Using Dompdf to view .pdf from CakePHP 2 page - cakephp

Question

I have just downloaded dompdf-0.6.1 and want to use it in my CakePHP 2.0.5 application.
I have included Router::parseExtensions('json', 'pdf'); in routes.php and created a default.ctp in app -> View -> Layouts.
<?php
require_once(APP . 'Vendor' . DS . 'dompdf' . DS . 'dompdf_config.inc.php');
spl_autoload_register('DOMPDF_autoload');
$dompdf = new DOMPDF();
$dompdf->set_paper = 'A4';
$dompdf->load_html(utf8_decode($content_for_layout), Configure::read('App.encoding'));
$dompdf->render();
echo $dompdf->output();
I want to allow a user to view an income statement as a .pdf file - which can be printed. The income statement takes the parameters of startDate and endDate for generation.
The file below is the income_statement.ctp. What do I need to do in order to allow a user to view the statement as .pdf by pressing on a link on the browser page?
.......some code......
<div style="text-align: center">
<h1><?php echo $this->Session->read("Business.name"); ?><br>Income Statement</h1>
<h3>
For period starting <?php echo $startDate; ?> to <?php echo $endDate; ?>
</h3>
<table align="center" width="400px;">
<tr>
<th style="text-align: left;" colspan="2">Revenue</td>
</tr>
........code.........
<td style="text-align: left;">
<?php
$space = " ";
for ($i = 0; $i < 12; $i++)
echo $space;
?>
<b>Total Operating Expenses</b>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><b><?php echo number_format($totalExpenses + $saleDiscount, 2); ?></b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th style="text-align: right"><?php echo $totalDescription; ?></th>
<th style="text-align: right"><?php echo number_format($net, 2); ?></th>
</tr>
</table>
....Link for view as pdf.....
</div>

Answer 1

You can either save the pdfs as actual files and then link to them (link to site.com/pdf/filename.pdf):
public function action() {
$view = new View(null, false);
$view->set(compact('variable1', 'variable2'));
$view->viewPath = 'Folder';
$output = $view->render('income_statement', 'layout');
spl_autoload_register('DOMPDF_autoload');
$dompdf = new DOMPDF();
$dompdf->set_paper = 'A4';
$dompdf->load_html(utf8_decode($output), Configure::read('App.encoding'));
$dompdf->render();
file_put_contents(APP . 'webroot' . DS . 'pdf' . DS .'filename.pdf');
}
Or, you can just echo what $dompdf returns from the render, and just change your page's headers (link to site.com/controller/action.pdf):
public function action() {
$this->layout = $this->autoRender = false;
$this->response->header(array('Content-type' => 'application/pdf'));
//Code for generating pdf data similar to above
echo $dompdf->render();
}