renderPDFForm operation

Retrieves the specified form, merges form data, and transforms it to a PDF form for a client application, such as a Adobe Reader. Use this operation when you use a form design or form data that is saved in an application and used as document values in the process.

The benefits of using this operation instead of the renderPDFForm (deprecated) operation are as follows:

  • Maximizes application portability because all assets are contained in a single application.

  • Simplifies the form process design because the form design can be assessed using document variable.

    For example, your application must render a PDF form that is packaged as part of your application, instead of directly. The user that is displayed the PDF form must digitally sign it in Acrobat. A PDF form has embedded security features and the ability for users to digitally sign the form. Use the renderPDFForm operation to render the form design to an interactive PDF form from the application. The PDF form permits users to sign the form and submit it as a part of an automated process.

    Hinweis: Use the renderPDFForm operation when you cannot create a document variable to store the form design or form data. You cannot create document variables for form designs or form data that are dynamically referenced on a network, local file system, or HTTP location.

    For information about the General and Route Evaluation property groups, see Common operation properties.

Input properties

The properties that specify the form design, form data, and options when rendering a PDF form.

Form

A document value that specifies the form design in an application to render.

If you provide a literal value, clicking the ellipsis button opens the Select Asset dialog box. (See About Select Asset.)

Form Data

A document value that represents the data to merge with the form during rendering. Form data that is provided as XML must be deserialized by using the deserialize function. (See deserialize in the LiveCycle Workbench 9.5 Help .)

If you provide a literal value, clicking the ellipsis button opens the Select Asset dialog box. (See About Select Asset.)

Template options properties

The properties that specify configuration options for the form design.

Content Root URI

A string value that specifies the URI or an absolute reference, which specifies the folder in the repository to retrieve relative assets used by the form design, such as images. For example, if the form design references an image relatively, such as ../myImage.gif, myImage.gif must be located at repository://. The default value is repository://, which points to the root level of the repository.

You can use the following sources for a URI or absolute reference:

  • Repository: The repository contains assets that you upload to the LiveCycle Server. The value repository:/// references the root of the repository. The first two forward slashes are part of the protocol (repository://) and the third forward slash represents the root of the repository.

  • Directory in the file system of the LiveCycle Server: You can specify a location on the LiveCycle Server, such as C:\[folder name]. Using a location on the server is not recommended if you want to ensure portability of your application.

  • Network directory: You can specify a location on the network such as \\[folder name].

  • Web location that is accessible by using HTTP: After you upload a file to a web server, you can specify the location by using a URL, such as http://[server name]:[port number]/[folder name].

    If you provide a literal value, type a value to specify the URI or absolute reference.

Locale

A string value that specifies the language used to send validation messages to client applications, such as web browsers, when an HTML form is rendered.

If you provide a literal value, select a language from the list or select one of these values:

Use Server Default:

(Default) Use the Locale setting that is configured on the LiveCycle Server. The Locale setting is configured using Administration Console. (See Forms Administration Help.)

Use Custom Value:

Use a locale that is not available in the list. After selecting this value, in the box beside the list, type the Locale ID of the locale to use. For a list of supported locale codes, see http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/locale.doc.html.

Character Set

A string value that specifies the character set used to encode the output byte stream.

If you provide a literal value, select a character set from the list or one of these values.:

Use Server Default:

(Default) Use the Character Set setting that is configured on the LiveCycle Server. The Character Set setting is configured using Administration Console. (See Forms Administration Help.)

Use Custom Value:

Use a character that is not available in the list. After selecting this value, in the box beside the list, type the canonical name (Java.nio API) of the encoding set to use. For a list of character sets, see http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/encoding.doc.html.

PDF Options properties

Properties that specify configuration parameters for the rendered PDF form.

Acrobat Version

An AcrobatVersion value that specifies the minimum version of Acrobat and Adobe Reader required to open the rendered PDF form.

If you provide a literal value, select one of these values:

Use Form Template Default:

(Default) The Target Version setting in the form design determines minimum version of Acrobat or Adobe Reader. In addition, the form design determines the PDF Version.

Acrobat and Adobe Reader 6 or later:

Acrobat or Adobe Reader 6 and later can open the PDF form.

Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7.0 or later:

Acrobat or Adobe Reader 7 and later can open the PDF form.

Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7.0.5 or later:

Acrobat or Adobe Reader 7.0.5 and later can open the PDF form

Acrobat and Adobe Reader 8 or later:

Acrobat or Adobe Reader 8 and later can open the PDF form

Acrobat and Adobe Reader 8.1 or later:

Acrobat or Adobe Reader 8.1 and later can open the PDF form.

Acrobat and Adobe Reader 9 or later:

Acrobat or Adobe Reader 9 and later can open the PDF form

Accessible (Tagged) PDF

A boolean value that specifies whether to create a tagged Adobe PDF form. A tagged PDF form defines a set of standard structure types and attributes that support the extraction of page content and reuse for other purposes. This property is intended for use by tools that perform the following types of operations:

  • Simple extraction of text and graphics for pasting into other applications.

  • Automatic reflow of text and associated graphics to fit a page of a different size than was assumed for the original layout.

  • Processing text for such purposes as searching, indexing, and spell-checking.

  • Conversion to other common file formats (such as HTML, XML, and RTF) with document structure and basic styling information preserved.

  • Making content accessible by screen reader software.

    If you provide a literal value, the Accessible (Tagged) PDF check box is selected by default. Select the check box to render an accessible PDF form. Deselect the check box if you do not want to render an accessible PDF.

Linearized PDF

A boolean value that specifies whether to render a linearized PDF form. A linearized PDF form is organized so that it supports incremental access in a network environment. A linearized PDF form is optimized for use with web applications. A non-linearized PDF form is best for use in non-web applications. For example, a linearized PDF can be displayed in a web browser before the entire PDF document is downloaded.

