PDF Document

Creates a PDF document by inserting database content into an RTF template and then converting the RTF to a PDF.

This component has a database interface identical to the RTF Component.

Component modes: Standard | Label | Static PDF

Component mode: Standard

File modes: Download | Save | Save and download | Batch

File mode: Batch

A variable number of files are generated and saved in the database.

Custom fonts

The component will attempt to embed fonts used in the document template into the final PDF file. For this to work you will first need to install the fonts on the web server.

Tags in the template

The RTF template can contain the following tags:

<#XXX#>
Normal tag that is replaced by the value in the column with the same name, i.e. XXX. Values such as dates and decimals should be formatted in the procedure and returned as varchars for consistent formatting. Tags can also contain special data like images (see further below).

All values are treated as RTF literals. That means that you can emit, for example, a \page command directly into the document. It also means that you need to use the SoftadminUtil.RTF_Escape function if you need to emit strings containing characters like '{', '}' or ''.

<#$$XXX#>...</#$$XXX#>
Section that surrounds a normal tag. If the value in the column XXX is NULL or missing then the entire section is skipped from the final document.

<##YYY##>...</##YYY##>
Container that is repeated 0-n times depending on the resultset. Each normal tag within the container corresponds to a column in a resultset.

<$$##YYY##>...</$$##YYY##>
Section that surrounds a container (with the same name). If zero rows are returned from the container SQL-statement, then the entire section is skipped from the final document.

Images

For any normal tag where the database returns varbinary data, the data will be assumed to be either a PNG or JPG image and inserted into the document as such. The document will use the image's original resolution when printed.

QR Codes

For any normal tag where the database returns XML data with the root element QrCode a QR Code will be rendered and inserted into the document.

<QrCode cm="3.14">MyQrCode</QrCode>

The element accepts a single (optional) attribute, cm which specifies how large the code should be in centimeters. Do note that this size includes the mandatory quiet zone surrounding the QR code.

Swiss QR Codes

The Swiss QR Code symbology has been developed in Switzerland to automate digital payments. All payment receipts and bills in Switzerland are intended to have a Swiss QR Code barcode that encrypts payment details. To distinguish from basic QR Code, Swiss QR Code labels have the Swiss cross sign in the center.

Example-XML that will render a Swiss QR Code:

<QrCode Type="Swiss">
	<Currency>EUR</Currency>
	<Iban>CH4431999123000889012</Iban>
	<Creditor>
		<AddressType>S</AddressType>
		<Name>John Doe</Name>
		<ZipCode>3003</ZipCode>
		<City>Bern</City>
		<Country>CH</Country>
		<Street>Parlamentsgebäude</Street>
		<HouseNumber>1</HouseNumber>
	</Creditor>
	<Reference>210000000003139471430009017</Reference>
	<AdditionalInformation>
		<UnstructuredMessage>An unstructured message.</UnstructuredMessage>
		<BillInformation>Some bill information here.</BillInformation>
	</AdditionalInformation>
	<Amount>136.19</Amount>
	<Debitor>
		<AddressType>K</AddressType>
		<Name>Multisoft AB</Name>
		<Country>SE</Country>
		<AddressLine1>Brunkebergstorg 5</AddressLine1>
		<AddressLine2>11151 Stockholm</AddressLine2>
	</Debitor>
	<RequestedDateOfPayment>2022-12-30</RequestedDateOfPayment>
</QrCode>

The tags Currency, Iban and Creditor are mandatory. Contact address types are "S" for structured address and "K" for combined address (kombinierte Adresse).

Component settings

Clean RTF Template
If on, tags are cleaned, container consistency is checked and corrected and spaces may be inserted between rtf control words and tags if neccessary to keep them separated after the tag is replaced with contents.
Process HTML
When activated supplied data is processed and HTML-tags for basic formatting are translated to corresponding RTF-formatting.

The affected HTML-tags are: <b> <i> <u> <strong> <em> <strike> <br> <tab> <s> <del>

SQL

SQL Call: Retrieve rtf template (mandatory)

Sql to retrieve RTF template from database.

May modify database: No

Parameters

@template bit
Set to '1' by Softadmin® when the component asks for an rtf template.

Resultset: Rtf template

Table count: repeated exactly once
Row count: zero or more rows
Columns
xxx mandatory binary
Rtf template
xxxfilename optional string
Filename
TemplateId mandatory int
An ID value that the procedure can use to identify the template. Mandatory for Store in database mode in batch mode. Template IDs must be unique within a batch.

Resultset: Batch documents

Table count: repeated exactly once
Row count: zero or more rows
Columns
<DocumentId>, column with ordinal 1 mandatory string
An ID that the procedure can use to identify the document. Document IDs must be unique within a batch.

The ID for the currently processed document will be sent as a parameter to all other SQL calls in batch mode.
TemplateId mandatory int
The ID of the template to use for the document.

SQL Call: Retrieve document data (mandatory)

SQL to retrieve information to fill the RTF template, this SQL is called first once, without the @container parameter set, then once for each container-tag.

