5.4 Configuring PDF Generator

If you installed PDF Generator as part of your AEM forms on JEE, complete the following tasks:

5.4.1 Environment variables

If you installed the PDF Generator module and configured it to convert files to PDF, for some file formats, you must manually set an environment variable that contains the absolute path of the executable that is used to start the corresponding application. The table below lists the environment variables for the native applications that you have installed.

Note: All environment variables and respective paths are case-sensitive.

Application

Environment variable

Example

Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat_PATH

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 2015\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe

Adobe FrameMaker®

FrameMaker_PATH

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\FrameMaker8.0\FrameMaker.exe

Notepad

Notepad_PATH

C:\WINDOWS\notepad.exe

You can leave the Notepad_PATH variable blank.

OpenOffice

OpenOffice_PATH

C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOffice.org 3.3

Adobe PageMaker®

PageMaker_PATH

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\PageMaker 7.0.2\PageMaker.exe

Note: The environment variable OpenOffice_PATH is set to the installation folder instead of the path to the executable.

You do not need to set up the paths for Microsoft Office applications such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Project, or for AutoCAD. The Generate PDF service starts these applications automatically if they are installed on the server.

Create a new Windows environment variable

  1. Select Start > Control Panel > System .

  2. Click the Advanced tab and click Environment Variables .

  3. In the System variables section, click New.

  4. Enter the environment variable name you need to set (for example, enter OpenOffice_PATH ). This folder is the one that contains the executable file. For example, type the following path: 
    C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOffice.org 3

Set the PATH variables on Linux or UNIX (OpenOffice only)

Execute the following command: 

export OpenOffice_PATH=/opt/openoffice.org3.3

5.4.2 Setting the Adobe PDF Printer as the default printer

You must set the Adobe PDF Printer to be the default printer on the server. If the Adobe PDF Printer is not set as the default, PDF Generator cannot convert files successfully.

Set the default printer

  1. Select Start > Printers and Faxes .

  2. In the Printers and Faxes window, right-click Adobe PDF and select Set as Default Printer .

5.4.3 Configuring Acrobat Professional (Windows-based Computers Only)

Note: This procedure is required only if you upgraded to or installed Acrobat after you completed the AEM forms on JEE installation. Upgrading Acrobat can be completed after you run Configuration Manager and deploy AEM forms on JEE to the application server. Acrobat Professional root directory is designated as [Acrobat root] . Typically, the root directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 2015\Acrobat\ .

Configure Acrobat for use with PDF Generator

  1. If an earlier version of Acrobat is installed, uninstall it by using Add or Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel.

  2. Install Acrobat DC Pro by running the installer.

  3. Navigate to the additional\scripts folder on the AEM forms on JEE installation media.

  4. Run the following batch file. 

    Acrobat_for_PDFG_Configuration.bat [aem_forms root]/pdfg_config

  5. On other cluster nodes on which you do not run AEM forms on JEE Configuration Manager,do the following:

    • Add a new registry DWORD entry named SplWOW64TimeOut at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print. Set its value to 60000.

    • Copy PDFGen.api from the [ aem-forms root ]/plugins/x86_win32 directory on the node where AEM forms on JEE is installed to the [ Acrobat root ]/plug_ins directory on the node being currently configured.

  6. Open Acrobat and select Help > Check for updates > Preferences .

  7. Deselect Automatically check for Adobe updates .

Validate the Acrobat installation

  1. Navigate to a PDF file on your system and double-click it to open it in Acrobat. If the PDF file opens successfully, Acrobat is installed correctly.

  2. If the PDF file does not open correctly, uninstall Acrobat and reinstall it.

Note: Ensure that you dismiss all the Acrobat dialog boxes that are displayed after the Acrobat installation is completed and disable the automatic updates for Acrobat. Set the Acrobat_PATH environment variable to point to Acrobat.exe (For example, C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 2015\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe).

Configure native application support

  1. Install and validate Acrobat as described in the previous procedure.

  2. Set Adobe PDF printer as the default printer.

Add temporary directories to trusted directories list in Acrobat

The OptimizePDF service uses Adobe Acrobat and mandates that AEM forms on JEE temporary directory and PDF Generator temporary directory are listed in the trusted directories list of Acrobat.

