Generate PDF with Swift

Here is my approach. Use a template view. It has all the static texts and images. And then for every page in pdf use this template view. Here is the function that I use:

func renderAsPDF(demandEntry: ParsedDemandEntry, inView view: UIView) -> NSData? {    let entries = demandEntry.demands    let pageCount = Int(ceil(Double(entries.count) / Double(demandCountForPage)))    if pageCount != 0 {        let views = (1...pageCount).map { (pageNumber: Int) -> UIView in            let pdfPageView = createTemplatePageViewWithParsedEntry(demandEntry, inView: view)            let pageRange = ((pageNumber - 1) * demandCountForPage)..<(min(pageNumber * demandCountForPage, entries.count))            let entriesForPage = Array(entries[pageRange])            addEntries(entriesForPage, toView: pdfPageView)            pdfPageView.removeFromSuperview()            return pdfPageView        }        return toPDF(views)    } else {        return nil    }}

The ParsedDemandEntry is my model object. The view parameter is a container view to prepare pdf view in it. This is necessary because I use auto layout to position all labels in pdf view. Without a super view layout process won't work.

Let's walk into function. First I get entries from model object. Think these are rows that needs to populate in pdf. After that I calculate how many pages I need. Then the loop begins. In every loop I create a tamplate view. (pdfPageView). And then fill it with entries. (addEntries(_:toView:) function call).

After the loop I give all views to toPDF function. It creates NSData that represents pdf. Here is how toPDF function look like:

private func toPDF(views: [UIView]) -> NSData? {    if views.isEmpty {        return nil    }    let pdfData = NSMutableData()    UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToData(pdfData, CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 612, height: 792), nil)    let context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()    for view in views {        UIGraphicsBeginPDFPage()        view.layer.renderInContext(context)    }    UIGraphicsEndPDFContext()    return pdfData}

It is fairly simple. First I create pdf context. And then loop through views array. For each view It renders view into pdf context.

I hope this will help.