Dynamic Document Generator

Overview

This version is for Appian 23.2 and above. Cloud customers on a lower version of Appian that want to install this plugin should open a support case. Self-managed customers can find the latest jar for Appian 23.1 and lower version in the folder pre-23.2

Convert, merge and generate DOCX, PDF and XML files automatically in an Appian process

Key Features & Functionality

  • PDF from single DOCX with Fonts
    • Convert multiple DOCX files into a single PDF. Please note that the translation from DOCX to PDF is not always 1:1. The template may need to be tweaked or simplified to achieve the desired results.
  • PDF from DOCX without Fonts
    • Convert multiple DOCX files into a single PDF. Please note that the translation from DOCX to PDF is not always 1:1. The template may need to be tweaked or simplified to achieve the desired results. This will not support fonts.
  • PDF from XSL-FO Transformation
    • Uses XSLT to convert an XML to XSL-FO which is then converted to PDF
  • PDF from HTML
    • Converts an HTML document into a single page PDF.
  • PDF from HTML Transformation
    • Uses XSLT to convert an XML to HTML which is then converted to PDF
  • Text Doc from XSLT
    • Uses XSLT to convert an XML to a plain text document (such as HTML, another XML doc, etc).
  • DOCX from XHTML With Styling
    • Converts a valid XHTML file into a DOCX, allowing you to provide your own template file for style reference. Useful for creating dynamic documents that are editable
  • DOCX Merge
    • Merges one or more DOCX files together. If a header or footer exists in any document, they will be removed during the merge process.
    • A configurable separator can be specified: none, line break or page break

Function: xsltransform - Transform source XML using XSL Transform

Anonymous
  • Hello,

    We are using the DOCX from XHTML plugin to convert an XHTML file to a DOCX. The source XHTML file (which actually has a .html extension) contains the following html:

    <tr style="background-color:green">

    All the content from the entire HTML document is coming through as we would expect, including the content of the table, except for the background color of this <tr>. Background colors come through via <span> tags, but not via the <tr> tag. We also tried CSS in a <style> tag, but that didn't work either, nor is it a feasible solution for this purpose.

  • Hi all - 

    Our team uses the DOCX Merge and saves the final document to send out in an email (Send E-mail smart service) as an attachment. Some emails are not sending while some are. For both instances, there is no forced exception/error stopping the process models, and they go through the DOCX merge and process model that sends out the email fine. PauseOnError is set to True. For reports that are not sending, the merged file saves successfully into the folder as set in the SaveInFolder input, and there is no error message from the ErrorText output, however, the final document that should be saved into the NewDocumentCreated output is not saving. I assume this is why the email is not sending as well - but I am not sure about this, I am still researching.

    What are the exceptions that the error messages should catch? I am not sure how to solve this problem because there is no error message that presents. I am able to download and view the attachments that should send from the Folder.

  • Hi Team,

    Working on "HTML Doc from Template" smart service to generate a HTML page and "PDF from HTML" smart service to generate PDF, HTML to PDF conversion is working fine when there are few records but when I have tested for around 2500 records, server crashed and there were logs with message "server's heap running out of memory".

    Appian version is 23.4

    So, I went with another approach, where I will be splitting the data based on a category and generating multiple PDF's and merging them with "Merge PDF" smart service.

    Could you please let me know all the limitations related to smart services "PDF from HTML" smart service and "Merge PDF"


    Thank you
    Madhu

  • For the PDF from HTML smart service is there a known limit to the amount of data this node can handle? We are experience application server crashes when attempting to send approximately 2500 records worth of data to this node.

  • PDF from DOCX smart service is unable to convert foreign language Japanese or Chinese using the document generated from the DOCX from Dynamic Template smart service. 

    We have a requirement to collect some application data and to convert to pdf. Our data has Japanese, Chinese and multiple languages. The DOCX from Dynamic Template is successfully generating documents in given languages but when we use the PDF from DOCX / PDF from single DOCX (with fonts) / PDF from multiple DOCX smart services, either other that english characters are skipped or # is used in place. We have updated both Advanced Document Templating and Dynamic Document Generator to the latest version.

    Please can you help with how to get PDF from DOCX that has multiple languages.

  • v2.2.0 Release Notes
    • Updated deprecated APIs, added License File, and changed the application minimum version to 23.2
  • Hey,

    I'm facing the same issue, multiple font files are working but the bold styling font is not supported by the smart service. 
    Kindly tag me in case any fix or workaround is found.

    Thanks.

  • v2.1.2 Release Notes
    • Updates to batik all library

  • In the 23.2 release, Appian introduced modernized file management APIs that offer a cleaner abstraction layer for easier file handling within Appian. We simultaneously announced that we are deprecating some older APIs. We are aware of the utilization of deprecated APIs within some AppMarket plug-ins that work with documents. As part of our commitment to ensuring compatibility, we anticipate all Appian-authored plug-ins currently using deprecated APIs to be updated for API compatibility by the 24.1 General Availability (GA) release. We also proactively work with Partner plug-in authors to ensure all AppMarket plug-ins have optimal performance and functionality. 

    If you have any questions or require AppMarket assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out by sending an email to appmarket@appian.com.
  • Hi!

    I am trying to use the PDF from Single DOCX (with Fonts) Smart Service but when the document is converted to PDF, the bold format disappear even though I'm including the bold font on the smart service.

      (docx document)

      (PDF document)

    Can anyone help?

    Thanks!