PDF in WordPress using FPDF : Custom PDF Generator

Option 1: Install FPDF via Composer (Recommended)

1. Check if your WordPress hosting allows Composer.
   SSH into your server and go to your WP root (where wp-config.php is).

   cd /var/www/html/your-wordpress-site/
   

2. Require FPDF with Composer:

    composer require setasign/fpdf

   This will add it inside vendor/.

3. Include FPDF in your theme/plugin PHP file:

   require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
   
   use FPDF\FPDF;
   
   $pdf = new FPDF();
   $pdf->AddPage();
   $pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',16);
   $pdf->Cell(40,10,'Hello WordPress + FPDF!');
   $pdf->Output();
   

Option 2: Manually Add FPDF

If you don’t have Composer access:

1. Download FPDF library
   👉 https://www.fpdf.org/en/download.php

2. Extract and place the fpdf.php file in your theme or plugin folder.
   Example: /wp-content/themes/your-theme/lib/fpdf/

3. Include it in your code:

    
   require get_template_directory() . '/lib/fpdf/fpdf.php';
   
   $pdf = new FPDF();
   $pdf->AddPage();
   $pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',16);
   $pdf->Cell(40,10,'FPDF in WordPress!');
   $pdf->Output();
   
   

Option 3: Create a Small Plugin

If you want to keep things neat:

1. 1. Create a folder /wp-content/plugins/wp-fpdf/.

   2. Inside it, create wp-fpdf.php:

       
      <?php
      /*
      Plugin Name: WP FPDF
      Description: Generate PDFs using FPDF inside WordPress.
      Version: 1.0
      */
      
      require_once plugin_dir_path(__FILE__) . 'fpdf/fpdf.php';
      

   3. Put the fpdf.php file in /wp-content/plugins/wp-fpdf/fpdf/.

1. Activate the plugin in WP Admin → Plugins.

Since WordPress runs PHP the same way, the PDF generation code (using FPDF / TCPDF / mPDF) can be integrated. The “Cannot access protected property PDF_Table::$lMargin” issue is not WordPress-specific — it comes from how the library is written.

Here’s how you can integrate properly in WordPress:

4. Load the PDF library

• Put fpdf.php (or your extended PDF_Table.php) inside your theme or a custom plugin folder.

/wp-content/plugins/custom-pdf/
fpdf.php
pdf-table.php
custom-pdf.php

In custom-pdf.php (your plugin main file):

/**
* Plugin Name: Custom PDF Generator
*/
require_once plugin_dir_path(__FILE__) . 'fpdf.php';
require_once plugin_dir_path(__FILE__) . 'pdf-table.php';

5. Create a shortcode for generating PDFs

You can make a shortcode so you can add [generate_pdf] anywhere in posts/pages:

add_shortcode('generate_pdf', function() {
if (isset($_GET['download_pdf'])) {
// Include PDF class
$pdf = new PDF_Table();
$pdf->AddPage();

// Title
$pdf->SetFont('Arial','B',12);
$pdf->Cell(0,10,utf8_decode("Brief Summary of Session"),0,1,'L',true);

// Sample JSON (replace with dynamic data from DB or WP fields)
$point6f = '[{"PointA_title":"k1 Brief of Session"},{"PointA_title":"k2 Brief of Session"}]';
$datapoint6f = json_decode($point6f, true);

$pdf->SetFont('Arial','',10);
$fullWidth = $pdf->GetPageWidth() - $pdf->lMargin - $pdf->rMargin; // works inside class methods!

foreach ($datapoint6f as $item) {
$title = htmlspecialchars($item['PointA_title']);
$pdf->MultiCell($fullWidth, 6, utf8_decode($title), 1, 'L');
$pdf->Ln(2);
}

$pdf->Output('D', 'session-summary.pdf'); // Force download
exit;
}

// Button to trigger PDF
return '<a class="button" href="?download_pdf=1">Download PDF</a>';
});

6. Use in WordPress

• Place [generate_pdf] inside a page.

• It will show a button → clicking it generates and downloads the PDF with full-width rows.