Creating PDF from XML directly in a content management system?

Hi!
This is my first post here and I've tried to find any previous posts that could answer my question but to no avail. Also I think and hope this is the correct sub forum to post it in.
I work at a company that produces a product catalogue that is published as a webpage, a PDF document (used as the basis for a tablet app) and a printed catalogue from a PDF. For the PDF (used in the tablet app and the printed catalogue) we are using a CMS based on XML that produces Adobe FrameMaker documents which we then export the PDF from. We are looking in to updating the system and make it flow much better but are a bit uncertain of what the best way to go would be.
A solution I'm thinking of would be to have the content of the product catalogue in some kind of XML based service that can export the information in XML. This would hopefully make it possible to send the documents either directly to PDF by XML and some style sheets or import the XML into some InDesign templates (for the more complicated designs at intro pages etc).
One important aspect of the product catalogue is that we have all information saved in different languages so there has to be some kind of connection between the templates and different language versions -- ie. the page design but different language text flows for each language edition.
What I wonder is. What kind of services/solutions would there be that handles XML to PDF for a quite complicated product catalogue (ie. the different language versions)?
Thanks in advance!

The difference between the two packages is that PatternStream effectively works on a "pull" principle (the content is retrieved into the template(s) by queries at the appropriate locations), while Miramo is a "push" (the tagged content is processed by Miramo using templates to create the DTP files). SInce Miramo allows programatical processing before the content is pushed into the DTP app, you can do all sorts of manipulations, conditional processing, automatically insert markers and variables, etc. so it allows for a fairly complex layout, even with FrameMaker. It also allows api's and scripts to be triggered at the backend when the publication has been assembled for further processing/manipulation.
Is there any particular reason that you want to move from the FM engine to the ID one? In terms of throughpu,t FM streams run very much faster than ID ones. Also, unless the layouts are extremely complex, in an automated environment, there are very few catalogue layouts that I've seen that couldn't also be handled using a FM workflow.
Are there any samples on line of the types of catalogues that you are currently producing? This would help in assessing which tools and workflows might be more appropriate to your situation.

Similar Messages

Having difficulty creating pdf from XML data source

I have a 'rpt' file built with a classic install of Crystal 10, using xml as a data source. I have tried using both ADO.NET(XML) connection and ODBC CR ODBCXML Driver 4.20.
The rpt file was built on Windows2000 NT platform. The report runs, and displays data from the sample xml file in the preview tab.
I am attempting to feed xml data into the rpt file with the intent to create pdf formatted output. I am using java with the Crystaldecisions packages. I am running this app out of an Apache server on an Ubuntu VM Hardy Heron release. This does not have any version of Crystal Reports installed on it.
I have followed the examples and I am comfortable that I have the correct package imports, I am able to open the rpt file, and convert both the xml and xsd to byte arrays. When I issue the command
reportClientDocument.getDatabaseController().setDataSource(xmlDataSet, '', '')
I get the response
Cannot find corresponding table information in the XML file
Set data source failed: The table 'criminal_case' could not be found.
Request failed and JRC Command failed to be undone
JRCAgent1 detected an exception: The table 'criminal_case' could not be found.
at com.crystaldecisions.reports.reportdefinition.datainterface.g.a(Unknown Source)
The xsd does validate the xml which contains a noNamespaceSchemaLocation pointer to the xsd.
The xml is the same data that was used to design the report on the NT box. This means that I see the same elements being byte streamed as were used to create the rpt file.
Is this as simple as I am running my webserver on Linux? I do see the connection attribute properties reference a Database DLL that is clearly windows based. What can I do?

So why develop a report if there is no data? I can only think that you have a bunch of static text, maybe an instruction page you want to publish? If so, you still need a data source, it can be a dummy source
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ROOT/>
ie no data per se. BIP needs a source even if there is not data to merge.
Cheers
Tim

Create pdf from xml in java

hiya,
i create an xml file in java program.
now i want to create a pdf from this xml file "the information of sure"
i have no idea how to do that.
any headlines about that?
i tiny example or a http site?
thx :)

xml.apache.org/fop
really good.
What you do is create a xsl with fo (formatting objects), that your transform to a fo and then you render to pdf, awt, ps or whatever you need to render to..
I do 4500 documents (minimum 3 pages each) in 1 hour and a half...
it's one of the best tools i found for PDF rendering from servlets, batchjobs etc...
greetings
maesj

