Created helper functions for serialiation

3 files changed, 21 insertions, 13 deletions

diff --git a/fpdf_test.go b/fpdf_test.go
index e212d95..19bc533 100644
--- a/fpdf_test.go
+++ b/fpdf_test.go
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ package gofpdf_test
 import (
 	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
-	"encoding/gob"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
@@ -1951,18 +1950,9 @@ func ExampleFpdf_CreateTemplate() {
 	pdf.SetLineWidth(2.5)
 	pdf.SetFont("Arial", "B", 16)
 
-	template3 := new(gofpdf.FpdfTpl)
-	b := new(bytes.Buffer)
-	enc := gob.NewEncoder(b)
-
-	if err := enc.Encode(template); err != nil {
-		pdf.SetError(err)
-	}
-
-	dec := gob.NewDecoder(b)
-	if err := dec.Decode(template3); err != nil {
-		pdf.SetError(err)
-	}
+	// serialize and deserialize template
+	b, _ := template2.Serialize()
+	template3, _ := gofpdf.DeserializeTemplate(b)
 
 	pdf.AddPage()
 	pdf.UseTemplate(template3)
diff --git a/template.go b/template.go
index 2b886ed..9abdf62 100644
--- a/template.go
+++ b/template.go
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ type Template interface {
 	Bytes() []byte
 	Images() map[string]*ImageInfoType
 	Templates() []Template
+	Serialize() ([]byte, error)
 	gob.GobDecoder
 	gob.GobEncoder
 }
diff --git a/template_impl.go b/template_impl.go
index 001b2d9..9c690c1 100644
--- a/template_impl.go
+++ b/template_impl.go
@@ -86,6 +86,23 @@ func (t *FpdfTpl) Templates() []Template {
 	return t.templates
 }
 
+// Turn a template into a byte string for later deserialization
+func (t *FpdfTpl) Serialize() ([]byte, error) {
+	b := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	enc := gob.NewEncoder(b)
+	err := enc.Encode(t)
+
+	return b.Bytes(), err
+}
+
+// Create a template from a previously serialized template
+func DeserializeTemplate(b []byte) (Template, error) {
+	tpl := new(FpdfTpl)
+	dec := gob.NewDecoder(bytes.NewBuffer(b))
+	err := dec.Decode(tpl)
+	return tpl, err
+}
+
 // returns the next layer of children images, it doesn't dig into
 // children of children. Applies template namespace to keys to ensure
 // no collisions. See UseTemplateScaled