Kimberly Hargis asked 3 years ago
Hi, Do you prefer E2Pdf or Formidable PRO2PDF? Or their any other options?
Victor Font answered 3 years ago
Kimberly Hargis
replied 3 years ago I need to take the information and have it create a pdf to be emailed to person who filled out the form plus the person getting the form. I never liked E2Pdf and looking for an alternative if possible is why I asked.
Thanks
Bobby Clapp
replied 3 years ago I've been looking for a swiss army knife PDF generator/viewer and I'm not happy with anything that exists on the market.
Victor Font
replied 3 years ago I know it's frustrating not to have choices, but there aren't any alternatives here apart from customizing something in PHP or enabling the browser to do it as can be done with views and charts. I've used these add-ons with client projects in the past, but have never explored triggering the creation of a PDF before an email send and then adding it as an attachment. It certainly is plausible, but how much work is involved is unknown without research.
At a high level, it requires custom PHP and using the right Formidable hook. It may also be possible to create a Formidable add-on that generates PDFs, but then you're talking about a major, enterprise-level project. Creating add-ons is an expensive proposition that can easily climb upwards from $100k.
Other than creating an add-on, at a one-time project level, I'd probably plan a budget of a few days to a week for custom development. There's a lot of research and testing that needs to be done here. For example, which PDF library works the best to meet your requirements? Does the developer use PHP's built-in library or the free FPDF library? What's the difference? What's the security? How do we keep libraries updated? Etc... There's a lot to work out.
Perhaps what might be helpful is to chat with someone to help guide you along to building your own solution. If you'd like help finding a developer to discuss any potential project ideas you may have, please visit the Formidable Masterminds Developers Directory at https://formidable-masterminds.com/developers-directory/.
If I may just say one thing about the developers in the Directory, the ones displayed there today are there by personal invitation. In my opinion, they are the best Formidable developers around. The Directory even displays the record of one astounding individual that helps not-for-profits pro bono! These are talented and helpful resources. They will get you where you need to be going. Most are the same community volunteers that moderate and/or answer questions here. We've all staked a claim to using Formidable and mining it for the gold it produces.
Formidable is an amazing product for developers and becoming more amazing with each release, even what appears to be the most minor. Every time a hook is added, it's there to benefit the developer. Formidable is much more than a Form Builder. It stands in a category all its own. It is an Application Builder. With the right know-how, developers can build amazing, full-scale, package-able expert business solutions to meet any business need.
In the meantime, here's a link they may be helpful in understanding what may be required and/or jQuery level. I only browsed the page. I didn't read it in depth. It's not Formidable specific, either. That's a different development layer. This is what's possibly needed to make Formidable work without those plugins. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-generate-pdf-file-using-php/
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I use Integromat and Google Docs for this. You just need to get the form data into Integromat with an API or email action after form submission. If it's a simple form with just a few entries, you can create a Google Doc using a pre-saved template with that form data. If it's a more complex form with repeaters, etc, you can create an entirely new Google Doc with html using the form data (which can include headings, tables, and any other formatting you want). Then, the Integromat scenario can save that Google Doc as a PDF and email it to the user.
Brad, Does this work to create a Board of Directors listing data sheet (Google Sheets), then import into a general form like this one https://www.floods.org/membership-communities/engage-and-serve/board-of-directors/asfpm-contact-form-all/
to manage the listing instead of using feeder lists? We use Feed lists to add the email address of each individual and keep it secure as possible, to group the form submission to a selected few to send a message to. Would be nice to have a copy of the form submission entries as currently this set up is not saving the form submission entries. Any ideas?