Creating a PDF from DLEX (dlex-layout Endpoint)

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Use the `dlex-layout` endpoint to create PDF reports dynamically on the cloud.

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This tutorial illustrates using a DLEX file and associated JSON data to generate a PDF using the DynamicPDF API's dlex-layout endpoint.

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Required Resources

To complete this tutorial, you must add the Create PDF (dlex-layout Endpoint) sample to your samples folder in your cloud storage space using the File Manager. After adding the sample resources, you should see a samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint folder containing the resources for this tutorial.

Sample	Sample Folder	Resources
Create PDF (dlex-layout endpoint)	samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint	create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex, create-pdf-dlex-layout.png, create-pdf-dlex-layout.json

• From the File Manager, download create-pdf-dlex-layout.json to your local system; here we assume /temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout.

Resource	Cloud/Local
create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex	cloud
create-pdf-dlex-layout.png	cloud
create-pdf-dlex-layout.json	local

tip

See Sample Resources for instructions on adding sample resources.

If you are not familiar with the File Manager or Apps and API Keys, refer to the following tutorial and relevant Users Guide pages.

• Exploring the File Manager and Apps and API Keys
• File Manager
• Apps and API Keys

Obtaining API Key

This tutorial assumes a valid API key obtained from the DynamicPDF API's Portal. Refer to the following for instructions on getting an API key.

• Apps and API Keys

tip

If you are not familiar with the File Manager or Apps and API Keys, refer to the following tutorial and relevant Users Guide pages.

• Exploring the File Manager and Apps and API Keys
• File Manager
• Apps and API Keys

Test DLEX on Cloud

Typically, when using the dlex-layout endpoint you would first create the DLEX on the cloud using test data.

info

Remember, layout data is your organization's data, keep this data safe by never storing it in the cloud - unless the data is sample data

Let's test in Designer that the report is correct.

• Navigate to the File Manager and double-click on the create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex file to open the DLEX in Designer.

info

Note that if the DLEX file and the JSON file have the same name and are in the same folder, then Designer will attempt to load the data automatically.

• Run the report by clicking the Run Report (the green arrow) button.

Figure 1. Running a report in Designer displays the report in a new browser tab.

Make Request Using API

• Create a new POST request and add the two form fields listed in the following table. Note that the LayoutData is a file on your local system while DlexPath refers to the DLEX file in the File Manager.

Parameter	Parameter Type	Value
Authorization	Header	Bearer: DP.xxx-api-key-xxx
DlexPath	Form Field	samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex
LayoutData	Form file field.	C:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creatingpdf-dlex-layout/create-pdf-dlex-layout.json

• Create the following cURL command where the PDF is sent to the endpoint as binary data.

curl -X POST "https://api.dynamicpdf.com/v1.0/dlex-layout" 
-H "Authorization: Bearer DP.xxx-api-key-xxx" 
-F "DlexPath=samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex" 
-F "LayoutData=@C:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-layout.json" 
-o create-pdf-dlex-layout-output.pdf

• Execute the cURL command and the PDF should be written to your local system.

info

Note that if the create-pdf-dlex-layout.pdf file cannot be opened, then open it in a text editor to view the JSON error. This is a cURL limitation, Postman will display the error.

Figure 1. The report created from the DLEX and JSON layout data.

Calling Endpoint Using Client Library

To simplify development, you can also use one of the DynamicPDF API client libraries. Use the client library of your choice to complete this tutorial section.

Complete Source

You can access the complete source for this project at one of the following GitHub projects.

