FPDF error: Some data has already been output, can

Question

I am using the fpdf library for my project, and I'm using this to extend one of the drupal module. These lines

$pdf = new FPDF();
$pdf->AddPage();
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',16);
$pdf->Cell(40,10,'Hello World!');
$pdf->Output();

give me an error: FPDF error: Some data has already been output, can't send PDF

I tried creating this in a separate file outside the drupal area name test.php and when viewed it worked. Anyone here know why this don't work? Or anyone here can point me a right pdf library which I can use in drupal to view HTML to PDF format.

Answer 1

You need to call the library

require ('fpdf.php');

<?php
require('fpdf.php');

$pdf = new FPDF();
$pdf->AddPage();
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',16);
$pdf->Cell(40,10,'¡Hola, Mundo!');
$pdf->Output();
?>

http://www.fpdf.org/

http://www.fpdf.org/es/tutorial/tuto1.htm

Answer 2

if you're code outputs notices/warnings before the PDF generation, try turning them off. error_reporting(0). Then work on the warnings there-after

Answer 3

For fpdf to work properly, there cannot be any output at all beside what fpdf generates. For example, this will work:

<?php
$pdf = new FPDF();
$pdf->AddPage();
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',16);
$pdf->Cell(40,10,'Hello World!');
$pdf->Output();
?>

While this will not (note the leading space before the opening <? tag)

 <?php
$pdf = new FPDF();
$pdf->AddPage();
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',16);
$pdf->Cell(40,10,'Hello World!');
$pdf->Output();
?>

Also, this will not work either (the echo will break it):

<?php
echo "About to create pdf";
$pdf = new FPDF();
$pdf->AddPage();
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',16);
$pdf->Cell(40,10,'Hello World!');
$pdf->Output();
?>

I'm not sure about the drupal side of things, but I know that absolutely zero non-fpdf output is a requirement for fpdf to work.

Answer 4

Hi do you have a session header on the top of your page. or any includes If you have then try to add this codes on top pf your page it should works fine.

<?

while (ob_get_level())
ob_end_clean();
header("Content-Encoding: None", true);

?>

cheers :-)

Answer 5

In my case i had set:

ini_set('display_errors', 'on');
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);

When i made the request to generate the report, some warnings were displayed in the browser (like the usage of deprecated functions).
Turning off the display_errors option, the report was generated successfully.