is there a way to use this as a vendor in my cakephp?

[simkimsia]

Hi there,

I am having some problems using exec to call the unoconv. Even though I have no problems running it as www-data in my terminal.

So I am interested to implement your library.

Can you give some documentations as to how to use this in a cakephp app? Or even a pure php script?

Thank you.

[romainneutron]

Hello,

as mentioned in the README, there is one method to use Unoconv Unoconv\Unoconv::transcode :

// $logger is a Monolog\Logger instance
$unoconv = Unoconv\Unoconv::create($logger);
$unoconv->transcode('document.docx', 'pdf', 'document.pdf');

So, to use unoconv in your project, the easiest is to install it through composer, I've added a doc that was missing about this in the README :

{
    "require": {
        "php-unoconv/php-unoconv": "~0.2"
    }
}

You do not have to use exec as the underlying process is handled in library itself.

If you want to generate jpegs from office document, consider transcode the office doc to PDF first, then render the PDF to jpeg using Ghostscript-PHP.

Hope that helped !

[simkimsia]

Sadly, it did not work for me.

I got the following.

Any suggestions?

[romainneutron]

It seems Unoconv is not detected. Can you provide the snippet of code where you invoke unoconv ?

[simkimsia]

It says line 91 of your Unoconv.php was unable to detect unoconv.

My php code to call your Unoconv/Unoconv was

 public function convertExcel() {
    $unoconv = Unoconv\Unoconv::create();
    $folderPath = $this->outputFilesPath . 'Excel' . DS . $this->quotation['id'] . DS;
    $inputFilePath =  $folderPath . $this->quotation['name'] . '.xlsx';
    $outputFilePath = $folderPath . $this->quotation['name'] . '.pdf';
    return $unoconv->transcode($inputFilePath, 'pdf', $outputFilePath);
}

[romainneutron]

Actually, the unoconv detection does not work, you can specify the binary you want to use with this :

$unoconv = Unoconv\Unoconv::load('/path/to/your/unoconv-binary');

instead of

$unoconv = Unoconv\Unoconv::create();

[simkimsia]

I now get a Unoconv failed to transcode file.

How do I troubleshoot this?

By the way, my code now is:

public function convertExcel() {

    $unoconv = Unoconv\Unoconv::load('/usr/bin/unoconv');
    $folderPath = $this->outputFilesPath . 'Excel' . DS . $this->quotation['id'] . DS;
    $inputFilePath =  $folderPath . $this->quotation['name'] . '.xlsx';
    $outputFilePath = $folderPath . $this->quotation['name'] . '.pdf';
    return $unoconv->transcode($inputFilePath, 'pdf', $outputFilePath);
}

[romainneutron]

The best way to debug is to add a logger :

    $logger = new Monolog\Logger('unoconv');
    $logger->pushHandler(new Monolog\Handler\StreamHandler('php://stdout'));
    $unoconv = Unoconv\Unoconv::load('/usr/bin/unoconv');

you will have an output of what's executed.

[simkimsia]

I tried that. I cannot find the output anywhere.

I also changed php://stdout to a log file, but nothing got written into the log file.

[romainneutron]

You have to provide code / stacktrace so I can help you

[simkimsia]

I realized why.

I needed to change your code to

$logger = new Monolog\Logger('unoconv');
$logger->pushHandler(new Monolog\Handler\StreamHandler('php://stdout'));
$unoconv = Unoconv\Unoconv::load('/usr/bin/unoconv', **$logger**);

Anyway, my output is:

[2013-05-31 08:26:52] unoconv.INFO: Unoconv running command '/usr/bin/unoconv' '--format=pdf' '--stdout' '/var/virtual/storyzer.com/cake-json/ltequotationapp/webroot/outputfiles/Excel/1/Quotation 1.xlsx' [] [] [2013-05-31 08:26:52] unoconv.ERROR: Unoconv failed to execute command '/usr/bin/unoconv' '--format=pdf' '--stdout' '/var/virtual/storyzer.com/cake-json/ltequotationapp/webroot/outputfiles/Excel/1/Quotation 1.xlsx' [] []

In case, it has to do with the extra space in the filename. I tried the following file dsadas.xlsx as well. I got the following.

[2013-05-31 08:29:00] unoconv.INFO: Unoconv running command '/usr/bin/unoconv' '--format=pdf' '--stdout' '/var/virtual/storyzer.com/cake-json/ltequotationapp/webroot/outputfiles/Excel/2/dsadas.xlsx' [] [] [2013-05-31 08:29:00] unoconv.ERROR: Unoconv failed to execute command '/usr/bin/unoconv' '--format=pdf' '--stdout' '/var/virtual/storyzer.com/cake-json/ltequotationapp/webroot/outputfiles/Excel/2/dsadas.xlsx' [] []

[romainneutron]

It's either a $_ENV issue (missing paths) or an unoconv issue

[romainneutron]

I'd rather think it's a path issue

[simkimsia]

Hi @romainneutron ,

what do I do to resolve this $_ENV issue?

I have tried to run the same command while in terminal, and it worked.

[romainneutron]

Are you using nginx ?

[romainneutron]

I mean, are you using php-fpm ?

[simkimsia]

Yes I am using php-fpm AND nginx.

How did you know that?

[simkimsia]

Hi @romainneutron

I have logged into terminal as www-data and echo'd the $PATH.

I then subsequently copied the values and wrote a putenv('PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/opt/node/bin'); just before I ran the unoconv->transcode

It works now.

I have no idea why this is the case.

In addition, I am using nginx and php-fpm. I wonder if this has anything to do to affect this behavior?

[romainneutron]

Nginx does not include path environment variable by default. You have to modify your Nginx fastcgi_params config file like :

fastcgi_param    PATH    /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/opt/node/bin

then you can remove the PHP putenv call.

[romainneutron]

I've added a binary detection troubleshooting here : https://github.com/alchemy-fr/BinaryDriver/blob/master/README.md#binary-detection-troubleshooting

[simkimsia]

@romainneutron between adding the putenv into my php script and modifying the Nginx config file which is more ideal?

[simkimsia]

By the way, the reason i found out about the PATH issue was because I executed unoconv without using php-unoconv and then i ran this instruction.

https://github.com/dagwieers/unoconv/issues/87#issuecomment-18800070

This allowed me to output to a output.txt file.

This was really helpful as it helped me to realise the issue was the PATH.

Is there a way your code can similarly produce the same debug statement somehow?

Either like a output.txt or as a log using Monolog.

[romainneutron]

There is only one method in PHP-Unoconv : \Unoconv\Unoconv::transcode.

[srraul94]

Nginx does not include path environment variable by default. You have to modify your Nginx fastcgi_params config file like :

fastcgi_param    PATH    /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/opt/node/bin

then you can remove the PHP putenv call.

This fixed the problem with unoconv on Apple Silicon (M1/M2) and Laravel Valet. Is important add the hombrew path (export PATH=/opt/homebrew/bin:$PATH)