If AEM forms on JEE temporary directory and PDF Generator temporary directory are not listed in the trusted directories list, the OptimizePDF service fails to run. Perform the following steps to add directories to the temporary directory list:

  1. Open Acrobat, Choose Edit > Preferences.

  2. From the Categories on the left, select Security (Enhanced), and then select the Enable Enhanced Security option.

  3. To add AEM forms on JEE temporary directory and PDF Generator temporary directory to the trusted directories list, click Add Folder Path , select directories and click OK.

5.4.4 Installing East Asian characters in Windows Server 2003

When HTML files are converted to PDF by using PDF Generator, some East Asian languages, such as Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, and also right-to-left languages, such as Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew, Indic, Thai, and Vietnamese, may not be displayed in the PDF file.

To ensure that these languages are displayed in Windows Server 2003, appropriate fonts must be present on the client and server.

Install East Asian characters in Windows Server 2003

  1. Select Start > Control Panel and open Regional and Language Options .

  2. Click the Languages tab and select Install Files for East Asian Languages .

  3. Click the Advanced tab and select all the options under Code Page Conversion Tables.

If converted PDF files are still missing fonts, verify that the Arial Unicode MS (TrueType) font (ARIALUNI.TTF) is present in the C:\WINDOWS\Fonts directory.

5.4.5 Adding fonts to PDF Generator

AEM forms on JEE provides a central repository of fonts, which is accessible to all AEM forms on JEE modules. Make the extra fonts available to non-AEM forms on JEE applications on the server so that PDF Generator can use these fonts to create PDF documents that are created with these applications.

Note: Restart the application server after adding new fonts to the specified fonts folder.

5.4.5.1 Non-AEM forms on JEE applications

The following list contains non-AEM forms on JEE applications that PDF Generator can use for PDF generation on the server side:

Windows-only Applications

  • Microsoft Office Word

  • Microsoft Office Excel

  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint

  • Microsoft Office Project

  • Microsoft Office Publisher

  • Adobe FrameMaker

  • Adobe PageMaker

  • Adobe Acrobat Professional

Multiplatform applications

  • OpenOffice Writer

  • OpenOffice Calc

  • OpenOffice Draw

  • OpenOffice Impress

Note: In addition to these applications, your list may include additional applications that you added.

Of the above applications, the OpenOffice Suite (which includes Writer, Calc, Draw, and Impress) is available on Windows, Solaris, and Linux platforms, whereas other applications are available on Windows only.

5.4.5.2 Adding new fonts to Windows applications only

All the Windows-only applications that are mentioned above can access all the fonts that are available in the C:\Windows\Fonts (or equivalent) folder. In addition to C:\Windows\Fonts, each of these applications may have its own private fonts folders.

Therefore, if you plan to add any custom fonts to the AEM forms on JEE fonts repository, ensure that the same fonts are available to the Windows-only applications also by copying these fonts to either C:\Windows\Fonts or to an equivalent folder.

Your custom fonts must be licensed under an agreement that allows you to use them with the applications that have access to these fonts.

5.4.5.3 Adding new fonts to other applications

If you added support for PDF creation in other applications, see the Help for these applications to add new fonts. In Windows, copying your custom fonts to the C:\Windows\Fonts (or equivalent) folder should be sufficient.

5.4.6 Configuring HTML to PDF conversions

The HTML-to-PDF conversion process is designed to use the settings from Acrobat DC Pro that override the settings from PDF Generator.

Note: This configuration is required to enable the HTML-to-PDF conversion process, otherwise this conversion type will fail.

5.4.6.1 Configure the HTML-to-PDF conversion

  1. Install and validate Acrobat as described in 5.4.3 Configuring Acrobat Professional (Windows-based Computers Only) .

  2. Locate the pdfgen.api file in the [aem-forms root] \plugins\x86_win32 directory and copy it to [Acrobat root] \Acrobat\plug_ins directory.

5.4.6.2 Enable support for Unicode fonts in HTML to PDF conversions

Important: The HTML-to-PDF conversion fails if a zipped input file contains HTML files with double-byte characters in filenames. To avoid this problem, do not use double-byte characters when naming HTML files.