Robohelp WebHelp or XML files in a Content Management System

My company is creating a developers portal that will provide tools and documentation for developers using our SDK. We are using the Orchard CMS and are in the process of deciding whether to import the RoboHelp-generated files (either HTML or XML) into the CMS database, or just publish the RoboHelp-generated files on the server and link to them from the CMS. Does anyone have any experience importing RoboHelp output into a CMS? I'm afriad the import process is going to be difficult. I'm also concerned that I won't get all of the features that I use like the index or glossary when it's imported into a different CMS.
Thanks for any information you can provide me.
Carrie

I'm not saying it was wrong to ask here. It was just that you weren't getting any response and different people follow HATT. It occurred to me that someone there who did not follow this forum may have had experience of your scenario OR there might be someone with experience of Orchard who might have used it with some other authoring tool and been able to say that did or did not work.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

How to automatically create fillable PDFs from XML

We are looking for a way to create fillable PDFs that users can enter data into and save (so the PDF needs Reader Rights applied) and we want to be able to automatically create these PDFs from XML files. We are able to do what we want in a manual fashion using Acrobat Pro v8 but we need a way to automate this due to the volume of XML files that we will need to convert.
Is there any way that this can be scripted from a command line interface with Acrobat.. like:
Acrobat.exe –input FileName.xml –output FileName.pdf –applyReaderRights true
If there is no command line options for this is there any way that this could be coded using .NET or any other programming language?

You cannot automate applying usage rights with Acrobat. For that you'd need to use Adobe's LiveCycle Reader Extensions.
How exactly are you currently converting XML into fillable forms? Are you using an XDP to somehow convert to an XFA-based PDF?

Creating pdf from clipboard does not import images or formatting

Creating PDF from clipboard works perfect in acrobat X however in acrobat XI no images are imported and the text just defaults to times roman font. My wife uses acrobat for her craft patterns and copies from the web all the time with no issues in Acrobat X. She tried it on Acrobat XI and it just looks like garbage. The text is there but the images that were copied along with the text are not. I have examples that she did using the exact same clipboard in both X and XI.

Bill@VT wrote:
I guess I must not understand how you are transferring the items to the clipboard. Is the browser the same one you used with AA X?
Yes, I used the same browser (Chrome) with AA X and AA XI.
Bill@VT wrote:
When I did it with AA XI, I used the mouse (on a PC) to select the text and figures in my browser and copied that info to the clipboard (ctrl-C on the PC and I assume similar on the MAC).
Yes, the procedure for copying info to the clipboard is similar for a Mac and a PC. I select the info (in this case, text and graphics) with the mouse, and can copy it to the clipboard with either Command-C (Mac equivalent of ctrl-C), or by right-clicking on the highlighted info and choosing "copy" from the pop-up window. I do not have to use Print Screen in conjunction with this procedure. If I use Print Screen, it copies everything that my monitor displays and the results of a paste are an image.
Is there something I am missing about getting the web page parts wanted to the clipboard? If you clip the items into a graphics packages, does the graphics show up as desired?
No, you are not missing anything. All of the web page parts are in the clipboard. The problem is that only the text is showing up when I use the create PDF from clipboard option in AA XI. I do not have a graphics package installed; however, if I paste the clipboard contents into Word, both the text and graphics show up.
I checked the PDF created with my AA XI and found the text as text and the the graphic as graphic, not simply a graphic as you suggested. Is it possible the graphic is shown with a place holder or just space for the graphic. If that is the case, check the preferences that you have "view large images" turned on.
As I explained ad nauseum, the PDF I try to create with AA XI using create PDF from clipboard does not include the graphics; it only has the text. I just checked the preferences and "view large images" is turned on. I could not find any other preference settings that would seem to help with the problem I am having.
I can paste the clipboard contents directly into Word and print the document to a PDF. When I do that, though, I usually have to spend a lot of time editing the Word document, because the contents are not in the same format. The paragraphs are usually squashed together, or the photos are too large and I have to change the size. This just takes up more time than I have to spend.
The bottom line is that it seems to me Adobe must have changed something in the Mac version of AA XI that causes it to not work the same way it does in AA X. The PC version is obviously okay, because you are able to get the feature to work.
I guess I am going to have to give up on this problem and stick with using AA X.
Thanks again for all your help.

