php2latex

This project is a simple PHP-based LaTeX compiler. It reads a LaTeX template file, allows the addition of content, and compiles the resulting LaTeX code into a PDF.

⚠️ Warning

don't use this script with user parameters as input variables.
SPECIFICALLY FOR THE NAME OF THE .tex FILE AND THE OUTPUT DIRECTORY BECAUSE IT IS PROBABLY INJECTABLE.
These 2 parameters are passed in a php shell_exec. On the other hand, there's no problem with addContents!

Installation

Ensure PHP is installed on your system. Ensure LaTeX is installed on your system (pdflatex command should be available). Then :

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/latex-compiler.git

Usage - example

Using template :

Locate the %begin-content and %end-content markers. This is where your additional LaTeX content will be automatically inserted.

You can customize the rest of the template file to your needs, such as adjusting the document class, adding packages, or including any preamble settings.

Structure :

php2latex/
├── output/ # Directory where PDFs will be saved
├── template.tex # Your LaTeX template file
├── php2latex.php # The PHP class file
└── index.php # Example usage file

Code :

require 'php2latex.php';

// Create an instance of the compiler (template path, output directory)
$compiler = new LatexCompiler("./template.tex", "./output");

// Add content to the LaTeX document (LaTeX code in string format)
$compiler->addContent("First line");
$compiler->addContent("\section{first section}");
$compiler->addContent("content");

// Compile the document to PDF
$pdfFile = $compiler->compileToPDF();

Troubleshooting

Pour débugger le LaTeX

echo $compiler->return;

Permissions:

Verify that the function compileToPDF has the necessary permissions to execute. This is particularly crucial when running under Apache, as the web server must have the appropriate permissions to run external commands.

Ensure that Apache has write permissions to the current directory and the output directory. Without these permissions, the script will not be able to create temporary files or move the generated PDF.