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
  • Is there an example of how I can use this plugin to generate a PDF that has a table with text and pictures?

  • Update: The Appian Health Check report was reporting back false positives as high risk. Please ignore my original message.

  • We are using this plug-in, and in Appian health check report it's flagged as high risk because it's referencing the removed/deprecated Appian APIs. So, will there be an update that will address these issues?

  • Would someone please help here?

    I get the following error while using DOCX from XHTML:
    bundleName for SmartServiceException, builder.smartServiceClass=class com.appiancorp.ps.xmlfo.ss.AbstractDocumentGeneration

    Appian Version: 19.4

  • Apppian Versin: 19.1
    Plugin Version: v1.7.5
    Smart Service: PDF from HTML

    Getting a java.lang.Exception: java.lang.NullPointerException error when trying to run the smart service. I am passing a sample html document stored in the Appian KC. Mapped this document to a variable and passed the variable to the smart service inputs. I have not mapped an input to the "Existing Document" parameter as i am hoping a new pdf document will be generated.

    Can anyone advise what the issue is?

  • Hi Ilan,

    Would like to mention that we have encountered the below error while re-deploying the plugin to version 1.7.5 in one of the environments.

    We had saved XSLParameter CDT initially. Then to upgrade the plugin, i tried to redeploy the same but got the error as mentioned below.

    Hence, have deleted the CDT from Appian Designer and tried to redeploy the plugin. It seems like the old version of CDT still exists in the environment and is not allowing to deploy the plugin.

    Please let us know if you have the resolution.

    2019-12-01 15:22:01,697 [ajp-nio-8009-exec-4] INFO  com.appiancorp.plugins.AppianPluginManager - Updating plugin 'DynamicDocumentGen:1.7.5 There was a problem loading the module descriptor: TextDocFromXslt.<br/>com.appiancorp.suiteapi.type.exceptions.InvalidTypeException: com.appiancorp.suiteapi.common.exceptions.AppianException: Invalid Type: Unsupported type [Lcom.appiancorp.ps.xmlfo.types.XslParameter; (APNX-1-4047-000)' to 'DynamicDocumentGen'
    2019-12-01 15:22:01,902 [ajp-nio-8009-exec-4] ERROR com.appiancorp.type.config.plugin.PojoDatatypesConfig - The data type [uuid={urn:appian:ps:dynamicdocgen}XslParameter] in plug-in [key=DynamicDocumentGen, module=XslParameter] was not imported because it or another data type in the plug-in module was already present on the system with a different structure, and the version number of this plug-in is not greater than the deployed plug-in that last updated this data type. You must increment the plug-in version number in the appian-plugin.xml file and deploy this plug-in again. If the problem persists after incrementing the version number, check that all data type precedents of the data type are declared in the same plug-in module or are listed before this data type in the appian-plug.xml. (APNX-1-4165-004)
    2019-12-01 15:22:01,922 [ajp-nio-8009-exec-4] INFO  com.appiancorp.process.admin.LoadACSchemas - Attempted to skip registration of [com.appiancorp.ps.xmlfo.ss.PdfFromDocx3] as it is current [1.7.5], but the ActivityClassSchema was not registered, so re-registering
    2019-12-01 15:22:01,958 [ajp-nio-8009-exec-4] INFO  com.appiancorp.process.admin.LoadACSchemas - Attempted to skip registration of [com.appiancorp.ps.xmlfo.ss.DocxFromXhtmlWithStyling] as it is current [1.7.5], but the ActivityClassSchema was not registered, so re-registering
    2019-12-01 15:22:01,987 [ajp-nio-8009-exec-4] INFO  com.appiancorp.process.admin.LoadACSchemas - Attempted to skip registration of [com.appiancorp.ps.xmlfo.ss.DocxMergeWithSeparator] as it is current [1.7.5], but the ActivityClassSchema was not registered, so re-registering
    2019-12-01 15:22:02,016 [ajp-nio-8009-exec-4] ERROR com.atlassian.plugin.manager.DefaultPluginManager - There was an error loading the descriptor 'TextDocFromXslt' of plugin 'DynamicDocumentGen'. Disabling.
    com.atlassian.plugin.PluginException: com.appiancorp.suiteapi.type.exceptions.InvalidTypeException: com.appiancorp.suiteapi.common.exceptions.AppianException: Invalid Type: Unsupported type [Lcom.appiancorp.ps.xmlfo.types.XslParameter; (APNX-1-4047-000)
  • I am using the PDF from Docx smart service included in this plugin. One of the inputs is "P D F Options". I cannot find any documentation or comments explaining how the Options are configured. Does anyone have more information on this? 

  • DOCX from dynamic template seems to be turning single spaces into double spaces randomly. Any advice on how to fix this. Our template is very simple.

  • Hey Illan, your post was probably the most helpful among anything else I found on the web. So thanks for that! I do have one question though: Do you know a way to insert a page break into docx so that the first element on the new page is a Heading1 element? The problems I've encountered so far is that if I wrap a page break around <p> tags, the first line of the new page is empty. And if I put in multiple classes inside a <p> tag, only the first class renders. Let me know if you know of any workarounds!

  • Sorry - Community apparently doesn't auto-notify about replies here, so I never saw your followup questions Disappointed