/72 inch),
or predefined constant, which is treated as a page type:
Zend_Pdf_Page::SIZE_A4
Zend_Pdf_Page::SIZE_A4_LANDSCAPE
Zend_Pdf_Page::SIZE_LETTER
Zend_Pdf_Page::SIZE_LETTER_LANDSCAPE
Document pages are stored in $pages public member of Zend_Pdf class.
It's an array of Zend_Pdf_Page objects. It completely defines set and order of document pages
and can be manipulated as a common array:
Example 37.4. PDF document pages management.
...
// Reverse page order
$pdf->pages = array_reverse($pdf->pages);
...
// Add new page
$pdf->pages[] = new Zend_Pdf_Page(Zend_Pdf_Page::SIZE_A4);
// Add new page
$pdf->pages[] = $pdf->newPage(Zend_Pdf_Page::SIZE_A4);
// Remove specified page.
unset($pdf->pages[$id]);
...
Existing PDF page can be cloned by creating new Zend_Pdf_Page object with existing page as a parameter:
Example 37.5. Cloning existing page.
...
// Store template page in a separate variable
$template = $pdf->pages[$templatePageIndex];
...
// Add new page
$page1 = new Zend_Pdf_Page($template);
$pdf->pages[] = $page1;
...
// Add another page
$page2 = new Zend_Pdf_Page($template);
$pdf->pages[] = $page2;
...
// Remove source template page from the documents.
unset($pdf->pages[$templatePageIndex]);
...
It's useful if you need several pages to be created using one template.
| Caution | |
|---|---|
Important! Cloned page shares some PDF resources with a template page, so it can be used only withing the same document as a template page. Modified document can be saved as new one. |
[5] It's a limitation of V1.0 version of Zend_Pdf module. It will be eliminated in future versions. But unattached pages will always give better (more optimal) result for sharing pages between documents.