Using the Zend_Pdf component of the Zend Framework Jani Hartikainen has created a simple way to make a PDF generator class that uses templates and content arrays/XML to create the new files.

There are some expensive libraries that you can use to generate PDF files...but why bother with them, when there are good free alternatives like Zend_Pdf? [...] Since this is a quite repetitive task, let's also create a PDF generator class to help us. In case you don't have Zend_Pdf, just download Zend Framework to get it.

He shows how to set it up to work with basic PHP arrays to pull the content from as well as an XML structure with the same sort of information. You can download his class here.

Logan Buesching has submitted a post about an extension he's created for the Zend_Pdf component of the Zend Framework to add one key feature - positioning.

Needless to say, I was quite disappointed when I came to find out that Zend_Pdf doesn't currently have any type of text layout support except for the exact position to place it. I created a small extension to Zend_Pdf, and building off of an idea from FPDF, I created Zend_Pdf_Cell.

His code is not officially included into the Framework, but has been posted for anyone to use if they might need it. It includes features like: the ability to create a cell and put text inside, position a cell, specify the height/width and format it with different fonts.

He also includes installation instructions (copy the file over, basically) and usage examples to get you started.

The Zend Developer Zone has posted a new tutorial from Alexander Veremyev as an introduction to the Zend_Pdf component for the Zend Framework.

The Zend_Pdf component of the Zend Framework is intended to allow you to create or manipulate PDF documents from within your applications. [...] In this tutorial my goal is to give you an overview of the capabilities of Zend_Pdf.

Alexander shows the process from start to finish - loading the module, creating a new document, working with text, creating images and shapes, styling, rotation and cropping.