On-demand documents

Use an on-demand call to get a finished document back in one call, without an Editor session. You send the data, Pages builds the document from the template in your logic file, and the response is the file.

The common parts of every call, such as the path, the token and the response codes, are on Calling the Pages API. Paths on this page leave out the optional environment group.

Choose a format

Pick the endpoint by the data you have and the file you want. Every endpoint is a POST to /{customerEnvironment}/ followed by the path in the table.

A simplex document is meant for single-sided printing.

HTML is only available for documents that have a Content template in the logic file.

The Draft stamp on a preview PDF marks the document as not final. Use it to show the user what the document will look like.

Send the request

For XML and JSON data, the body has the same fields on every endpoint:

This example sends JSON data, so it goes to a jsondata endpoint such as pdf/create/jsondata:

{
  "MetaFile": "OrderConfirmations",
  "Document": "OrderConfirmation",
  "DataAsBase64": "eyJjdXN0b21lciI6Ik5vcmRseXMgQVMiLCJudW1iZXIiOjEwMDQyfQ=="
}

The endpoints that start from DXML take these fields instead:

Read the response

The response body is the file, with the extension .pdf, .html, .mfdx or .xml. For XML and JSON data its name is made from the logic file, the document and a new unique value. For DXML the name is only a new unique value.

MFDX layout

The MFDX format is a really simple format that contains PDF and metadata in XML format in one package. The file starts with 1 byte that reveals the format followed by a 4 byte long length indicator followed by the PDF bytes. This is followed by another 4 byte long length indicator and the XML in UTF8 encoding. The length indicators are in big-endian byte order, and each attribute of the XML element is one metadata value.

Attachments

A document can carry attachments. Each item in Attachments has a Type of MFL, PDF or AXML:

All types also take Name, Order (the place in the list) and SubstituteData, which says whether your data is filled into the attachment (default true).

PageRanges selects which pages to use. Each range has a Start and an End page number, counted from 1.

Pdf2AxmlOptions tells Pages how to convert a PDF:

{
  "MetaFile": "OrderConfirmations",
  "Document": "OrderConfirmation",
  "DataAsBase64": "eyJjdXN0b21lciI6Ik5vcmRseXMgQVMiLCJudW1iZXIiOjEwMDQyfQ==",
  "Attachments": [
    {
      "Type": "PDF",
      "Name": "Terms",
      "Order": 1,
      "FileAsBase64": "JVBERi0xLjQK...",
      "PageRanges": [ { "Start": 1, "End": 2 } ],
      "Pdf2AxmlOptions": { "Duplex": false, "Dpi": 150, "ColorDepth": "BW" }
    }
  ]
}

PDF and AXML attachments are part of newer versions of Pages. If your environment does not accept them, it is on an older version.

A PDF and an AXML attachment each have a size limit, and the DXML and all attachments together have one too. See Limitations. These errors can come back with an attachment:

List published attachments

POST /{customerEnvironment}/attachments

Returns the metadata of the published attachments that match the search in the body. Top is required and sets the most rows to return. Id must match exactly. Name, Description and Group match as a partial text, and an empty field is left out of the search. Each result has Id, Name, Group, Description, MetaLogic, DocumentName, SaveTime and UserID.

{ "Top": 20, "Group": "Terms" }