Setting margins for "Create PDF from Clipboard"

I'm posting this because I could not find another question that dealt with my problem directly, but after A LOT of searching, and a few failed attempts, I did find the solution.
Problem: When creating a PDF from content copied to the clipboard from a webpage, everything on the page was way off-center, with almost no left margin.
Once the PDF was created, since there is no easy way to adjust page margins, the only way to center everything would have been one page at a time (for 24 pages), by dragging the page contents manually to the center of the page. I tried using the "Set Page Boxes" function, but I ended up with 24 blank pages. Yes, I could export the PDF as a Word document, and then reprint that Word document as a PDF, but I knew there had to be a simpler way.
Solution: When you create a PDF from a clipboard containing text (or in the case of the above document, text and images), Acrobat uses the settings for "Create PDF from Web Page."
Unfortunately, if you look up Convert clipboard content to PDF in Acrobat Help, it doesn't tell you that. AND the settings for "Create PDF from Web Page" are NOT included in the list of settings under Preferences > Convert to PDF. There is an HTML option in that list, but there are no editable settings for that file type (There are actually quite a few such file types listed there, and my question is, if there are no editable settings, why are they even listed under Preferences?). Batch Conversion of Text Files also uses the same settings.
So, here's how to do it:
Select File > Create > PDF from Web Page
Click on Settings
To adjust the default margins for new PDF files created from a clipboard containing text, select the Page Layout tab, and adjust the margins to your liking. Notice how small the Default right and left margins are... hence my problem.
Click on OK to save your new settings, and the simply Cancel out of the "Create PDF from Web Page" dialog box. If you read this page, it says you have to actually create at least one PDF file using the "Create PDF from Web Page" dialog in order for your settings to stick, but I never did, and my settings were saved just fine.
If you're copying basic text (or converting text files), that's all there is to it.
With web page content, there could still be a problem (as there was with this web page), if the content you've selected is not the full width of the web page. I think this has to do with the fact that web pages often use Content Style Sheets to format their page elements, and those styles are transferred when you copy that content to the clipboard. The PDF page margins are technically correct now, as you can see by the position of the image at the top of the page, but the text portion (at the bottom of the page) of the PDF only fills the same percentage of the text area (between the margins) as it did on the web page.
The only solution I have found if this happens, is to export the PDF as a Word document, and adjust the margins there. In the document I was working with in these examples, there were boatloads of different invisible subsections to the document, and each subsection had different settings for right and left indent, fonts, font sizes, etc., so there was a lot more to it than a simple 'copy & paste' type of procedure. Once I corrected all the different elements (and this one had a whole lot of weirdness going on), and then printed it as a new PDF, everything looked much better.
Hopefully this helps someone else find their answer much easier than I found mine
And of course, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for asking. Yes, with either the Crop tool or the Set Page Boxes tool, I could trim the page just fine, removing the excess from the right side, but as soon as I tried to add space to the left side, it just blanked out the whole page. It seemed like it should have worked, and maybe on a simple text file it would have. But that particular array of content proved to be most troublesome.
I also could have just cropped the page down to 6.5 x 11, and then centered it when I printed it.
My primary goal in searching for the answer, and my main reason for posting this, was for setting the margins for future documents (and to help others find those settings,too). Since I still had the web address, I could easily recreate the PDF once I figured out how to set the margins. Of course I didn't realize that there would still be problems once I got the settings right. Like I said, that particular web page seemed to have several unique difficulties.

Acrobat 9 Pro - Create PDF from Word doesn't start

I have Word 2007 and Acrobat 9 Pro installed on Windows 7. I can print a Word file to PDF, but using Create PDF on the Acrobat toolbar does almost nothing. A dialog opens and asks what to name the file, but when I click Save nothing happens. The PDF Maker doesn't even start.
When I go into Acrobat and try to Create PDF from File and select a Word file, I see a message about "starting" but then I get "An unexpected error occurred. PDFMaker was unable to produce the Adobe PDF."
So I essentially have no PDF and no useful error messages to help me find the source of the problem. I've tried repairing the Acrobat installation, and even uninstalling and re-installing, all to no avail. My IT department has tortured me for a few hours trying all the basic stuff, but nothing has helped. I found this problem description in the Adobe Knowledgebase and I followed the steps there, but still nothing. (Yes, I have my name and initials set in Word's personalization settings. That was a dumb bug, wasn't it?)
Anyone had any ideas? I can create basic PDF by printing, but that doesn't give me a hyperlinked table of contents and other good stuff that I need.
Thanks for any help!
Steve

Hi Bill,
Can you tell me a little more about PDF Maker not working in Word? It worked fine for me on my Windows XP machine with Word 2003 and Acrobat 8 (or maybe 9). It sounds like you've had a different experience. I currently have version 9.3.1, but the updater is running right now to update that. Is there another way to install the updates besides with the built-in updater? I don't seem to have control over the order of the updates when I use it.
I will try turning off features to see what happens. It doesn't look like PDF Maker gets started, though, so I don't know if it's getting far enough to even load the list of what features are on/off.