Language	File Name	Location (package/namespace/etc.)	GitHub Project
Java	CreatingPdfDlexLayout.java	com.dynamicpdf.api.examples	https://github.com/dynamicpdf-api/java-client-examples
C#	Program.cs	CreatingPdfDlexLayout	https://github.com/dynamicpdf-api/dotnet-client-examples
Nodejs	CreatingPdfDlexLayout.js	nodejs-client-examples	https://github.com/dynamicpdf-api/nodejs-client-examples
PHP	CreatingPdfDlexLayout.php	php-client-examples	https://github.com/dynamicpdf-api/php-client-examples
GO	dlex-layout-example.go	go-client-examples	https://github.com/dynamicpdf-api/go-client-examples/tree/main
Python	DlexLayoutExample.py	python-client-examples	https://github.com/dynamicpdf-api/python-client-examples

tip

Click on the language tab of choice to view the tutorial steps for the particular language.

C# (.NET)

Available on NuGet:

Install-Package DynamicPDF.API

• Create a new Console App (.NET Core) project named CreatingPdfDlexLayout.
• Add the DynamicPDF.API NuGet package.
• Create a new static method named Run.
• In Run create a new LayoutData instance and in the constructor pass the path to the layout data on your local system.
• Create a new DlexLayout instance and in the constructor pass the cloud path in the File Manager and theLayoutData instance.
• Add a call to the Process method the returns a PdfResponse instance.
• If the call to the endpoint is successful, then save the response's PDF content to a file.
• Run the application and the PDF is written to your local system.

  using DynamicPDF.Api;
  using System;
  using System.IO;
  
  namespace CreatingPdfDlexLayout
  {
      class Program
      {
          static void Main(string[] args)
          {
              Run("DP.xxx-api-key-xxx", "C:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/");
          }
  
          public static void Run(String apiKey, String basePath)
          {
              {
                  //get the layout data from local system
                  LayoutDataResource layoutData = new LayoutDataResource(basePath + "create-pdf-dlex-layout.json");
                  
                  // specify the dlex on cloud and load layoutdata
                  DlexLayout dlexEndpoint = new DlexLayout("samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex", layoutData);
                  dlexEndpoint.ApiKey = apiKey;
                  
                  //call the endpoint and get response
                  PdfResponse response = dlexEndpoint.Process();
                  
                  //if successful write response to filesystem
                  if (response.isSuccessful)
                  {
                      File.WriteAllBytes(basePath + "create-pdf-dlex-output.pdf", (byte[])response.Content);
                  }
                  else
                  {
                      Console.WriteLine(response.ErrorJson);
                  }
              }
          }
      }
  }

Java

Available on NPM:

npm i @dynamicpdf/api

• Use npm to install the DynamicPDF API module.
• Create a new class named CreatePdfDlexLayout.
• Create a static Run method.
• In Run create a new LayoutData instance and in the constructor pass the path to the layout data on your local system.
• Create a new DlexLayout instance and in the constructor pass the cloud path in the File Manager and theLayoutData instance.
• Add a call to the process method the returns a PdfResponse instance.
• If the call to the endpoint is successful, then save the response's PDF content to a file.
• Add a call to the Run method below the class definition.

  import fs from 'fs';
  import {
      LayoutDataResource,
      DlexLayout
  } from "@dynamicpdf/api"
  
  export class CreatingPdfDlexLayout {
      static async Run() {
          
          //get layout data from local system
          var layoutData = new LayoutDataResource("C:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-layout.json");
          
          //load dlex from cloud and layout data
          var dlexEndpoint = new DlexLayout("samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex", layoutData);
          dlexEndpoint.apiKey = "DP.xxx-api-key-xxx";
          
          //call the dlex-layout endpoint and get reslts
          var res = await dlexEndpoint.process();
          
          //if successful then save to file
          if (res.isSuccessful) {
              var outFile = "C:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-output.pdf";
              var outStream = fs.createWriteStream(outFile);
              outStream.write(res.content);
              outStream.close();
          } else {
              console.log(response.errorJson);
          }
      }
  }
  await CreatingPdfDlexLayout.Run();

• Run the application node CreatingPdfDlexLayout.js and the JSON is output to the console.

