Export data to pdf file in ALBPM ?

Question

Hi,
Can anyone tell me how to export all my data that are rendered in a jsp file to a PDF file in ALBPM
i.e I want all my data that are there in jsp page, onclick of a button all those data will be printed/posted on a pdf file with a specified file name.
Regards,
Bibhu

Answer 1

I have used the iText java library to create PDF files in ALBPM 5.7 and OBPM 10gr3. There is a bit of cut and paste programming involved, but it worked out great for us.
http://itextpdf.com/
Here is a short code snippet (about 150 lines) so you can see what kind of code would be required
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font bold20 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 20,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.BOLD);
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font bold9 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 9,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.BOLD);
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font bold8 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 8,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.BOLD);
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font italic9 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 9,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.ITALIC);
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font italic8 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 8,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.ITALIC);
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font normal20 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 20,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.NORMAL);
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font normal12 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 12,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.NORMAL);
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font normal9 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 9,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.NORMAL);
    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font normal8 = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font(IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.HELVETICA, 8,
                                                                    IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Font.NORMAL);
    // step 1:
    // we create a writer that listens to the document
    // and directs a PDF-stream to a file or outputstream
    //fileOut = FileOutputStream(arg1 : "test.pdf");
    //byteOut = ByteArrayOutputStream();
    // step 2: set the page size
    rec = Rectangle(arg1 : 8.5 * 72, arg2 : 11 * 72);
    //rec.setGrayFill(1.0f);
    // step 3: creation of a document-object
    document = IText.Com.Lowagie.Text.Document(rec);
    // step 4:
    // we create a writer that listens to the document
    //PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(arg1 : document, arg2 : Java.Io.FileOutputStream("./HelloWorld.pdf"));
    PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(arg1 : document, arg2 : byteOut);
    // step 5: we open the document
    document.open();
    //document.setMargins(arg1 : 0.2f, arg2 : 0.2f, arg3 : 0.3f, arg4 : 0.3f);
    PdfContentByte pdfCByte = writer.getDirectContent();
    pdfCByte.rectangle(25,25, 562, 742);
                   //pdfCByte.moveTo(140, 700);
               //pdfCByte.lineTo(240, 700);
               //pdfCByte.lineTo(240, 800);
               //pdfCByte.lineTo(140, 800);
    pdfCByte.closePathStroke();
    //pdfCByte.setGrayFill(1.0f);
    // step 6a: Create
    // step 6: add contents to the page
    table = PdfPTable(1);
    table.setWidthPercentage(80);
    table.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE);
    emptyTable = PdfPTable(1);
    emptyTable.setWidthPercentage(arg1 : 100);
    emptyCell2 = PdfPCell(Paragraph(""));
    emptyCell2.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    emptyTable.addCell(emptyCell2);
    para = Paragraph(30, "Data Data Data Example", normal20);
    cell = PdfPCell(para);
    cell.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
    cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    table.addCell(cell);
    document.add(arg1 : table);
    document.add(emptyTable);
    document.add(emptyTable);
    document.add(emptyTable);
    table = PdfPTable(1);
    table.setWidthPercentage(80);
    table.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE);
    para = Paragraph(30, struct.headerInfo, normal9);
    cell = PdfPCell(para);
    cell.setGrayFill(0.85f);
    cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    table.addCell(cell);
    document.add(arg1 : table);
    document.add(emptyTable);
    document.add(emptyTable);
    // Line #1 NEW Table
    table = PdfPTable(17);
    table.setWidthPercentage(100);
    para1 = Paragraph(30);
    p1 = Phrase ("Requested Date : ", bold9);
    SimpleDateFormat formatter;
    formatter = SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy h:mm:ss a");
    evalDateStr = String.valueOf(Utils.notNullString( (object.requestDate==null)?"":object.requestDate.format(formatter : formatter)));
    p2 = Phrase ( evalDateStr, italic9);
    para1.add(p1);
    para1.add(p2);
    cell = PdfPCell(para1);
    cell.setGrayFill(0.85f);
    cell.setColspan(8);
    cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    table.addCell(cell);
    emptyCell = PdfPCell(Paragraph(""));
    emptyCell.setGrayFill(1.0f);
    emptyCell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    table.addCell(emptyCell);
    para1 = Paragraph();
    p1 = Phrase ("Coordinates: ", bold9);
    para1.add(p1); 
    cell = PdfPCell(para1);
    cell.setGrayFill(0.85f);
    cell.setColspan(8);
    cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    table.addCell(cell);
    // Line #2
    para1 = Paragraph(30);
    p1 = Phrase ("Contact : ", bold9);
    p2 = Phrase ( varContact   , italic9);
    para1.add(p1);
    para1.add(p2);
    cell = PdfPCell(para1);
    cell.setGrayFill(0.85f);
    cell.setColspan(8);
    cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    table.addCell(cell);
    emptyCell.setGrayFill(1.0f);
    table.addCell(emptyCell);
    emptyCell.setGrayFill(0.85f);
    table.addCell(emptyCell);
    para1 = Paragraph();
    p1 = Phrase ("Latitude : ", bold9);
    p2 = Phrase (object.lat, italic9);
    para1.add(p1);
    para1.add(p2);
    cell = PdfPCell(para1);
    cell.setGrayFill(0.85f);
    cell.setColspan(7);
    cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
    table.addCell(cell); 
//add the table to the document
    document.add(table);
// close the document
    document.close();