Creating PDF from Office files in Acrobat X for Mac

Dear All - I just installed the Mac version of Acrobat X (with the newest dot release upgrade). I was surprised to find (on my installation anyway) that the only way to create a PDF from an Office document is from within Mac Office, using the print command to create an Adobe PDF.
There is no way to use Create PDF from the initial screen or the menu bar of Mac Acrobat X to convert an existing .doc, .docx, .xls, .ppt, etc. file - the dropdown list of supported formats doesn't include any of the Office formats. Nor does dragging an Office file's icon onto Acrobat's icon work.
I know from the video tutorials on adobe.com that the Windows version of the Acrobat X product does support direct conversion of Office files without having to open them first in Office. Is there something screwy with my particular installation, or is the exclusion of Office conversion in the Acrobat application (as opposed to through Office) a "feature" of the Mac version for some reason?
Many thanks.
Bob

That's a good question, but I don't have a definitive answer. I know that Adobe has claimed to be working on providing PDFMaker capabilities (at least partially) for the Mac, but we haven't seen anything yet. PDFMaker was dropped as of version 9, but even before then, it was considerably less capable than the Windows version.
I believe there are techincal limitations on the Mac that prevent them from integrating it with Microsoft Office products. I know that on WIndows, Office needs to be installed for PDFMaker to work, so Acrobat (PDFMaker) relies in part on MS Office functionality. If the same APIs aren't available on the Mac, there's not a lot they can do apart from implementing a conversion process that does not rely on MS Office, which sounds to me like a considerable undertaking.

Can't create PDF from most MS Office files, or combine

After behaving nicely for months, Acrobat suddenly won't create PDFs, either from the Acrobat menu or (for most) from right-clicking in Explorer. If I try File> Create PDF> From File, the dialog says it's looking for 'all supported formats' but doesn't show any of the files in the folder (not even .TXTs). It'll create a PDF from the right-click menu in Explorer, for only a very a few file types (for example, .docx but not .doc), and it won't do a Combine Files, either from Explorer or from the program, for any filetypes (says 'cannot convert file' on all filetypes).
This worked fine up til today and I have the same setup at work (AA 9 Pro and Office 2010) where it works fine. Tried doing a 'Repair' but no change. Starting to panic here. What went south? Thanks for any clues!

I said to print as a check, not to forget PDF Maker. The print is a temporary work around while you resolve the issue, partiuclarly if you are under time pressure. With versions before AA9, PDF Maker was simply a front end for the printer and when the printer was checked things might fail. So you get some trouble shooting of where the problem is. If you do not want to troubleshoot to see if everything is broken, that is fine.
The updates and repairs are other steps to take. A reinstall is typically a last resort and should include deletion of the Acrobat folder and running a cleaner on the registry after the uninstall.
Generally, if the PDF Maker in WORD does not work, then none of the other options to right click and create a PDF or creating a PDF directly in WORD will not work either. The whole point is to trace down to what is the major problem. Often folks have problems because the PDF Maker is not being recognized in WORD and has to be activated, but you have the icon and that suggests things should work.
Your next step is to check the job settings file. Be sure you have access to the job settings file. You will usually get an error message if this access is denied for some reason and posting the error is helpful.

Adobe Acrobat XI Standard crashes when we create pdf from scanner

We are using adobe acrobat XI standard, version 11.0.06
WIndows 7 Pro 64 bit
scanner: Xerox documate 4799
Acrobat crashes when we create pdf from scanner

Spent quite a while on this one.. My problem was related to twain drivers which reside in c:\windows\twain_32. I'm running windows 7 64-bit. First it's usually possible to scan in windows 7 maybe vista and from adobe without even using twain (using WIA). So try renaming the twain_32 folder to _twain_32 and see what happens... If that stops the crashing look at the contents of the twain folder. I had a Dell folder for some printer I wasn't even using. That was causing the crash. I removed the dell folder and renamed the twain folder back to twain_32. Now everything works as designed.

Acrobat crashes when I try to Create PDF from Web Page

I'm running version 9.3.4 of Adobe Acrobat Pro, on Windows XP version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600. Recently the company I work for created a new website, and I'm supposed to capture it as a PDF every week. But since the change in site, every time I run acrobat to capture the site (5 levels down, staying on the same path), the program crashes after 30 pages. Can anyone offer any advice on what I can do to correct this?
The site apparently uses a content management system called Wordpress. Wordpress uses many plug-ins that use jquery and javascript.

