iphone - Convert html file to PDF Document in iOS using Cocoa-Touch

Question

I want to convert local html file on iPhone to PDF document. I have used the following code I found online to generate PDF file from Picture, I tried to replace the image with the html file but it failed. I would very much appreciate your help. Thanks in advance,

// Our method to create a PDF file natively on the iPhone
// This method takes two parameters, a CGRect for size and
// a const char, which will be the name of our pdf file
void CreatePDFFile (CGRect pageRect, const char *filename) {

    // This code block sets up our PDF Context so that we can draw to it
    CGContextRef pdfContext;
    CFStringRef path;
    CFURLRef url;
    CFMutableDictionaryRef myDictionary = NULL;
    // Create a CFString from the filename we provide to this method when we call it
    path = CFStringCreateWithCString (NULL, filename,
                                      kCFStringEncodingUTF8);
    // Create a CFURL using the CFString we just defined
    url = CFURLCreateWithFileSystemPath (NULL, path,
                                         kCFURLPOSIXPathStyle, 0);
    CFRelease (path);
    // This dictionary contains extra options mostly for 'signing' the PDF
    myDictionary = CFDictionaryCreateMutable(NULL, 0,
                                             &kCFTypeDictionaryKeyCallBacks,
                                             &kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks);
    CFDictionarySetValue(myDictionary, kCGPDFContextTitle, CFSTR("My PDF File"));
    CFDictionarySetValue(myDictionary, kCGPDFContextCreator, CFSTR("My Name"));
    // Create our PDF Context with the CFURL, the CGRect we provide, and the above defined dictionary
    pdfContext = CGPDFContextCreateWithURL (url, &pageRect, myDictionary);
    // Cleanup our mess
    CFRelease(myDictionary);
    CFRelease(url);
    // Done creating our PDF Context, now it's time to draw to it

    // Starts our first page
    CGContextBeginPage (pdfContext, &pageRect);

    // Draws a black rectangle around the page inset by 50 on all sides
    CGContextStrokeRect(pdfContext, CGRectMake(50, 50, pageRect.size.width - 100, pageRect.size.height - 100));

    // This code block will create an image that we then draw to the page
    const char *picture = "Picture";
    CGImageRef image;
    CGDataProviderRef provider;
    CFStringRef picturePath;
    CFURLRef pictureURL;

    picturePath = CFStringCreateWithCString (NULL, picture,
                                      kCFStringEncodingUTF8);
    pictureURL = CFBundleCopyResourceURL(CFBundleGetMainBundle(), picturePath, CFSTR("png"), NULL);
    CFRelease(picturePath);
    provider = CGDataProviderCreateWithURL (pictureURL);
    CFRelease (pictureURL);
    image = CGImageCreateWithPNGDataProvider (provider, NULL, true, kCGRenderingIntentDefault);
    CGDataProviderRelease (provider);
    CGContextDrawImage (pdfContext, CGRectMake(200, 200, 207, 385),image);
    CGImageRelease (image);


    // End image code

    // Adding some text on top of the image we just added
    CGContextSelectFont (pdfContext, "Helvetica", 16, kCGEncodingMacRoman);
    CGContextSetTextDrawingMode (pdfContext, kCGTextFill);
    CGContextSetRGBFillColor (pdfContext, 0, 0, 0, 1);
    const char *text = "Hello World!";
    CGContextShowTextAtPoint (pdfContext, 260, 390, text, strlen(text));
    // End text

    // We are done drawing to this page, let's end it
    // We could add as many pages as we wanted using CGContextBeginPage/CGContextEndPage
    CGContextEndPage (pdfContext);

    // We are done with our context now, so we release it
    CGContextRelease (pdfContext);
}

- (IBAction)createPDF:(id)sender {
    NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString *saveDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
    NSString *saveFileName = @"myPDF.pdf";
    NSString *newFilePath = [saveDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:saveFileName];
    const char *filename = [newFilePath UTF8String];
    CreatePDFFile(CGRectMake(0, 0, 612, 792),filename);
}

Answer 1

I created a class based on every good advice I found around. I've been digging a lot and I hope my class will offer some good start for anyone trying to create multi-page PDF directly out of some HTML source.

You'll find the whole code here with some basic sample code : https://github.com/iclems/iOS-htmltopdf

I had just the same issue as you and my requirements were: - full PDF (real text, no bitmap) - smart multi-pages (compared to cutting a full height webview every X pixels...)

Thus, the solution I use is pretty nice as it resorts to the same tools iOS uses to split pages for print.

Let me explain, I setup a UIPrintPageRenderer based on the web view print formatter (first tip) :

UIPrintPageRenderer *render = [[UIPrintPageRenderer alloc] init];

[render addPrintFormatter:webView.viewPrintFormatter startingAtPageAtIndex:0];

CGRect printableRect = CGRectMake(self.pageMargins.left,
                              self.pageMargins.top,
                              self.pageSize.width - self.pageMargins.left - self.pageMargins.right,
                              self.pageSize.height - self.pageMargins.top - self.pageMargins.bottom);

CGRect paperRect = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.pageSize.width, self.pageSize.height);

[render setValue:[NSValue valueWithCGRect:paperRect] forKey:@"paperRect"];
[render setValue:[NSValue valueWithCGRect:printableRect] forKey:@"printableRect"];

NSData *pdfData = [render printToPDF];

[pdfData writeToFile: self.PDFpath  atomically: YES];

In the meantime, I have created a category on UIPrintPageRenderer to support:

-(NSData*) printToPDF
{
    [self doNotRasterizeSubviews:self.view];

    NSMutableData *pdfData = [NSMutableData data];

    UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToData( pdfData, CGRectZero, nil );

    [self prepareForDrawingPages: NSMakeRange(0, self.numberOfPages)];

    CGRect bounds = UIGraphicsGetPDFContextBounds();

    for ( int i = 0 ; i < self.numberOfPages ; i++ )
    {
        UIGraphicsBeginPDFPage();

        [self drawPageAtIndex: i inRect: bounds];
    }

    UIGraphicsEndPDFContext();

    return pdfData;
}