PHP - Create Pdf/x1a Documents In Php

Hi,  There is this project 'District Collector Office-Information integration' that computerizes the citizen facility center. In the system citizens can apply for birth certificates,marriage certificate  , obtain ration cards among other functionalists online.so far my system can generate birth and marriage certificates but i totally have no idea on how to validate  the same.at what conditions is one illegible to obtain a marriage cert?,supposing one has more than one wife?,what limits one from applying for more than one document? when is one illegible to obtain a birth cert.? conditions limiting application of more than one birth cert ?
Thanx.
Regards cornelius

is there a way I can make something like a ticket in pdf format that can have $name or the likes echo in it?  if you could help get me started, that would be great!

Hi,

I've been looking around the net and various forums and found that the code below does appear to work and do what I need at a basic level, but I was wondering if there was a quick and easy way to improve this code OR another alternative that would give me similar/better results.

I effectively have certain word documents that I want to use as templates for part of a project. So if i were to write a letter I could pull from the DB usual name/address, but also other intelligent information that might be dependant on different DB fields so it could generate different options, ie if they had children it would produce a different sentence??

Obviously my ideal solution would be that the php coding wouldnt need to be touched, but would allow for 'coded options' within the document to be added/removed without causing any issues, maybe some kind of generic coding so at least some content can be re-used for multiple documents ?

However, I did have two initial thoughts on how to do some of this - maybe? (be gentle im still a learner!)

1, create an array of somekind and use generic terms for a set range, say 'bookmark1','bookmark2', etc so a user could just tag the original word document knowing they only had to add a new number to the end if they needed to add something new ?
2,read the document contents out -DO STUFF TO IT- load it back into a doc/save. with this method I will have to admit ive not done before so would welcome any extra detailed input or advisory suggestions, ie. ensuring it goes back into the correct format, say there was an image/logo or complicated series or bulleted paragraghs or tables ??

I have initially choosen MS word as many people out there are familiar with this product and is widely used. However, if it means I am able to create something easily and better within some other format or package that will give me what I want but also be compatible with word then im more than happy to go with any suggestions (ie templates initially created within openoffice and merely saved into .DOC format?)

<?php
//1. Instanciate Word
$word = new COM("word.application") or die("Unable to instantiate Word");
//2. specify the MS Word template document (with Bookmark TODAYDATE inside)
$template_file = "C:/t.doc";
//3. open the template document
$word->Documents->Open($template_file);
//4. get the current date MM/DD/YYYY
$current_date = date("m/d/Y");
//5. get the bookmark and create a new MS Word Range (to enable text substitution)
$bookmarkname = "mytester";
$objBookmark = $word->ActiveDocument->Bookmarks($bookmarkname);
$range = $objBookmark->Range;
//6. now substitute the bookmark with actual value
$range->Text = $current_date;
//7. save the template as a new document (c:/reminder_new.doc)
$new_file = "c:/reminder_new.doc";
$word->Documents[1]->SaveAs($new_file);
//8. free the object
$word->Quit();
//$word->Release();
$word = null;
?>

I am trying to write to a document that is open doc format.

Are there any libraries that help out with this specifically mailing labels?