If you provide a literal value, the Create PDF For Quicker Display In A Browser check box is selected by default. Select the check box to render a linearized PDF form. Deselect the check box to generate a non-linearized PDF form.

Render options properties

Properties for configuring rendering options for the PDF form.

Cache Form On Server

A boolean value that specifies whether the form design is cached on the server. Caching forms on the server improves performance for forms that are rendered on the server. Processing instructions embedded in the form design and the Form Rendering Cache Enabled option determines how caching is performed. For information about configuring the Rendering Cache Enabled option in Administration Console. (See Configuring Forms.)

If you provide a literal value, the Better Performance For Templates That Don’t Change Often check box is selected by default. Select the check box to render a cache to the form design on the server. Deselect the check box if caching the form is not required.

Client Cache

A boolean value that specifies whether the rendered PDF form is cached on the client.

If you provide a literal value, the Cache Form In Web Browser Cache check box is deselected by default. Select the check box to cache the rendered PDF form on the client. Deselect the check box if caching is not required.

Generate Server Appearance

A boolean value that specifies whether the appearance for the PDF form is generated on the server. Appearances include the layout of fields and graphical elements in the PDF form. When you generate the appearance on the server, the form is rendered on the server and merged with data. Generate the appearance when you want to use the rendered PDF form in a subsequent operation. For example, if you need to apply a digital signature to the rendered PDF form on the server, generate the appearance on the server before applying the digital signature. If the appearance is not generated on the server, it is generated in Acrobat or Adobe Reader when the PDF form is rendered on the client, which invalidates the digital signature that was applied.

If you provide a literal value, the Generate Appearances On Server check box is deselected by default. Select the check box to generate appearances on the server. Deselect the check box to generate the appearance when the PDF form is rendered in Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

Stand Alone Rendition

A boolean value that specifies whether the form can be rendered without state information. State information is used for rendering interactive forms that require user interaction with the server for submissions. When you render a PDF form with state information, it is rendered with JavaScript, which allows the form to be used offline.

If you provide a literal value, the Render Without State Information check box is selected by default.

  • Select the check box to render a PDF form state information and embedded JavaScript. The JavaScript code runs on the client with no interaction with the server. In addition, the form can be used offline.

  • Deselect the check box to render a PDF form without state information and without embedded JavaScript. The Forms service renders the form after server-side calculations are performed and the results are displayed in the rendered form. Because of the required interaction with the Forms service, the form cannot be used offline.

Render At Client

A RenderAtClient value that specifies whether to enable the delivery of PDF content by using the client-side rendering capability. Client-side rendering improves the performance of the Forms service. Rendering only occurs for users of Acrobat 7 and Adobe Reader or later. This property applies only to PDF, PDFForm, or PDFMerge transformations.

If you provide a literal value, select one of these values:

Use Server Default
(Default) Use the Render At setting version on the server to open PDF forms rendered by the Forms service. The Render At setting is configured in Administration Console. (See Forms Administration Help.)

Use Form Template Default
The Forms service determines the form rendition based on the setting in the form design.

Yes
A dynamic PDF form is generated and rendering occurs in Acrobat. Rendering occurs only on Acrobat 7.0 or later.

No
A static PDF form is generated. Rendering on the client does not occur.

Target URL

A string value that specifies the URL to a web service or Java servlet that receives data from the client application. The web service or Java servlet receives the data when the user submits the form. Setting a value in this option sets the target URL in the form design to the value specified by this property. If this option is not an absolute URL, it is combined with the value from the Application Web Root option to construct an absolute URL

For Workspace, type the value of http://[server name]:[port]/workspace-server/submit, where[server name] is the name of the server where LiveCycle is deployed, and [port] is the port that the application server uses to provide HTTP access for client software. The default ports for the supported application servers are as follows:

  • JBoss: 8080

  • WebLogic: 7001

  • WebSphere: 9080

    If you provide a literal value, type a value to specify the URL.

Additional Options properties

Properties for using extra rendering options from the Forms service.

XCI URI

A string value that sets the URI location of the XCI file to use for rendering. If the root is not specified, the file is assumed to reside in the location where the LiveCycle EAR files are deployed. For example, in a JBoss turnkey installation, you can see default XCI files in the [Install folder]/jboss/server/lc_turnkey/svcdata/XMLFormService folder. [Install folder] is the location where the LiveCycle is installed. For information about creating a custom XCI file, see Designer Help .

If you provide a literal value, clicking the ellipsis button opens the Select Asset dialog box. (See About Select Asset.)

Form Model Processing

A FormModel value that specifies where scripts that are embedded into the form are executed.

If you use a literal value, select one of these values:

Use Form Template Default:

(Default) The Forms service checks the form design to determine whether to render the form on the client or the server.

Client Side:

The form is rendered on the client. Do not use scripts that run on the server. When this value is selected, scripts that run on the server generate a warning on the LiveCycle Server.

Server Side:

The form is rendered on the server.

Both Server and Client side:

The form is rendered on both the server and the client.

Attachments

A map value of document values that specifies the attachments that are rendered with the PDF form. You cannot use a literal value.

Output properties

Properties to store the rendered PDF form.

Rendered Form

The location in the process data model to store the rendered PDF form. The data type is document.

Additional Output properties

Additional properties to store the rendered PDF form and the results of rendering the form.

Page Count

The location in the process data model to store the number of pages in the PDF form. The data type is long.

Locale

The location in the process data model to store the locale code of the rendered PDF form. The data type is string.

Forms Result

The location in the process data model to store the all the output results as a combined complex value. The data type is FormsResult.

Exceptions

This operation throws a RenderFormException exception when an error occurs rendering a PDF form.