1.7.6. PDF Message Format

See: Managing Channels - Manage a Channel

PDF Wizard screen allows you to define your PDF message format based on your XHTML template file.

To define a message in PDF format, select an existing template or make a copy of the generic PDF template in the catalogue and following screen will be displayed.

Wizard screen

When you create a new message format, you must first configure it using the following wizard.

Figure 1.74. PDF Wizard screen

An PDF messsage can only be set up using a template file in XHTML format. Select your template file using the Browse... button next to the XHTML file, then click on the Upload command.

File sample

Following is a sample PDF file.

		
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
   <head>
      <title>PDF output</title>
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
     
<style>
 @page { size: A4; margin: 3cm 1.5cm 2cm 1.5cm; border: none; padding: 1em; }
 @page { @top-left{content: ""; }}
 @page { @top-right{content: "Page " counter(page) " on " counter(pages);}}
 @page { @bottom-left{content: element(footer);border-top: solid 0.01mm #000; }}

 #footer{display: block; position: running(footer); }
</style>
	 
   </head>
   <body style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Nobile'"> 

      <center>
         <h1 >PDF output example</h1>
      </center>
      <br/>
      <div style="font-size: small">
         <span>Date :</span>
         <span>25-08-2009</span>
      </div>
      <br/>
      <center style="font-size: large">Example</center>
      <br/>
      <table style="width: 100%" >
         <tr>
            <td rowspan="1" style="width: 200px; height: 20px;">
               <span>Invoice number :</span>
               <span>field1</span>
            </td>
            <td style="width: 300px; height: 20px;">
               <span>Contact Name :</span>
               <span>field2</span>
               <span>field3</span>
            </td>
         </tr>
      </table>
      <br/>
      <center>
         <span>Some static info</span>
      </center>
      <center style="page-break-before:always">
         <span>second page</span>
      </center> 
      <br/>
      You can upload images or css sheets as file properties and use a simple relative url in your xhtml.
      <br/>  
      <br/>    
      For specific print css options, see http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp for all css options 
      <br/>  
      <br/>  	  
      <h2>Barcode Integration</h2>
        <br/> 
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="EAN13">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="EAN8">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="UPCA">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="UPCE">01234133</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="CODABAR">A123456789A</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="CODE39">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="CODE39_EXTENDED">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="CODE128">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="CODE128_UCC">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="CODE128_RAW">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="EAN8">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
        <barcode style="display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 200px;" type="POSTNET">123456789012345675</barcode>
        <br/>
	  <div id="footer">
		Footer line#1<br/>Footer line#2
	  </div>

   </body>
</html>

Edit screen

Once the message format template has been uploaded, or when it is used or copied from a saved format, edit screen appears as follows.

Figure 1.75. PDF Edit screen

All elements of the resulting message definition will be hidden by default. You should show any element you need in the transformation step.

To ease the search of the fields you need, the values uploaded from your example file are displayed in the field tooltip descriptions.

Additionaly, you should edit and rename the element label for easier management during transformation step.

See Message Definition to change show/hide parameter and edit the element label.

See Signing an Outgoing Message for more details on the options available to control PDF signature and display options.

PDF/x conformance

specify weither or not you want to comply with PDF/A format. This is mainly used for long term archiving. Embedded content and font can simply be added as file properties of the message.

Barcode integration

Creation of barcode respecting the following standards: EAN13, EAN8, UPCA, UPCE, SUPP2, SUPP5, POSTNET, PLANET, CODE128, CODE128_UCC, CODE128_RAW, CODABAR, CODE39, CODE39_EXTENDED

See xhtml example above for reference.

Prev	Up	Next
1.7.5. Excel Message Format	Reference Manual	1.7.7. Multirecord Message Format