TCPDF not render all CSS properties

Question

I try to make a PDF writing CSS and HTML but my CSS doesn't appear in my PDF. The only thing considered is the font-size and font-color.

I give you the code (sorry, it's a little long...)

$config = sfTCPDFPluginConfigHandler::loadConfig('my_config');      $doc_title    = "Fiche Logement";      $html = <<<EOF <style>         .informations {             padding: 10px;             margin: 10px;             border: 1px dotted black;}         .informations table {             margin-top: 10px;}         #modif {             margin: 20px;             text-align: left;             float: right;}         #modif th {             padding-left: 10px;}         #modif td {             padding-left: 10px;}         #adresse {             width: 307px;             float: left;}         #reservataire {             width: 307px;             float: right;}         #intergen {             width: 307px;             float: right;}         #infos {             width: 290px;             float: left;}         #handicap {             padding-bottom: 12px;             width: 324px;             float: right;}         #charges {             margin-bottom: 20px;             width: 307px;             float: left;}         #loyer {             width: 307px;             float: right;}         #commentaires {             clear: both;}         h2 {             font-variant: small-caps;             text-align: center;             font-size: 19px;             font-weight: bold;             padding: 0px 0px 2px 5px;             margin: 15px 0px 20px 0px;             color: #000000;             border-top: 1px dotted black;             border-bottom: 1px dotted black;}          h3 {             width: 250px;             font-variant: small-caps;             font-size: 15px;             font-weight: bold;             padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px;             margin: 0px;             color: #225D6D;             border-top: 1px dotted black;             border-bottom: 1px dotted black;} </style>               <div id='intergen' class='informations'>                 <h3>Intergénérationnel</h3>                 <table>                     <tr>                         <th>Intergénérationnel :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getIntergen() ?></td>                     </tr>                 </table>             </div>              <div id='infos' class='informations'>                 <h3>Informations logement</h3>                 <table>                     <tr>                         <th>Bâtiment :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->Parclogement->getBatiment() ?></td>                     </tr>                     <tr>                         <th>Taille :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getTaille() ?></td>                     </tr>                     <tr>                         <th>Type :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getTypelog() ?></td>                     </tr>                     <tr>                         <th>Surface habitable :</th> <td><?php if(\$logement->getSurfacehab() == 0){ echo 'Non Spécifié';} else {echo \$logement->getSurfacehab(). " m²";} ?></td>                     </tr>                     <tr>                         <th>Chauffage :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getChauffage() ?></td>                     </tr>                     <tr>                         <th>Ascenseur :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getAscenseur() ?></td>                     </tr>                 </table>             </div>              <div id='handicap' class='informations'>                 <h3>Infrastructures handicapés</h3>                 <table>                     <tr>                         <th>Immeuble accessible :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getAccessibl() ?></td>                     </tr>                     <tr>                         <th>Ascenceur accessible :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getAscenseuracc() ?></td>                     </tr>                     <tr>                         <th>Logement adaptable :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getAdaptable() ?></td>                     </tr>                     <tr>                         <th>Logement adapté :</th> <td><?php echo \$logement->getAdapte() ?></td>                     </tr>                 </table>             </div>  EOF;      //create new PDF document (document units are set by default to millimeters)     $pdf = new sfTCPDF(PDF_PAGE_ORIENTATION, PDF_UNIT, PDF_PAGE_FORMAT, true);      // set document information     $pdf->SetCreator(PDF_CREATOR);     $pdf->SetAuthor(PDF_AUTHOR);     $pdf->SetTitle($doc_title);      //set default header data     $pdf->SetHeaderData(PDF_HEADER_LOGO, PDF_HEADER_LOGO_WIDTH, PDF_HEADER_TITLE, PDF_HEADER_STRING);      //set margins     $pdf->SetMargins(PDF_MARGIN_LEFT, PDF_MARGIN_TOP, PDF_MARGIN_RIGHT);     $pdf->SetHeaderMargin(PDF_MARGIN_HEADER);     $pdf->SetFooterMargin(PDF_MARGIN_FOOTER);       //set auto page breaks     $pdf->SetAutoPageBreak(TRUE, PDF_MARGIN_BOTTOM);      //set header and footer fonts     $pdf->setHeaderFont(Array(PDF_FONT_NAME_MAIN, '', PDF_FONT_SIZE_MAIN));     $pdf->setFooterFont(Array(PDF_FONT_NAME_DATA, '', PDF_FONT_SIZE_DATA));      //set default monospaced font     $pdf->SetDefaultMonospacedFont(PDF_FONT_MONOSPACED);      // Fixe la taille de la page     $pdf->SetDisplayMode(90);      //initialize document     $pdf->SetFont('helvetica', '', 10);     $pdf->AddPage();      // output some HTML code       $pdf->writeHTML($html , true, false, true, false, '');      //reset pointer to the last page     $pdf->lastPage();        // Close and output PDF document     $pdf->Output('fichelogement.pdf', 'I');      // Stop symfony process     throw new sfStopException(); 

Answer 1

In the first place, you should note that PDF and HTML and different formats that hardly have anything in common. If TCPDF allows you to provide input data using HTML and CSS it's because it implements a simple parser for these two languages and tries to figure out how to translate that into PDF. So it's logical that TCPDF only supports a little subset of the HTML and CSS specification and, even in supported stuff, it's probably not as perfect as in first class web browsers.

Said that, the question is: what's supported and what's not? The documentation basically skips the issue and let's you enjoy the trial and error method.

Having a look at the source code, we can see there's a protected method called TCPDF::getHtmlDomArray() that, among other things, parses CSS declarations. I can see stuff like font-family, list-style-type or text-indent but there's no margin or padding as far as I can see and, definitively, there's no float at all.

To sum up: with TCPDF, you can use CSS for some basic formatting. If you need to convert from HTML to PDF, it's the wrong tool. (If that's the case, may I suggest wkhtmltopdf?)

Answer 2

TCPDF 5.9.010 (2010-10-27) - Support for CSS properties 'border-spacing' and 'padding' for tables were added.