Send tcpdf as attachment using phpmailer - phpmailer

Question

I can generate a pdf to view and to download easily. I am trying to send an email with the pdf attached. I have browsed google for hours and hours for several days and nothing gets me any closer than this link, sending an email attachment using TCPDF . I am getting the same issue the asker had on the linked question. the email sends with the attachment just fine but the pdf is empty and "appears corrupted" according to adobe.
The consensus seems to be that phpmailer is the best way to go so I have installed phpmailer and I have the following code. Now I get this error, Fatal error: Call to a member function Output() on a non-object on line 122. If anyone can please help I would appreciate it!
<?php
include ('../../include/connect.php');
$action=$_GET['a'];
/*----------*/
// Include the main TCPDF library (search for installation path).
require_once('tcpdf_include.php');
// Extend the TCPDF class to create custom Header and Footer
class MYPDF extends TCPDF {
//Page header
public function Header() {
// Logo
//$image_file = K_PATH_IMAGES.'name_bar.gif';
//$this->Image($image_file, 30, 5, 150, '', 'GIF', '', 'T', false, 300, '', false, false, 0, false, false, false);
// Set font
$this->SetFont('helvetica', 'B', 20);
// Title
//$this->Cell(0, 15, '<< TCPDF Example 003 >>', 0, false, 'C', 0, '', 0, false, 'M', 'M');
}
// Page footer
public function Footer() {
// Position at 15 mm from bottom
$this->SetY(-15);
// Set font
$this->SetFont('helvetica', '', 8);
// Page number
$this->Cell(0, 10, 'Page '.$this->getAliasNumPage().'/'.$this->getAliasNbPages(), 0, false, 'R', 0, '', 0, false, 'T', 'M');
}
}
// create new PDF document
$pdf = new MYPDF(PDF_PAGE_ORIENTATION, PDF_UNIT, PDF_PAGE_FORMAT, true, 'UTF-8', false);
// set document information
$pdf->SetCreator(PDF_CREATOR);
$pdf->SetAuthor('TEST');
$pdf->SetTitle($title);
// set default header data
$pdf->SetHeaderData(PDF_HEADER_LOGO, PDF_HEADER_LOGO_WIDTH, PDF_HEADER_TITLE, PDF_HEADER_STRING);
// set header and footer fonts
$pdf->setHeaderFont(Array(PDF_FONT_NAME_MAIN, '', PDF_FONT_SIZE_MAIN));
$pdf->setFooterFont(Array(PDF_FONT_NAME_DATA, '', PDF_FONT_SIZE_DATA));
// set default monospaced font
$pdf->SetDefaultMonospacedFont(PDF_FONT_MONOSPACED);
// set margins
$pdf->SetMargins(10, 10, 10);
$pdf->SetHeaderMargin(PDF_MARGIN_HEADER);
$pdf->SetFooterMargin(PDF_MARGIN_FOOTER);
// set auto page breaks
$pdf->SetAutoPageBreak(TRUE, PDF_MARGIN_BOTTOM);
// set image scale factor
$pdf->setImageScale(PDF_IMAGE_SCALE_RATIO);
// set some language-dependent strings (optional)
if (#file_exists(dirname(__FILE__).'/lang/eng.php')) {
require_once(dirname(__FILE__).'/lang/eng.php');
$pdf->setLanguageArray($l);
}
// ---------------------------------------------------------
// set font
$pdf->SetFont('helvetica', 'B', 20);
// add a page
$pdf->AddPage();
// set JPEG quality
$pdf->setJPEGQuality(300);
// Image method signature:
// Image($file, $x='', $y='', $w=0, $h=0, $type='', $link='', $align='', $resize=false, $dpi=300, $palign='', $ismask=false, $imgmask=false, $border=0, $fitbox=false, $hidden=false, $fitonpage=false)
// - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
// Example of Image from data stream ('')
$imgdata = base64_decode('iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABwAAAASCAMAAAB/2U7WAAAABlBMVEUAAAD///+l2Z/dAAAASUlEQVR4XqWQUQoAIAxC2/0vXZDrEX4IJTRkb7lobNUStXsB0jIXIAMSsQnWlsV+wULF4Avk9fLq2r8a5HSE35Q3eO2XP1A1wQkZSgETvDtKdQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==');
// The '#' character is used to indicate that follows an image data stream and not an image file name
//$pdf->Image('#'.$imgdata);
// - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
// Image example with resizing
//$pdf->Write(0, 'Example of HTML tables', '', 0, 'L', true, 0, false, false, 0);
$pdf->SetFont('helvetica', '', 8);
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$tbl = <<<EOD
test
EOD;
$pdf->writeHTML($tbl, true, false, false, false, '');
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
//Close and output PDF document
if($action=='I'){
$pdf->Output($title, 'I');
}elseif($action=='D'){
$pdf->Output($title, 'D');
}
//============================================================+
// END OF FILE
//============================================================+
if($action=='E'){
$attachment = $makepdf->Output($title, 'E');
SENDmail($attachment);
function SENDmail($pdf) {
require_once('../../include/class.phpmailer.php');
$mailer = new PHPMailer();
$mailer->AddReplyTo('reply#to.ca', 'Reply To');
$mailer->SetFrom('sent#from.ca', 'Sent From');
$mailer->AddReplyTo('reply#to.ca', 'Reply To');
$mailer->AddAddress('email', 'Send To');
$mailer->Subject = 'Message with PDF';
$mailer->AltBody = "To view the message, please use an HTML compatible email viewer";
$mailer->MsgHTML('<p>Message contents</p>');
if ($pdf) {$mailer->AddStringAttachment($pdf, $title);}
$mailer->Send();
}
}
?>

Answer 1

You can store a PDF as a string:
$attachment = $pdf->Output('hotel4cast.pdf', 'S');
And then attach it with PHPMailer by:
$mail->AddStringAttachment($attachment, 'filename.pdf', 'base64', 'application/pdf');

Answer 2

The reason you're getting that error is simply because you are referring to $makepdf instead of $pdf.