Dynamic PDFs

The Dynamic PDF option allows you to create a PDF document using our Rich Text Editor.  You can design your PDF using the WYSIWYG editor or using your own HTML & CSS. You have complete control over the layout of the PDF from colors, layouts and font's to the inclusion of wildcards, rules and conditional content for personalized results.

PDFs are created and managed using the PDF Wizard. In the Form Designer, from the Post Processing menu, choose PDF Generation.

On This Page

• Creating a Template
• General Settings
• PDF Document Settings
• Security and Permissions
• Header, Footer &  Body Content

Creating a Template

1. In the PDF Population Templates window, click Create New Template. Or if you have already created one or more profiles, click the Create New Template menu item.

2. Note the description of this wizard and click Next. The selection page appears listing four choices.

3. Choose Dynamic PDF Document and click Next to move forward in the wizard.

General Settings

1. In the Profile Name field, enter a meaningful name for this profile.

2. In "the Generated PDF filename" field enter the name of the PDF that will be generated. Click the wildcard icon to insert one of the fields from your form in the file name. For example, if you are going to send this PDF to a customer, you might want to include their last name or their order number in the file name.

3. If needed, click the Edit Rule button to configure the Execution Rule using the standard Logiforms Rules screen. This rule determines if the PDF document will be generated. This can be useful if you have set up multiple PDF templates, but only want one of them to be generated based on this rule.

4. In the Page Layout section, choose the page size in the Page Type drop-down menu. The default is standard North American 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper but you can select eight other options including legal size paper and European A4 and A5. If you select Custom, an additional field displays where you must enter the width and height of your paper in inches.

5. The Scale/Orientation settings default to 100% and Portrait mode. Set the Scale to blank if you need to retain the original size of your document, otherwise enter a number up to 100%. Choose Landscape from the dropdown list if you need a horizontal orientation.

6. In Page Margins, specify the top, right, bottom, and left margins in inches or fractions of an inch.

   Setting Page Margins

   If your document includes a header, the top margin must be adjusted to provide enough space for the header. The margins are specified in inches. Try using .75, or 1 as the top margin when you include a header.

   
    
   You may need to generate the PDF several times and check your ouput carefully, adjusting these margin settings each time. You need to provide the right amount of space for the header. If the top margin is not large enough for the header, the header will shrink, or if you are using the Alternate PDF Rendering Engine the body will overlap the header.

7. Under Rendering Engine, we highly recommend you leave the default recommended option checked.The default PDF rendering engine has full support for CSS Paged Media specification.

8. Click Next to move forward in the wizard.

PDF Document Settings

1. The default for Update Option is false. Change to true if you want to regenerate the PDF each time the record is updated. This can cause some performance decrease, which may be significant for high-volume processing.

2. In the New PDF Field Name, enter a name for the hidden field on your form that will be created to contain the filename of the PDF. Or if you have already created a hidden field to hold the PDF, choose Use Existing PDF Field and choose it from the dropdown list that appears.

3. If you wish to include Lookup Data in your PDF from one or more alternate forms, select the Include Alternate Lookup Data checkbox. See Using Lookup Data for details on configuring and managing Lookup Data sources.

4. Click Next to move to Security & Permissions.

Security and Permissions

1. If you need to restrict access to the attachments folder where generated PDF documents are stored, check Secure PDF Attachment Directory. If you apply this security option, you can not include a link to the PDF in the body of an email because the directory will no longer be web accessible. You can, however, still attach PDFs to your autoresponder and notification emails.

2. To secure the file itself, in the PDF Encryption field, choose 128-bit or 40-bit.

3. If you choose Encryption, you must specify an Owner Password and a User Password, and choose which Permissions you want to enable for the file. Note that you can use a wildcard value as the user password to create a password unique for each form submission.

4. Click Next to proceed to Header, Footer & Body Content.

If you selected the Include Alternate Lookup Data checkbox, the Lookup DataSource page displays. See Using Lookup Data for details on configuring and managing Lookup Data sources.

Header, Footer & Body Content

1. If you need one, click Edit Header. A Text Editor window opens. Enter text, insert wildcards and graphics, as necessary. Click Save.

2. If you need one, click Edit Footer. A Text Editor window opens. Enter text, insert wildcards and graphics, as necessary. Click Save.

3. Click Edit Document Body. A Text Editor window opens. Enter text, insert wildcards and graphics, as necessary. On the  Insert Wildcard command, you have the option to Insert All Wildcards. This saves time if you need to include all or most of the fields in your PDF. You also have the option to insert a PDF Page Break. Click Save.

   • If you selected the Include Alternate Lookup Data checkbox, see Using Lookup Data to add Lookup Data to the document body.

4. Click Finish to commit the changes. In a moment, the new template will appear in the PDF Population Templates management window. The name of the template displays with the words Dynamic Document under it.

   Known Issue

   There are known issues with the Grammarly plugin. We recommend you disable Grammarly for Logiforms. When the Grammarly plugin is enabled, it inserts CSS and JS into the editor which can generate errors when the PDF is created.