  1. Copy the Unicode font to any of the following directories as appropriate for your system:

    • Windows

      [Windows root] \Windows\fonts

      [Windows root] \WINNT\fonts

    • UNIX

      /usr/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType

      /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType

      /usr/share/fonts/default/TrueType

      /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ttf

      /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype

      /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType

      /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF

      /Users/cfqauser/Library/Fonts

      /System/Library/Fonts

      /Library/Fonts

      /Users/ + System.getProperty(<user name>, root) + /Library/Fonts

      System.getProperty(JAVA_HOME) + /lib/fonts

      /usr/share/fonts (Solaris)

    Note: Ensure that the directory /usr/lib/X11/fonts exists. If it does not, create a symbolic link from /usr/share/X11/fonts to /usr/lib/X11/fonts using the ln command.

  2. Modify the font-name mapping in the cffont.properties file located in the [aem-forms root] /deploy/adobe-generatepdf-dsc.jar file:

    • Extract this archive, and locate the cffont.properties file and open it in an editor.

    • In the comma-separated list of Java font names, add a map to your Unicode system font for each font type. In the example below, kochi mincho is the name of your Unicode system font.

      dialog=Arial, Helvetica, kochi mincho

      dialog.bold=Arial Bold, Helvetica-Bold, kochi mincho ...

    • Save and close the properties file, and then repackage and redeploy the adobe-generatepdf-dsc.jar file.

    Note: On a Japanese operating system, specify the font mapping in the cffont.properties.ja file as well, which takes precedence over the standard cffont.properties file.
    Fonts in the list are searched from left to right, using the first font found. HTML-to-PDF conversion logs return a list of all the font names that are found in the system. To determine the font name you need to map, add the font to one of the directories above, restart the server, and run a conversion. You can determine from the log files the font name to use for mapping.

    To embed the font in the generated PDF files, set the embedFonts property in the cffont.properties file to true (the default is false ).

5.4.7 Installing the Network Printer Client

PDF Generator includes an executable file to install the PDF Generator network printer on a client computer. After the installation is complete, a PDF Generator printer is added to the list of existing printers on the client computer. This printer can then be used to send documents for conversion to PDF.

Note: The Network Printer Client installation wizard available in the administration console is supported only on Windows operating system. Ensure that you use a 32-bit JVM to launch the Network Printer Client installation wizard. You will encounter an error if you use a 64-bit JVM.

If the PDFG Network Printer fails to install on Windows or if you want to install the printer on UNIX or Linux platforms, use the operating system’s native Add Printer utility and configure it as described in 5.4.7.2 Configure PDFG Network Printer on Windows using the native Add Printer wizard

5.4.7.1 Install the PDF Generator Network Printer Client

Note: Before installing the PDF Generator network printer client on Windows Server 2008, Ensure that you have the Internet Printing Client feature installed on your Windows Server 2008. For installing the feature, see Windows Server 2008 Help.

  1. Ensure that you successfully installed PDF Generator on your server.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • From a Windows client computer, enter the following URL in your web browser, where [host] is the name of the server where you installed PDF Generator and [port] is the application server port used: 
      http://[host]:[port]/pdfg-ipp/install

    • In administration console, click Home > Services > PDF Generator > PDFG Network Printer . In the PDFG Network Printer Installation section, click Click here to launch the PDFG Network Printer Installation.

  3. On the Configure Internet Port screen, select Use the specified user account option, and provide the credentials of a AEM forms on JEE user who has the PDFG Administrator/User role. This user must also have an email address that can be used to receive the converted files. To have this security setting apply to all users on the client computer, select Use the same security options for all users , and then click OK .
    Note: If the user’s password changes, then users will need to reinstall the PDFG Network Printer on their computers. You cannot update the password from administration console.

    Upon successful installation, a dialog box appears, indicating that the printer is successfully installed.

