PL_FPDF - PDF Generation for Oracle PL/SQL

Modern, high-performance PDF generation library for Oracle Database 19c/23c

PL_FPDF is a pure PL/SQL library for generating PDF documents directly from Oracle Database. Originally ported from FPDF PHP library (v1.53), it has been completely modernized for Oracle 19c/23c with native compilation, UTF-8 support, and advanced Oracle features.

Português (Brasil) | API Reference

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✨ Features

Core PDF Generation

• ✅ Multi-page documents with unlimited pages
• ✅ Text rendering with multiple fonts (Arial, Courier, Times, Helvetica)
• ✅ TrueType/OpenType fonts with full embedding support
• ✅ UTF-8 encoding for international characters
• ✅ Graphics primitives (lines, rectangles, circles, polygons)
• ✅ Image embedding (PNG, JPEG) with native parsing
• ✅ Text rotation (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°)
• ✅ Custom page formats (A3, A4, A5, Letter, Legal, custom sizes)

Modern Oracle Features

• ✅ Native compilation (2-3x performance improvement)
• ✅ CLOB buffers for unlimited document size
• ✅ JSON configuration (Oracle 19c+ JSON_OBJECT_T)
• ✅ Structured logging with DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO
• ✅ Custom exceptions with meaningful error codes
• ✅ Result cache for font metrics
• ✅ Zero external dependencies (no OWA, no OrdImage)

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📦 Installation

Quick Install

sqlplus user/password@database @deploy_all.sql

Manual Installation

-- 1. Install core package
@PL_FPDF.pks
@PL_FPDF.pkb

-- 2. Verify installation
SELECT object_name, object_type, status
FROM user_objects
WHERE object_name = 'PL_FPDF';

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🚀 Quick Start

Hello World

DECLARE
  l_pdf BLOB;
BEGIN
  -- Initialize PDF
  PL_FPDF.Init('P', 'mm', 'A4');

  -- Add page
  PL_FPDF.AddPage();

  -- Set font
  PL_FPDF.SetFont('Arial', 'B', 16);

  -- Add text
  PL_FPDF.Cell(0, 10, 'Hello World!');

  -- Generate PDF
  l_pdf := PL_FPDF.OutputBlob();

  -- Cleanup
  PL_FPDF.Reset();

  -- Save to file or send to client
  -- ... (see examples below)
END;
/

Save PDF to File

BEGIN
  PL_FPDF.Init();
  PL_FPDF.AddPage();
  PL_FPDF.SetFont('Arial', '', 12);
  PL_FPDF.Cell(0, 10, 'Sample PDF');

  -- Save to Oracle directory
  PL_FPDF.OutputFile('MY_DIRECTORY', 'sample.pdf');

  PL_FPDF.Reset();
END;
/

Multi-Page Document

DECLARE
  l_pdf BLOB;
BEGIN
  PL_FPDF.Init();
  PL_FPDF.SetFont('Arial', '', 12);

  -- Generate 100 pages
  FOR i IN 1..100 LOOP
    PL_FPDF.AddPage();
    PL_FPDF.Cell(0, 10, 'Page ' || i || ' of 100');
  END LOOP;

  l_pdf := PL_FPDF.OutputBlob();
  PL_FPDF.Reset();
END;
/

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📚 Documentation

Document	Description
README_PT_BR.md	Complete documentation in Portuguese
API_REFERENCE.md	Complete API reference with all functions

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🧪 Testing

Run All Tests

cd tests
sqlplus user/pass@db @run_all_tests.sql

Test Coverage

Module	Tests	Coverage
Initialization	43	>90%
Fonts	18	>85%
Images	14	>80%
Output	7	>90%
Performance	5	100%
Total	87	>82%

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⚡ Performance

Benchmarks (Oracle 19c, Native Compilation)

Operation	Time	Throughput
Init()	15-30ms	-
100-page document	1.2-1.8s	55-83 pages/sec
1000-page document	8-12s	83-125 pages/sec
OutputBlob (50 pages)	150-250ms	-

Optimization Tips

1. Enable native compilation (2-3x faster)

   @optimize_native_compile.sql

2. Reuse Init/Reset instead of creating new instances

   PL_FPDF.Init();
   -- Generate PDF #1
   PL_FPDF.Reset();
   PL_FPDF.Init();
   -- Generate PDF #2

3. Disable logging in production

   PL_FPDF.SetLogLevel(0);

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📋 Requirements

• Oracle Database 19c or higher (23c recommended)
• PL/SQL Developer or SQL*Plus
• Permissions: CREATE PROCEDURE, EXECUTE
• Optional: utPLSQL v3+ for running tests

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🏗️ Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            PL_FPDF (Core Package)           │
│  • PDF document generation                  │
│  • Text rendering and fonts                 │
│  • Image embedding (PNG, JPEG)              │
│  • Graphics primitives                      │
│  • UTF-8 support, TrueType fonts            │
│  • Multi-page documents                     │
│  • Generic QRCode/Barcode rendering         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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🤝 Contributing

This is a modernization project of the original PL_FPDF library. Contributions are welcome!

Original Authors

• FPDF (PHP): Olivier PLATHEY
• PL_FPDF (Oracle): Pierre-Gilles Levallois et al

Modernization Project

• Lead Developer: Maxwell da Silva Oliveira (@maxwbh)
• Company: M&S do Brasil LTDA
• Contact: maxwell@msbrasil.inf.br
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/maxwbh

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🔗 Links

• Original FPDF: http://www.fpdf.org/
• Original Repository: https://github.com/Pilooz/pl_fpdf

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📊 Project Status

✅ v2.0.0 Released - December 2025

Phase	Status	Completion
Phase 1: Critical Refactoring	✅ Complete	100%
Phase 2: Security & Robustness	✅ Complete	100%
Phase 3: Advanced Modernization	✅ Complete	100%

Modernization complete: 100%

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⭐ Star History

If you find this project useful, please give it a star on GitHub!

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Last Updated: December 19, 2025 Version: 2.0.0 Status: Production Ready ✅