Laravel routing: How to create a link to a PDF file

Question

I need to generate PDF documents and have them send by email as well as make them reachable by a link. Sending by email is OK, but I have no idea how to create the link.

Since I use Laravel 4, all links are going through routes.php. So how do I create a link to a file at a given directory?

<a href="http://my.domain.org/assets/pdf/file.pdf">Link</a>

will not work, since the route is not known by laravel...

I have answer for you [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18412680/jquery-mobile-links-and-radio-buttons-in-accordion-not-working/18412960#18412960) this how do this — ShapCyber, Sep 05 '13 at 15:47
If you put your PDF file in your public directory you can create a direct link, did you tried it? — Rubens Mariuzzo, Sep 05 '13 at 15:50

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 05 '13 at 20:22

10

To generate a link to a physical file or directory, that you don't want to run through Laravel's application (e.g. through index.php), use URL::asset().

URL::asset('assets/pdf/file.pdf');

This assumes you've created a physical PDF file on your server that you want to link to. If your PDF file is dynamic and generated/retrieved through your Laravel application, you should use URL::to(), URL::route(), or similar.

answered Sep 05 '13 at 20:22

Aken Roberts

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how can i do it in laravel-5.3 – Mutasim Fuad Mar 09 '17 at 20:08
Aken is correct. You just need to wrap his response in an a tag: ```Click Here To Go To PDF``` This is the simplest way to display a pdf. – Robert Yeomans Jan 21 '23 at 08:41

Antonio Carlos Ribeiro · Answer 2 · 2013-09-05T16:26:17.973

5

Martin Tale is right, but this is another way of accomplishing the same using Laravel's Blade:

{{ link_to('/assets/pdf/file.pdf', 'Link') }}

edited Sep 05 '13 at 16:26

answered Sep 05 '13 at 16:20

Antonio Carlos Ribeiro

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 05 '13 at 15:52

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Create that PDF somewhere in public directory and then create a link to that file like this:

URL::to('path/to/public/directory/file.pdf')

answered Sep 05 '13 at 15:52

Martin Tale

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OK, this brings up an "Class 'URL' not found" error - probably, because my test.php is not using laravel but is stored within the public directory of a laravel app... – user2746374 Sep 05 '13 at 16:20
tried that but I dont know why it gets downloaded automatically – Jaime Sangcap Mar 22 '14 at 07:16

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 05 '13 at 16:27

if you are using laravel 4's MAIL feature you can add this to it

$message->attach($pathToFile);

but the .pdf in your public directory under a pdf folder and that will make it:

$message->attach('pdf/mypdffile.pdf');

the same can be for a link which you can add to the email

{{ URL::to('pdf/mypdffile.pdf') }}

You shouldn't need a route to create a link it can be done by blade.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 20 '18 at 09:39

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Another way, in a view:

<a href="{{ asset('/your_pdf_file.pdf') }}">some text</a>

This link will go to public folder.

answered Aug 20 '18 at 09:39

entoniperez

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Laravel routing: How to create a link to a PDF file

5 Answers5