simple_pdf_generator 0.2.1

A lightweight Flutter package to generate PDFs from structured data.

simple_pdf_generator

A lightweight Flutter package for generating PDFs from structured data with minimal boilerplate.

Overview

Building PDFs in Flutter often means a lot of repetitive layout code: tables, alignment, row formatting, headers, and footers. This package focuses on that workflow so you can pass structured data (for example maps or API models) and get a usable PDF with a small, readable API.

What it helps with

• Less repetitive PDF layout code
• Tables built from lists and optional column mapping
• Consistent header and footer blocks
• Faster reporting, billing, and export features

Features

• Simple SimplePdf.generate API
• Multiple tables in a single PDF (tables: List<PdfTable>)
• Tables from structured data with optional mapper for dynamic or nested sources
• Per-table summary sections (summaryHeaders + summaryData)
• Per-table styling:
  • Table header styling (PdfTableHeaderStyle)
  • Table cell styling (PdfTableCellStyle)
  • Summary styling (PdfSummaryStyle)
• Multilingual table text support (Unicode) with the package theme font
• Table body cells can mix text and images (PdfTableCell, or shorthand String / Uint8List in row maps)
• Configurable header (title, subtitle, extra) and optional footer
• Small surface area and a thin dependency on pdf

Installation

Add simple_pdf_generator to your pubspec.yaml.

From pub.dev:

dependencies:
  simple_pdf_generator: ^0.2.0

Run flutter pub get.

Usage

Import the library:

import 'package:simple_pdf_generator/simple_pdf_generator.dart';

Basic example

When your rows are already maps whose keys match the column headers:

final pdf = await SimplePdf.generate(
  header: PdfHeader(
    title: 'My Organization',
    subtitle: 'Summary Report',
    extra: '01/01/2026 – 10/01/2026',
  ),
  tables: [
    PdfTable(
      headers: ['Name', 'Age'],
      data: [
        {'Name': 'John', 'Age': 28},
        {'Name': 'Alice', 'Age': 24},
      ],
    ),
  ],
  footer: PdfFooter(text: 'Generated by simple_pdf_generator'),
);

Multilingual text + image cells in tables

Tables are now designed for mixed content:

• String / PdfTableCell.text(...) for normal Unicode text (multilingual)
• PdfTableCell.image(...) or raw Uint8List for image cells in any column

Recommended canonical form: use PdfTableCell so each column’s intent is clear.

• Text (Unicode / multilingual): PdfTableCell.text('...') or a plain String. Text uses the same document theme as today (bundled Noto by default), so multilingual content renders as normal text in tables.
• Images: PdfTableCell.image(uint8List, maxWidth: …, maxHeight: …, fit: …). Omitting maxWidth / maxHeight applies defaults of 40×40 PDF points so rows stay compact. fit is a Flutter BoxFit and is mapped to the pdf layout engine (default contain).
• Shorthand: a raw Uint8List in the row map is treated as image bytes with those same default bounds.

Example with mixed columns (Label, Photo, Amount):

final logoPng = await File('logo.png').readAsBytes();

final pdf = await SimplePdf.generate(
  header: PdfHeader(title: 'Report'),
  tables: [
    PdfTable(
      headers: ['Label', 'Photo', 'Amount'],
      data: [
        {
          'Label': 'Line item',
          'Photo': PdfTableCell.image(logoPng, maxWidth: 32, maxHeight: 32),
          'Amount': r'$10.00',
        },
        {
          'Label': 'Another row',
          'Photo': logoPng, // same as image cell with default 40×40 max size
          'Amount': '5.00',
        },
      ],
    ),
  ],
);

String-only tables are unchanged and still use the existing fast text-table path.

In short: existing string tables keep working without changes, and now the same table can also include image cells when needed.