  4. Click OK . You will now have a PDF Generator printer available in your list of printers.

5.4.7.2 Configure PDFG Network Printer on Windows using the native Add Printer wizard

  1. Click Start > Printers and Faxes and double-click Add Printer .

  2. Click Next , select A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer , and then click Next .

  3. Select Connect to a printer on the internet or on a home or office network and type the following URL for the PDFG printer, where [host] is the server name and [port] is the port number where the server is running: 
    http://[host]:[port]/pdfg-ipp/printer

  4. On the Configure Internet Port screen, select Use the specified user account and provide valid User credentials.

  5. In the Printer Driver Select box, choose any standard PostScript-based printer driver (for example, HP Color LaserJet PS).

  6. Complete the installation by choosing appropriate options (for example, setting this printer as default).

    Note: The user credentials used while adding the printer must have a valid email ID configured in User Management to receive the response.

  7. Configure the email service’s sendmail service. Provide a valid SMTP server and authentication information in the service’s configuration options.

5.4.7.3 Install and configure the PDF Generator Network Printer Client using Proxy server port forwarding

  1. Configure port forwarding on the CC Proxy server on a particular port to the AEM forms on JEE Server, and disable the authentication at proxy server level (because AEM forms on JEE uses its own authentication). If a client connects to this Proxy server on the forwarded port, then all the requests will be forwarded to the AEM forms on JEE Server.

  2. Install PDFG Network Printer using the following URL: 

    http://[proxy server]:[forwarded port]/pdfg-ipp/install.

  3. Provide the necessary credentials for authentication of the PDFG Network Printer.

  4. The PDFG Network Printer will be installed on the client machine which you can use for PDF conversion using the firewall protected AEM forms on JEE Server.

5.4.8 Changing File Block Settings

Change Microsoft Office trust center settings to enable PDFG to convert older versions of Microsoft office documents.

  1. Click the File tab in any Office 2013 application. Under File , click Options ; the Options dialog box appears

  2. Click Trust Center , and then click Trust Center Settings .

  3. In the Trust Center settings , click File Block Settings .

  4. In the File Type list, uncheck open for the file type that you want to be converted by PDFG.

5.4.9 Watched folder performance parameters

To avoid java.io.IOException error messages indicating that not enough disk space is available to perform PDF conversions by using a watched folder, you can modify the settings for PDF Generator in administration console.

You must ensure that for WebSphere application server, the maximum transaction time-out and ORB service have the proper values.

Configure transaction time-out

  1. Do the following:

    • Log in to WebSphere Administrative Console, click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers , and then click the name of the server instance to configure (for example, server1 ).

  2. Under Container Settings, click Container Services > Transaction Service .

  3. Under General Properties, in the Total transaction lifetime timeout box, type 300 (or higher).

  4. Ensure that the value in the Maximum transaction timeout box is greater than or equal to the Total transaction lifetime timeout .

  5. Click OK or Apply and then click Save directly to master configuration .

Increase the CORBA time-out value

  1. Do the following:

    • Log in to WebSphere Administrative Console, click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers , and then click the name of the server instance to configure (for example, server1 ).

  2. Under Container Settings, click Container Services > ORB Service .

  3. Under General Properties, in the Request timeout box, type 360 and, in the Locate Request Timeout box, type 300 .

  4. Click OK or Apply and then click Save directly to master configuration .

Set performance parameters for PDF Generator

  1. Log in to administration console and click Services > Applications and Services > Service Management .

  2. In the list of services, navigate to and click PDFGConfigService , and then set the following values:

    • PDFG Cleanup Scan Seconds : 1800

    • Job Expiration Seconds : 6000

    • Server Conversion Timeout : Change the default of 270 to a higher value, such as 450.

  3. Click Save and restart the server.

5.4.10 Enable PDF Conversion for Microsoft Word document containing protected fields

The PDF Generator supports Microsoft Word documents containing protected fields. To enable PDF Conversion for Microsoft Word document containing protected fields, change the file type settings:

  1. In the administration console , navigate to Services > PDF Generator > File Type Settings , and open your file type settings profile.

  2. Expand the Microsoft Word option and select the Preserve document markup in Adobe PDF (for Microsoft Office 2003 or later) option.

  3. Click Save As , specify name of the file type setting, and click OK .

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