Hi miketayber,
We would love to help, but need to know a bit more to get to the root of the problem. Please tell us:
What version of Acrobat are you using
What operating system you're on
Whether you've been able to scan previously
What you're scanning to (do you have the latest drivers?)
Is there an error message or number associated with the crash?
We look forward to hearing back from you.
Best,
Sara

Adobe v9 on W7 and office 2007. cannot create PDF from MS word using Adobe. But can from Excel, PPT

Adobe v9 on W7 and office 2007. cannot create PDF from MS word using Adobe. But can from Excel, PPT and other MS office apps. Reinslalled Adobe, updated Office, and Adobe no help! Also I can create a pdf from the MS Word and it is using the Adobe 9. So one would think that's good. No it isn't when you need to combine different files to one big PDF document. Any suggetions? Thank you

Yes, I’m saying that I can in WORD use “Save As ADOBE pdf” but cannot in ADOBE create a pdf file from a WORD (.doc or .docx) document. While I can from other MS Office apps like Excel and PowerPoint.
I understand I can use “work around” and save doc in WORD as pdf then compile all files needed (xml, ppt, pdf) in the ADOBE v9. to one big pdf document. But that is not the point of this post.
Jarda @ PC+NET Solutions
Mobile 613-532-7023
Office 613-385-1268
<http://www.pcplusnet.net/> www.pcplusnet.net

Creating pdf from scanner in 10.6.1

The one feature I loved in Acrobat was the ability to scan multiple pages directly into Acrobat as a single file by using the option "Create pdf from scanner." After upgrading to Snow Leopard, this feature still appears in the menu, but no scanners are found. I know of the issues with printers and file extensions, but I guess scanners are seen as another form of printer? I hate scanning to Preview then saving each page as a pdf, then opening in Acrobat to concatenate the files, rotate pages and make any necessary changes. Will the create pdf from scanner ever work again as it used to? Please . . . .

Your problem isn't clear
It is slow, so I understand that you can scan. Perhaps you can check the scanning resolution, if it is an heavy parameter, it is clear than the scan take longer.
When you scan from another application, is it slow ?
Scan Drivers are ok ?
Try VueScan Pro, it is a scanning application that support more than 1700 scanner. Does it work better ?
It can also replace your default driver.
Let us know

Create PDF from Web page using Acrobat X - Page Order

I have a structured web site that is in fact Program Help The web pages are structured as follows:
index.html - Main Topic Index page with links to all topic subject index pages
topic/index.html - Topic Subject Index Page with links to all subject pages
topic/subject.html - Subject page
.....etc
Using Acrobat 5 "Create PDF from Web Page" created a perfect logical PDF page structure in the page order of of the web site. In Acrobat 5 page 1 was the Main Topic Index Page, page 2 was the 1st Topic Subject Index Page, page 3 was the 1st Subject Page, then the 2nd subject of the 1st Topic, etc. until the Topic Subjects were exhausted after which the 2nd Topic Subject Index Page and so it went on. As a result the bookmark structure was sensible. The page order was as follows:
Main Topic Contents
Topic 1 Contents
Subject 1 of Topic 1
Subject 2 of Topic 1
Topic N Contents
Subject 1 of Topic N
Subject 2 of Topic N
Acrobat X (just purchased) produces a differently structured PDF from the same HTML pages. The order is:
Main Topic Contents
Topic 1 Contents
Topic 2 Contents
Topic N Contents
Main Topic Contents (a second time)
Subject 1 of Topic 1
Subject 2 of Topic 1
Subject N of Topic 1
Subject 1 of Topic 2
Subject 2 of Topic 2
Subject N of Topic N
Question: Is there any way I can get back with Acrobat X the same page order I got with Acrobat 5?
Any help appreciated. The website is www.caliach.com/caliach/vision/help/index.html
Chris

Acrobat is using the underlying mark up of the rendered HTML page.
This may or may not provide an adequate input to Acrobat when it is noodling out how and what to tag.
I suspect you may find that, to obtain an adequately tagged PDF, you may have to capture the web page content with the create bookmarks and create tags options off.
Once you have the PDF make working copies.
Try letting Acrobat tag this already created PDF to see what happens.
You may have to manually tag the PDF.
n.b., The default read order for western language can be altered by user selections in the accesibility setup or by selection in the PDF page(s) Page Properties.
Be well...

Creating PDF from XML directly in a content management system?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for