Using a mapper

Use mapper when your source data does not match header names (for example API or database records):

final pdf = await SimplePdf.generate(
  header: PdfHeader(title: 'Report'),
  tables: [
    PdfTable(
      headers: ['Date', 'Amount'],
      data: apiResponse,
      mapper: (item) => {
        'Date': item['date'].toString(),
        'Amount': item['amount'].toString(),
      },
    ),
  ],
);

Multiple tables + per-table summary

final pdf = await SimplePdf.generate(
  header: PdfHeader(title: 'Daily Report'),
  tables: [
    PdfTable(
      headers: ['Date', 'Qty'],
      data: dailyRows,
    ),
    PdfTable(
      headers: ['Item', 'Amount'],
      data: billingRows,
      summaryHeaders: const ['Label', 'Value'],
      summaryData: const [
        ['Subtotal', '4500'],
        ['Tax', '225'],
        ['Total', '4725'],
      ],
    ),
  ],
);

Multi-table report example (with per-table summaries)

final pdf = await SimplePdf.generate(
  header: PdfHeader(
    title: 'Springfield School',
    subtitle: 'Students Report',
    extra: 'Term 1 - 2026',
  ),
  tables: [
    PdfTable(
      headers: ['Student', 'Math', 'Science', 'English', 'Total'],
      data: marksRows,
      summaryHeaders: const ['Metric', 'Value'],
      summaryData: const [
        ['Students', '2'],
        ['Avg Math', '86.5'],
        ['Avg Science', '80.0'],
        ['Avg English', '83.5'],
        ['Avg Total / Student', '250.0'],
      ],
    ),
    PdfTable(
      headers: ['Student', 'Present', 'Total Days', 'Attendance %'],
      data: attendanceRows,
      summaryHeaders: const ['Metric', 'Value'],
      summaryData: const [
        ['Students', '2'],
        ['Total Present Days', '82'],
        ['Total School Days', '90'],
        ['Overall Attendance %', '91.1%'],
      ],
    ),
  ],
  footer: PdfFooter(text: 'Generated by simple_pdf_generator'),
);

Styling (header, cells, and summary)

final pdf = await SimplePdf.generate(
  header: PdfHeader(title: 'Styled Report'),
  tables: [
    PdfTable(
      headers: ['A', 'B'],
      data: rows,
      headerStyle: const PdfTableHeaderStyle(
        backgroundColor: SimplePdfColor.blue100,
        textColor: SimplePdfColor.blue900,
      ),
      cellStyle: const PdfTableCellStyle(
        fontSize: 12,
        textColor: SimplePdfColor.grey900,
        fontFamily: PdfFontFamily.poppins,
      ),
      summaryHeaders: const ['Label', 'Value'],
      summaryData: const [
        ['Total', '5000'],
        ['Tax', '250'],
      ],
      summaryStyle: const PdfSummaryStyle(
        headerStyle: PdfSummaryHeaderStyle(
          backgroundColor: SimplePdfColor.grey100,
          textColor: SimplePdfColor.grey700,
        ),
        cellStyle: PdfSummaryCellStyle(
          labelColor: SimplePdfColor.grey800,
          valueColor: SimplePdfColor.blue900,
        ),
        backgroundColor: SimplePdfColor.grey50,
        fontFamily: PdfFontFamily.lato,
      ),
    ),
  ],
);

generate returns a Document from the pdf package. Persist it with save():

import 'dart:io';

// ...

final bytes = await pdf.save();
final file = File('${directory.path}/report.pdf');
await file.writeAsBytes(bytes);

To open the file on device, you can use packages such as path_provider and open_file_safe. See the example/ app in this repository for a full flow.

Example output

The following sample was generated with the example app: header, tabular data (with a mapper), and footer.

Multi-table example with per-table summaries:

Multilingual table example (Unicode text in table cells):

More features are on the way—see Roadmap for planned work.

API summary

Type	Role
SimplePdf	generate(...) builds the PDF document
PdfHeader	title (required), optional subtitle, extra
PdfTable	headers, data, optional mapper, optional per-table summary + styling
PdfTableCell	text or image cell for mixed text/PNG (or String / Uint8List in maps)
PdfFooter	Optional text

Roadmap

• Multiple templates (invoice, receipt, and similar)
• Sorting and richer formatting
• Multi-language support
• More layout options (alignment, spacing, section layouts)

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.