Introduction:
The following document will go through the functionality found within JetTrac PDFMerge. This module is used to populate a fillable PDF AcroForm with field data by importing the data from an XML file.
Technical Support:
If you need assistance in installing and configuring JetTrac PDFMerge™, call Pro Technology Automation, Inc. at 805-527-1248 or email us at support@protechinc.com. Please note that the JetTrac PDFMerge™ license fee does not cover configuration services and technical support so there may be an additional charge. Please ensure you read these instructions carefully before calling for technical support.
How to run JetTrac PDFMerge:
To run the program, you will need to have the following files located in the same folder:
- JTPDFMerge.exe
- ExitHandler.dll
- DebenuPDFLibraryDLL1311.dll
Executable files and dll files should not be edited for any reason.
Default Functionality:
JetTrac PDFMerge takes an input XML file and blank AcroForm template, merges the data, and then outputs a finished AcroForm with the data from the XML populated into the fields. In order for JetTrac PDFMerge to merge the XML data with the AcroForm, the data nodes within the XML file need to match up with field names within the AcroForm. Any field names within the XML that are not found within the AcroForm will not be merged into the final output AcroForm.
Job Step Configuration Window in JobConfig for JetTrac PDFMerge:
When setting up a job step using JTPDFMerge in JobConfig the only lines of the config you need to worry about are the first and the last two, the PDF Template, the Input XML and the Merged PDF. If left as an asterisk * the input will be whatever file is in the data folder that triggered the job running. This works well if it’s the first step but if the input is also the output of a previous job step you would need to specify the fully qualified path of the Input XML to be merged into the PDF Template. All other fields should be filled with the fully qualified path to the intended file. Eg: C:\JetTrac\…\input.pdf
In JobConfig, file paths entered should not be in quotes.
As with all modules, there is a dropdown to select whether or not the job should stop completely if this step fails. If you select Yes, any error will terminate the job process and write to the log file what happened, if no, then the job will try to continue anyways. However if any steps further down the line rely on the output of a job set to not stop on error, they may not work properly.
For more specifics go to the JetTrac Field ServiceJobConfig page.
JetTrac PDFMerge Command Line:
The command line to run JetTrac PDFMerge contains the location of the executable, the input XML file, the output merged AcroForm, the AcroForm template, the log file, and a static tag of ACROFORM. The following is an example of the command line used to run this module:
“C:\JTPDFMerge.exe” “C:\Input.xml” “C:\Merged.pdf” “C:\Template.pdf” “C:\PdfMerge.log” ACROFORM
Each part of the line is divided by spaces (the amount doesn’t matter), and contains the fully qualified file path to the file you are referencing surrounded by quotes. In the example all of the file paths reference the root of C:\, however, it is likely that none of these files will be located in the root of C:\ for your system, so this is simply demonstrating that the full file path is required.
Additional Notes:
In order to successfully run JetTrac PDFMerge the XML input file must be properly formatted XML data, and the AcroForm template must be an AcroForm designed with Adobe Acrobat (as opposed to an XFA form).