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Word Template Exporter

A Laravel package for exporting Word templates with placeholders as .docx or .pdf files. Placeholders (e.g. ${variable}, ${block}...${/block}) are filled with data from export classes, Eloquent models, or collections.

Repository: github.com/santwer/Exporter · Packagist: santwer/exporter · Documentation: santwerexporter.readthedocs.io

Features

  • Word template processing: Placeholders in Word templates are replaced with your data.
  • Export formats: .docx (Word) and .pdf (via LibreOffice).
  • Data sources: Export classes implementing concerns/interfaces, or Eloquent models with the Exportable trait.
  • Extended features: Charts, images, tables, checkboxes.
  • Relations: Automatic loading and processing of Eloquent relations based on template placeholders.
  • Security: Automatic XML escaping for all text values with UTF-8 support.

Tech Stack

  • PHPWord (phpoffice/phpword): Template processing and Word file generation.
  • LibreOffice: PDF conversion via the soffice command.
  • Laravel: Service provider, facades, Eloquent builder extensions, queue jobs.

Architecture

Data Flow

The export class (or Eloquent model) provides the template path and the data. The processor loads the template, fills an internal Exporter with that data, then runs PHPWord’s TemplateProcessor to produce the file.

Export class path (recommended):

Export class (wordTemplateFile() + concerns: values, items, charts, images, tables, …)
    │
    ▼
WordTemplateExporter::processFile($export)
    │  Resolves template path, creates Exporter(templatePath), fills it from export (setValues)
    ▼
Exporter (holds template path + values, blocks, charts, images, tables)
    │
    ▼
Exporter::getProcessedFile() / getProcessedConvertedFile()
    │  process() → TemplateProcessor (PHPWord) replaces placeholders, saveAs(.docx)
    ▼
.docx file
    │  If format is PDF:
    ▼
PDFExporter::docxToPdf() (LibreOffice soffice)
    │
    ▼
.pdf file

Model path (deprecated): Eloquent builder with Exportable → ModelProcessor builds data from the model → Exporter (same as above) → .docx or .pdf.

  1. Export class (or model) provides the template path and all data (tokens, blocks, charts, images, tables, checkboxes).
  2. WordTemplateExporter (or ModelProcessor) resolves the template file path, creates an Exporter instance with that path, and fills it from the export/model.
  3. Exporter holds the template path and data; when output is requested it runs process(), which uses TemplateProcessor (PHPWord) to replace placeholders and write the .docx.
  4. For PDF, PDFExporter converts the .docx to .pdf via LibreOffice.

Package Structure

Directory Purpose
Concerns/ Interfaces for export classes (FromWordTemplate, GlobalTokens, WithCharts, etc.)
Processor/ WordTemplateExporter, ModelProcessor, TemplateProcessor, Exporter, PDFExporter
Eloquent/ Builder extensions for models
Jobs/ Batch export and Word-to-PDF queue jobs
Facade/ WordExport facade
Traits/ Exportable trait for models
Commands/ make:word Artisan command

Usage Paths

  1. Export classes (recommended): Implement FromWordTemplate and optional concerns; use the WordExport facade.
  2. Exportable trait (deprecated): Use the trait on models and call ->template()->export() on the builder. See Exportable (Deprecated).

Start with Installation and Quick Start.

View on GitHub · Report issue · Install from Packagist