Creating PDF template

Tip

Advantages of using PDF templates:

• Can produce PDF files.

Caution

Disadvantages in comparison with Text templates:

• Produce bigger documents.
• More difficulties in maintaining the templates in time.
• More time needed in the creation of the document (especially when the PDF optimization configuration parameter is enabled )

You can create PDF template forms with several applications:

• Acrobat Pro
• How-to: Create PDF forms with OpenOffice
• PDF Forms Designer

Note

Every PDF form field name needs to be unique, you can’t set the same property value to several form fields.

When converting from OpenOffice document to PDF, repeated form fields are renamed to original_name_2, original_name_3, etc.

If you need to put the same property value in several fields, try Creating LibreOffice templates.

Tip

In the sample below, we’ve used OpenOffice to create a PDF template.

Preliminaries

Register the Metadata group definition at Administration > Metadata.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE property-groups PUBLIC "-//OpenKM//DTD Property Groups 2.1//EN"
                                 "http://www.openkm.com/dtd/property-groups-2.1.dtd">
<property-groups>
  <property-group label="Sample Template" name="okg:tpl">
    <input label="Name" name="okp:tpl.name"/>
    <input label="Birth Date" name="okp:tpl.birth_date" type="date" />
    <select label="Language" name="okp:tpl.language" type="simple">
      <option label="Java" value="java"/>
      <option label="Python" value="python"/>
      <option label="PHP" value="php" />
    </select>
  </property-group>
</property-groups>

In order to make a relation between the template form field and the property group, you have to name them following a naming convention: replace “:” and “.” with “_”. Here you can see some example conversions:

Metadata field name	Template field name	Template field value
okp:tpl.name	okp_tpl_name	${okp_tpl_name!}
okp:tpl.birth_date	okp_tpl_birth_date	${okp_tpl_birth_date!}
okp:tpl.language	okp_tpl_language	${okp_tpl_language!}

Creating the template

To create a template in OpenOffice.org go to View > Toolbars > Form Controls.

A new dialogue box will appear and you will be able to add form elements to the document. This dialogue contains stuff such as Labels, Text Boxes, Check Boxes, and other tools.

Once the form has been created, go to File > Export as PDF to generate a PDF with these form fields. This is the final result:

You can download the generated PDF file here: tpl.pdf and this is the ODT source tpl_pdf.odt.

Date format

OpenKM uses FreeMarker, so you can take advantage of the FreeMarker formatting flexibilities. For example you can set date format by this way:

${okp_tpl_birth_date?string("yyyy-MM-dd")}

Learn more about FreeMarker formatting at: Built-in Reference.  

Configuring sample

• Upload tpl.pdf file at /okm:templates
• Register metadata definition okg:tpl at Administration > Metadata 
• Enable metadata from profiles at Administration > Profiles 
• Add metadata group okg:tpl to tpl.pdf file.