May modify database: No

Parameters

@<DocumentId> string
Used in batch mode. This parameter will have the same name as the first column in the batch documents result set of the Retrieve rtf template call, and contains the id value of the document.
@container string
Used if RTF template contains a container-tag (<##XXX##>...). The container tag is then repeated as many times as there are rows in the resultset.
@id string
Used if RTF template contains a container-tag within another container-tag (<##XXX##>..<##YYY##>....). The 'id' value is the first column in the outer resultset (in this case, the resultset generated by the <##XXX##>-tag).

Resultset: Data to fill document

Resultset that contains information to fill the RTF template with, each column name corresponds to a tag in the template (<#XXX#>). At least one row must be returned when @container is not set.

Images:
If the column is a varbinary column it is assumed to be a picture and is inserted as a picture in the document. Note that pictures in rtf documents are very large and it is therefore recommended that this feature is used with moderation.

QR Codes:
If the column contains the XML <QrCode cm="xxx">data</QrCode> then a QR code with the given data and size is inserted. Do note that the size includes the quiet zone around the QR code.
Table count: repeated exactly once
Row count: zero or more rows
Columns
xxx optional string
Replaces the tag <#xxx#>.

SQL Call: Store batch document (mandatory)

Called once for each file generated.

May modify database: Yes

Parameters

@<DocumentId> string
This parameter will have the same name as the first column in the batch documents result set of the Retrieve rtf template call, and contains the id value of the document.
@RtfDocument binary
The generated document.

SQL Call: Log error (mandatory)

This call is made once for every batch document where an error occurs.

May modify database: Yes

Parameters

@<DocumentID> string
This parameter will have the same name as the first column in the batch documents result set of the Retrieve rtf template call, and contains the id value of the document.
@ErrorMessage string
The error that occured in the batch document. For debugging purposes only. Do not show to the user or try to parse the error message.
@IsError bit
This parameter is set to 1 to identify the log error call.

SQL Call: Validate parameters

Allows you to validate the parameters supplied by the user before any other SQL is run in the component. This call is only made if the component has visible parameters, the SQL is a stored procedure, and Validate parameters is checked.

May modify database: No

Parameters

@Force bit
Set to 1 if the last call to validate parameters used admin_force and the user clicked OK in the OK/Cancel dialog.
@ValidateParams bit
Set to 1 when this call is made.

Resultset: Messages (optional)

Table count: repeated zero or one time
Row count: zero or one row
Columns
ADMIN_Force optional string
Message asking the end user to confirm their parameters.
ADMIN_Message optional string
Message explaining why the parameters are rejected.

Custom access control and logging

SQL Call: Custom access control and logging

Use this call to restrict which entries a user is allowed to view and edit, and to log which entries a user views.

Access to a menu item is normally controlled through functions and roles alone but some entities need more fine grained control. For example, a user may have access to the View Member menu item for normal members but not for members with a protected identity.

The menu items a user visits are always logged (in ADMINLogMenuItem) but for sensitive data you may need to log exactly what entries are viewed. Do the logging in this call as the common ways of viewing data (grid and InfoSQL) are not allowed to modify the database.

If you bind a scalar function instead of a stored procedure to this call then its name must end with '_GrantAccess'.

May modify database: Yes

Resultset: Access permissions

Return whether the user is allowed to visit the menu item with the current parameters.
Table count: repeated exactly once
Row count: exactly one row
Columns
GrantAccess mandatory bit
1 if the user is allowed to view the menu item, 0 if the user should not be allowed to view the menu item.

If 0 then an error will be logged as the user should not have been able to reach the menu item with the given parameters in the first place.

Examples

Informing the user of invalid container names

If you allow end users to administer their own templates then they will occassionally create templates with misspelled or completely unsupported containers. You can use RAISERROR prefixed with ADMIN_MESSAGE to display an error message to the user trying to use the broken template.

ALTER PROCEDURE Examples.RtfWithInvalidContainers
	@Template  bit = 0,
	@Container sysname = NULL
AS
BEGIN
	IF @Container IS NOT NULL
	BEGIN
		IF @Container = 'Container1'
		BEGIN
			SELECT 1 AS ValueInContainer;
			RETURN 0;
		END;

		IF @Container = 'Container2'
		BEGIN
			SELECT 2 AS ValueInContainer;
			RETURN 0;
		END;

		DECLARE @TemplateName varchar(300) = 'ExampleTemplate';

		RAISERROR('ADMIN_MESSAGEThe template %s contains an unsupported container %s.', 16, 1, @TemplateName, @Container);
		RETURN -1;
	END;

Best practice

Create template

Keep it simple, if the needed features are supported, create/save the template in WordPad instead of Word to get a less bloated template. This makes the documents smaller, faster to generate and less prone to errors.

Tables

When creating tables with a container tag the start container should be put in column 1 of the table, and the end container tag should be put after the table.

This should result in this order of data in the rtf file:
\trowd
\pard\intbl <##Container##>\cell\row
\pard </##Container##>