How I create a invoice to PDF

In this post, I will teach you how to generate a pdf from your invoice data.

The loadView method is commonly used with PDF generation packages like barryvdh/laravel-dompdf to convert a Blade view into a PDF document.

Here’s a step-by-step example of how to use loadView:

1. Install the Required Package

If you haven't already, install barryvdh/laravel-dompdf:

                                        
                                            composer require barryvdh/laravel-dompdf

2. Set Up the Controller to Use loadView

In your controller, you can use loadView to load a Blade view and generate a PDF.

                                        
                                            <?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Barryvdh\DomPDF\Facade\Pdf;
use App\Models\Order;

class InvoiceController extends Controller
{
    public function downloadInvoice($orderId)
    {
        // Fetch order data from the database
        $order = Order::with('user', 'items')->findOrFail($orderId);
        
        // Load the Blade view into PDF
        $pdf = Pdf::loadView('invoices.invoice', compact('order'));
        
        // Download the generated PDF
        return $pdf->download('invoice_' . $order->id . '.pdf');
    }
}

3. Create the Blade View for the Invoice

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Invoice #{{ $order->id }}</title>
    <style>
        body { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; }
        .invoice-box { max-width: 800px; margin: auto; padding: 30px; border: 1px solid #eee; }
        table { width: 100%; line-height: inherit; text-align: left; border-collapse: collapse; }
        table td { padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; }
        table tr.heading td { background: #eee; border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; font-weight: bold; }
        table tr.item td { border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; }
        table tr.total td { border-top: 2px solid #eee; font-weight: bold; }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <div class="invoice-box">
        <h2>Invoice #{{ $order->id }}</h2>
        <p>Date: {{ $order->created_at->format('d/m/Y') }}</p>
        <p>Customer: {{ $order->user->name }}</p>

        <table>
            <tr class="heading">
                <td>Item</td>
                <td>Quantity</td>
                <td>Price</td>
            </tr>

            @foreach($order->items as $item)
            <tr class="item">
                <td>{{ $item->name }}</td>
                <td>{{ $item->pivot->quantity }}</td>
                <td>${{ number_format($item->pivot->price, 2) }}</td>
            </tr>
            @endforeach

            <tr class="total">
                <td></td>
                <td>Total:</td>
                <td>${{ number_format($order->total, 2) }}</td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

4. Define the Route

Add the route to your web.php file:

                                        
                                            <?php

use App\Http\Controllers\InvoiceController;

Route::get('/invoice/{orderId}/download', [InvoiceController::class, 'downloadInvoice']);

5. Access the PDF

Now, visit:

http://your-app-url/invoice/1/download

This will generate and download a PDF file named invoice_1.pdf based on the Blade template.

February 4th, 2025