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PDF Export

PRO
Pro preview

This feature is part of FD Components Pro, which is documented as a preview and is not publicly available yet. See Editions and Availability.

FDC Pro includes a dependency-free PDF table writer that produces binary PDF bytes directly from the FDC export pipeline.

Register Pro export formats​

Initialize Pro integrations once:

void main() {
  FdcPro.ensureInitialized();
  runApp(const App());
}

FdcPro.ensureInitialized() registers the PDF and Excel writers and is safe to call more than once.

Basic PDF export​

final result = await FdcExporter.exportDataSet(
  orders,
  format: FdcPdfExportFormat.pdf,
  options: FdcExportOptions(
    scope: FdcExportScope.currentView,
  ),
  suggestedFileName: 'orders.pdf',
);

final pdfBytes = result.bytes;

PDF is a binary format, so result.textOrNull is null and result.text throws. Use result.bytes.

Document and table options​

PDF-specific behavior is configured through FdcPdfExportOptions:

final result = await FdcExporter.exportDataSet(
  orders,
  format: FdcPdfExportFormat.pdf,
  writerOptions: const FdcPdfExportOptions(
    pageSize: FdcPdfPageSize.a4,
    orientation: FdcPdfOrientation.landscape,
    margins: FdcPdfMargins.all(24),
    minColumnWidth: 36,
    maxColumnWidth: 160,
    wrapText: true,
    maxCellLines: 3,
  ),
);

Supported page sizes are A4 and US Letter. Both portrait and landscape orientation are available.

FdcPdfExportOptions(
  header: const FdcPdfHeader(
    title: 'Order Report',
    subtitle: 'Current filtered view',
    alignment: FdcPdfTitleAlignment.left,
    repeatOnEveryPage: true,
  ),
)

The header supports:

  • title and optional subtitle,
  • left, center, or right alignment,
  • independent title/subtitle font sizes and colors,
  • spacing controls,
  • optional repetition on every page.

Footer and page numbers​

FdcPdfExportOptions(
  footer: const FdcPdfFooter(
    text: 'FD Components reporting sample',
    showPageNumbers: true,
    pageNumberFormat: 'Page {page} of {totalPages}',
  ),
)

Footer text and page numbers have independent alignment settings. The page-number template recognizes {page} and {totalPages}.

Column widths​

The writer can size columns automatically within minimum and maximum limits:

FdcPdfExportOptions(
  minColumnWidth: 32,
  maxColumnWidth: 180,
)

Override selected columns by export key or field name:

FdcPdfExportOptions(
  columnWidths: {
    'order_no': 72,
    'customer_name': 160,
    'total': 70,
  },
)

Resolution checks FdcExportColumn.key first and then fieldName.

Text wrapping​

FdcPdfExportOptions(
  wrapText: true,
  maxCellLines: 4,
)

Wrapping is opt-in. maxCellLines bounds row growth for long cell content.

PDF style​

Visual presentation is separate from document behavior:

const reportStyle = FdcPdfExportStyle(
  fontSize: 9,
  cellHorizontalPadding: 6,
  cellVerticalPadding: 5,
  showGrid: true,
  outerBorderWidth: 0.5,
  innerBorderWidth: 0.2,
);

FdcPdfExportStyle controls:

  • optional TrueType font,
  • table font size,
  • cell padding,
  • header and row text colors,
  • header background,
  • normal and alternating row backgrounds,
  • grid visibility and color,
  • outer and inner border widths.

Style precedence​

PDF style resolution follows this order:

FdcPdfExportOptions.style
→ FdcExportStyle resolved for PDF
→ built-in FdcPdfExportStyle defaults

For grid-triggered exports, the grid passes the nearest FdcApp.exportStyle into the export pipeline.

Application-level default:

FdcApp(
  exportStyle: FdcExportStyle(
    pdf: const FdcPdfExportStyle(
      fontSize: 9,
      showGrid: false,
    ),
  ),
  child: const ReportsPage(),
)

Per-export override:

FdcPdfExportOptions(
  style: const FdcPdfExportStyle(
    fontSize: 8,
    showGrid: true,
  ),
)

The per-export style wins.

Custom TrueType font​

const style = FdcPdfExportStyle(
  font: FdcPdfFont.fromAsset(
    'assets/fonts/Inter-Regular.ttf',
  ),
);

The font must be available through the Flutter asset bundle. Package-provided assets can specify the package name:

FdcPdfFont.fromAsset(
  'assets/fonts/Report.ttf',
  package: 'my_report_package',
)

Without a custom font, the writer uses PDF's built-in Helvetica font.

Grid-visible formatting​

When PDF export originates from a grid in visibleColumns mode, the grid supplies:

  • visible runtime column order,
  • labels,
  • display value formatters,
  • text alignment hints.

This allows the PDF writer to preserve presentation-oriented values more closely than a plain dataset-field export.

Grid toolbar configuration​

FdcGridExportButton(
  visible: true,
  formats: const [
    FdcExportFormat.csv,
    FdcPdfExportFormat.pdf,
  ],
  writerOptions: const {
    FdcPdfExportFormat.pdf: FdcPdfExportOptions(
      header: FdcPdfHeader(title: 'Orders'),
      orientation: FdcPdfOrientation.landscape,
      footer: FdcPdfFooter(
        showPageNumbers: true,
      ),
    ),
  },
  onExport: handleExport,
)