How To Add Digital Signature In PDF In Laravel 9

WebSolutionStuff | Dec-21-2022 | Categories : Laravel PHP

In this article, we will see how to add a digital signature in pdf in laravel 9. Here, we will learn to add a digital signature certificate in pdf in laravel 8 and laravel 9. We will use elibyy/tcpdf-laravel package.

TCPDF is an open-source PHP library and the only PHP-based library that includes complete support for UTF-8 Unicode and right-to-left languages, including the bidirectional algorithm. Also, TCPDF is not supported in PHP 7.

So, let's see laravel 9 add a digital signature in pdf, add a digital signature to the pdf file, and add a digital signature certificate in pdf in laravel 7/8/9.

Step 1: Install Laravel 9

Step 2: Install TCPDF Package

Step 3: Configure TCPDF Package

Step 4: Add Routes

Step 5: Create Controller

Step 6: Create Blade File

Step 1: Install Laravel 9

In this step, we will install laravel 9 using the following command.

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel laravel9_digital_signature

Step 2: Install TCPDF Package

The Laravel TCPDF service provider can be installed via composer by requiring the elibyy/tcpdf-laravel package in your project's composer.json. So, run the following command in the terminal.

composer require elibyy/tcpdf-laravel

Read Also: How To Merge Two PDF Files In Laravel 9

Step 3: Configure TCPDF Package

If you are using a lower version of laravel like 5.5+ then need to add providers and aliases to the config.php file.

'providers' => [
    //...
    Elibyy\TCPDF\ServiceProvider::class,
]

//...

'aliases' => [
    //...
    'PDF' => Elibyy\TCPDF\Facades\TCPDF::class
]

Step 4: Add Routes

Now, we will add routes to the web.php file.

routes/web.php

<?php

use App\Http\Controllers\PDFController;

Route::get('/create/pdf', [PDFController::class, 'createPDF'])->name('createPDF');

Step 5: Create Controller

In this step, we will create a PDFController file using the following command.

php artisan make:controller PDFController

app/Http/Controllers/PDFController.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use PDF;

class PDFController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Where to redirect users after login.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public function createPDF(Request $request)
    {
        // set certificate file
        $certificate = 'file://'.base_path().'/public/tcpdf.crt';

        // set additional information in the signature
        $info = array(
            'Name' => 'Websolutionstuff',
            'Location' => 'Office',
            'Reason' => 'Websolutionstuff',
            'ContactInfo' => 'http://www.websolutionstuff.com',
        );

        // set document signature
        PDF::setSignature($certificate, $certificate, 'tcpdfdemo', '', 2, $info);
        
        PDF::SetFont('helvetica', '', 12);
        PDF::SetTitle('Websolutionstuff');
        PDF::AddPage();

        // print a line of text
        $text = view('tcpdf');

        // add view content
        PDF::writeHTML($text, true, 0, true, 0);

        // add image for signature
        PDF::Image('tcpdf.png', 180, 60, 15, 15, 'PNG');
        
        // define active area for signature appearance
        PDF::setSignatureAppearance(180, 60, 15, 15);
        
        // save pdf file
        PDF::Output(public_path('hello_world.pdf'), 'F');

        PDF::reset();

        dd('pdf created');
    }
}

Note: check certificate location variable is prefixed 'file://'. otherwise, it will return the below error.

openssl_pkcs7_sign(): error getting cert

Read Also: Laravel 9 Generate PDF File Using DomPDF

Step 6: Create Blade File

In this step, we will create a tcpdf.blade.php file. So, add the following code to that file.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
    <title>How To Add Digital Signature In PDF In Laravel 9</title>
</head>
<body>
    <p>
        This is a <b color="#FF0000">digitally signed document</b> using the default (example) <b>tcpdf.crt</b> certificate.<br />To validate this signature you have to load the <b color="#006600">tcpdf.fdf</b> on the Acrobat Reader to add the certificate to <i>List of Trusted Identities</i>.<br /><br />For more information check the source code of this example and the source code documentation for the <i>setSignature()</i> method.<br /><br />
    </p>    
    <a href="http://www.tcpdf.org">www.tcpdf.org</a>
</body>
</html>

Now, we will run the laravel 9 add a digital signature certificate in the PDF application using the following command.