Zend Framework PDF generation unicode issue

Question

Hi all,

I have troubles using Zend Framework's PDF

When I create PDF file I need to use UTF-8 as encoding. This is the code I am using to generate simple pdf file. I always get this wrong displayed. Instead of seeing 'Faktúra' in pdf file, it gives me 'Faktú' Instead of seeing 'Dodávateľ:' in pdf file, it gives me 'Dodáva'

$pdf = new Zend_Pdf();    
$pdf->pages[] = ($page1 = $pdf->newPage('A4'));    
$font = Zend_Pdf_Font::fontWithPath('C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\TIMES.TTF');    
$page1->setFont($font, 20);    
$page1->drawText('Faktúra', 40, 803, 'UTF-8');    
$page1->drawText('Dodaváteľ:', $width_left, $height, 'UTF-8');

So I tried to load font from Windows directory

$font = Zend_Pdf_Font::fontWithPath('C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\TIMES.TTF');

But it gives me the error:

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Zend_Pdf_Exception' with message 'Insufficient data to read 2 bytes'

It is really driving me crazy and I believe some of you would have little hints for me:) Solving the error would be the best solution...

Thanks a lot in advance

Answer 1

Did you save the php source file as UTF-8?

Answer 2

try using utf8_decode()

For example:

$pdf = new Zend_Pdf();    
$pdf->pages[] = ($page1 = $pdf->newPage('A4'));    
$font = Zend_Pdf_Font::fontWithPath('C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\TIMES.TTF');    
$page1->setFont($font, 20);    
$page1->drawText(utf8_decode('Faktúra'), 40, 803, 'UTF-8');    
$page1->drawText(utf8_decode('Dodaváteľ:'), $width_left, $height, 'UTF-8');

Answer 3

Zend pdf functionality is not yet very sophisticated. on http://www.starmind.com we use tcpdf which is based on fpdf. both are free to use.