Using TCPDF as an engine through CakePDF

Question

I'm using Ceeram's CakePDF plugin on CakePHP 2.2. It makes generating PDFs using Cake's layouts and views very easy and for the most part I have not had any problems with it.

However, I want to be able to access some of the more advanced features of TCPDF, specifically the barcode features.

If I was using TCPDF directly, I could just do $pdf->writeBarcode(); but as I'm using TCPDF as an engine in the CakePDF Plugin, I'm not sure how to go about accessing it, or if it's even possible.

$CakePdf->writeBarcode(); doesn't work, but then I wouldn't really have expected it to. There is nothing in Ceeram's docs that mentions it, though.

Answer 1

It does not support that by default, it just converts your view into a rendered PDF, but it won't let you access the "advanced" functionalities of your PDF Engine. Of course you are always free to extend the plugin to do allow this feature. I reckon you'd have to add it in the Pdf/CakePdf.php class file to get it to work.