Generate a PDF from database items

A feature that allows you to generate a PDF which is populated with data from the app. Possible uses would be for generating an invoice or making a certificate with the users name and date created on it.

I would love for them to allow us to send emails too! e.g. Create the pdf and send it via the customers email. What do you think about this Paul Jepson ?

Good idea, Paul! I can see powerful use case for this.


Originally posted by: gregoryalbritton+canny@gmail.com

It’s important must have for many apps. I should be on top of the list.

Very good idea Paul, and I think this should be a basic function of any application. This should be a priority, as it can also be used for creating reports etc.

Mischelle: I think this and custom reports should be a priority!

I have been needing this feature for a long time, an easy way to print from a adalo

Hopefully, this get’s completed asap. Very important feature and one of the reasons why I let my subscription go. I do plan on renewing it in the near future though.

Will this be in the works soon? Can’t wait for this I need it for my app and doing it with api is very hard because I need 2 tables on the pdf.(customer info and invoice lines)

I could build a paid web service for this.
Steps you would take to use this :

  1. Setup an HTML template (load your own, or select one)
  2. Send your apikey + template id + data to fill, as a GET / POST custom action request to my service.
  3. My service returns the pdf download link.
    Anyone interested ? Reply to this comment

Dhaval Wathare: How would it work for multiple lines on a documents? Like an invoice. could the post request be able to handle this?

Dim: A post request by itself can definitely handle multiple records, provided adalo can compose it into one single JSON data. This would be the preferred way of running the service. But as of now I think thats a limitation to Adalo’s magic text (it doesn’t let you iterate). Let me know if you can think of a way to do it this way.
Meanwhile, a workaround is to use custom lists and countdown timers to iterate over line items and send multiple get/post requests with a common reference id.
This can be done.

Dhaval Wathare: So I was thinking every time we create an invoice line we could do an update request. I think this would be difficult to manage on your part though… There’s a risk that my update will only replace other invoice lines instead of adding them. Also the subtotal would need to be updated following that. Which would need another update request. All my invoices have and ID so it wouldn’t be hard to post info to the right invoice.

Dim: Invoice line items can also have their own id. The service can be intelligent enough to replace them when the id’s match, appending them otherwise. While the totals get recalculated on each update. Once you’re done, a request to finalise can be sent, which will then build the pdf and send back a download link.
My concern would be more on the economics. What kind of volume of invoicing are you looking at ? how frequently ?
Also, no one else has commented so far. So seems like there’s no demand for this.

Dhaval Wathare: Yeah I think people want an adalo component and not deal with setting up and API

Dim: Should be doable too. Same thing internally, except I abstract everything behind a component. End user only sees a button like (or wtev else) component to attach to a database collection + filtering options. Click the button, get the pdf
Still there needs to be some demand to invest time into this.

Dhaval Wathare: Hello, i need this ASAP, How can I contact you?

Carlos Argueta: Hi Carlos, there doesn’t seem to be much demand for this, so not pursuing it as a service. But if you still need a bespoke solution, please DM your requirements / usecase specifics to me on twitter (@DhavalW).

Dhaval Wathare: Hi Dhaval Wathare, I am interested in doing this for my application. I need help accomplishing this service. Can we talk?

I’ve developed PDF file generator component to generate PDF within Adalo App. No need to use external service for Generation of the PDF. You can find it in Adalo Marketplace.

Demo Video https://youtu.be/8lncArl2UT0

Demo Application PDF Generator & Previewer Demo App

It can be installed on Adalo Component Marketplace as well