FPDF - Inline bold text

Question

I am trying to create a PDF from PHP and for legal reason we need to make part of our disclaimer BOLD and the disclaimer needs to be outlined.

My current code uses:

if(isset($_POST['optout']) && $_POST['optout'] == "yes"){
    $pdf->Ln(5);
    $pdf->SetFont('Arial','I',12);
    $pdf->SetTextColor(128);
    $pdf->MultiCell(0,4,'This is my disclaimer. THESE WORDS NEED TO BE BOLD. These words do not need to be bold.',1,'C');
}

I am currently using WriteHTML for other parts of the document, and I could easily use that instead of MultiCell, but then how do I create the border?

So I have 2 options..

native FPDF functions

PROS: Give an option for a border

CONS: No easy way to make inline text bold

WriteHTML extension class

PROS: Lets me easily add bold text inline

CONS: Not sure how to create the border

Suggestions?

Answer 1

Here's how I solved it:

$pdf->SetFont('Arial','',10);
$cell = 'This is my disclaimer.';
$pdf->Cell($pdf->GetStringWidth($cell),3,$cell, 0, 'L');
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',10);
$boldCell = "THESE WORDS NEED TO BE BOLD.";
$pdf->Cell($pdf->GetStringWidth($boldCell),3,$boldCell, 0, 'L');
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','',10);
$cell = 'These words do not need to be bold.';
$pdf->Cell($pdf->GetStringWidth($cell),3,$cell, 0, 'L');

Essentially, make one cell, change font, then another cell with the width of the text you want to bold, and so on.

There seem to be better tools out there for making PDFs that use HTML / Blade templates and such, though, so you might want to consider using that.

Answer 2

You could rewrite a part of the extension but it may be easier for you to use the extension writeHTML, then draw a cell (empty text) with a border over the cell you created with writeHTML. By adjusting your cells properly it should work.

Don't forget to use SetY then SetX to position your cells.

Example:

if(isset($_POST['optout']) && $_POST['optout'] == "yes"){
   $pdf->Ln(5);
   $pdf->SetFont('Arial','I',12);
   $pdf->SetTextColor(128);

   //Your text cell
   $pdf->SetY($pos_Y);
   $pdf->SetX($pos_X);
   $pdf->writeHTML('This is my disclaimer. <b>THESE WORDS NEED TO BE BOLD.</b> These words do not need to be bold.');

   //Your bordered cell
   $pdf->SetY($pos_Y);
   $pdf->SetX($pos_X);
   $pdf->Cell($width, $height, '', 1, 0, 'C');
 }