Introduction:

When working with Laravel and generating PDFs using the popular package Barryvdh/laravel-dompdf, you may encounter challenges when including images. The asset function, commonly used to load assets in Laravel applications, may not work as expected in the context of PDF generation. In this article, we'll explore this issue and provide a solution for successfully including images in your PDFs.

The Problem:

Consider a scenario where you have a Laravel application and you're using Barryvdh/laravel-dompdf to generate PDFs. You want to include an image in your PDF, so you use the asset function to reference the image file within your blade view:

<img src="{{ asset('assets/images/tact-logo.png') }}" width="100px" alt="">

This seems like a straightforward approach, and it works perfectly when rendering HTML views in your web application. However, when generating a PDF using Barryvdh/laravel-dompdf, you might notice that the image fails to load.

The Explanation:

The reason behind this issue lies in how assets are typically handled in Laravel. The asset function is designed to generate URLs for assets in your web application, which works perfectly when rendering web pages. However, PDF generation with Barryvdh/laravel-dompdf operates in a different context and may not recognize or process these asset URLs as expected.

The Solution:

To overcome this issue and successfully include images in your PDFs generated with Barryvdh/laravel-dompdf, you need to use absolute paths instead of relying on the asset function. Here's how you can modify your image tag:

<img src="{{ public_path('assets/images/tact-logo.png') }}" width="100px" alt="">

In the code above, we're using the public_path function to generate an absolute file path to the image. This ensures that the image is correctly included in the PDF, regardless of the context in which it's generated.

Please make sure to provide the correct path to public_path, pointing to the location of your image file within the public directory of your Laravel project.

Conclusion:

While generating PDFs with Barryvdh/laravel-dompdf in Laravel, image loading issues can arise due to the different context of PDF generation. By using public_path to specify absolute file paths, you can ensure that images are included in your PDFs without any problems.

This solution allows you to harness the power of Laravel and Barryvdh/laravel-dompdf while seamlessly incorporating images into your PDF documents. Now you can confidently create PDFs that showcase your application's content, complete with images, logos, and graphics.