Node.js

Available on Maven:

https://search.maven.org/search?q=g:com.dynamicpdf.api

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.dynamicpdf.api</groupId>
  <artifactId>dynamicpdf-api</artifactId>
  <version>1.0.0</version>
</dependency>

• Create a new Maven project and add the DynamicPDF API as a dependency, also add the Apache Commons IO library.
• Create a new class named CreatingPdfDlexLayout with a main method.

<dependency>
    <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
    <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
    <version>2.8.0</version>
</dependency>

• Create a new class named CreatingPdfDlexLayout with a main method.
• Create a new static method named Run.
• In Run create a new LayoutData instance and in the constructor pass the path to the layout data on your local system.
• Create a new DlexLayout instance and in the constructor pass the cloud path in the File Manager and theLayoutData instance.
• Add a call to the process method the returns a PdfResponse instance.
• If the call to the endpoint is successful, then save the response's PDF content to a file.
• Run the application and the PDF is written to your local system.

package com.dynamicpdf.api.examples;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
import com.dynamicpdf.api.DlexLayout;
import com.dynamicpdf.api.LayoutDataResource;
import com.dynamicpdf.api.PdfResponse;

public class CreatingPdfDlexLayout {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        CreatingPdfDlexLayout.Run("DP.xxx-api-key-xxx",
                "C:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/");
    }

    public static void Run(String apiKey, String basePath) {

        //get the local layoutdata
        LayoutDataResource layoutData = new LayoutDataResource(basePath + "create-pdf-dlex-layout.json");
        
        //load layoutdata and cloud dlex
        DlexLayout dlexEndpoint = new DlexLayout("samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex", layoutData);
        dlexEndpoint.setApiKey(apiKey);
        
        //call the dlex-layout endpoint and get response
        PdfResponse response = dlexEndpoint.process();

        //if successful save as file
        if (response.getIsSuccessful()) {
            try {
                FileUtils.writeByteArrayToFile(new File(basePath + "/create-pdf-dlex-layout-output.pdf"),
                        (byte[]) response.getContent());
            } catch (IOException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        } else {
            System.out.println(response.getErrorJson());
        }
    }

}

PHP

Available as a Composer package:

composer require dynamicpdf/api

• Use composer to ensure you have the required PHP libraries.

• Create a new class named CreatePdfDlexLayout.

• Add a Run method.

• In Run create a new LayoutData instance and in the constructor pass the path to the layout data on your local system.

• Create a new DlexLayout instance and in the constructor pass the cloud path in the File Manager and theLayoutData instance.

• Add a call to the Process method the returns a PdfResponse instance.

• If the call to the endpoint is successful, then save the response's PDF content to a file.

• Run the application php CreatingPdfDlexLayout.php and the JSON is output to the console.

  <?php
  
  require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
  
  use DynamicPDF\Api\LayoutDataResource;
  use DynamicPDF\Api\DlexLayout;
  
  class CreatingPdfDlexLayout
  {
      private static string $BasePath = "C:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/";
  
      public static function Run()
      {
          //get layoutdata from local system
          $layoutData = new LayoutDataResource(CreatingPdfDlexLayout::$BasePath . "create-pdf-dlex-layout.json");
  
          //load dlex from cloud and layoutdata
          $dlexEndpoint = new DlexLayout("samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/create-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex", $layoutData);
          $dlexEndpoint->ApiKey = "DP.xxx-api-key-xxx";
  
          //call dlex-layout endpoint and get response
          $response = $dlexEndpoint->Process();
  
          //if successul write to file
          if($response->IsSuccessful)
          {
              file_put_contents(CreatingPdfDlexLayout::$BasePath . "create-pdf-dlex-layout-output.pdf", $response->Content);
          } else {
              echo($response->ErrorMessage);
          }
      }
  }
  CreatingPdfDlexLayout::Run();

GO

Available as a GO package: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/dynamicpdf-api/go-client

• Ensure you have the required GO libraries.

• Create a new file named dlex-layout-example.go.

• Add a main method.

• In main create a new LayoutData instance and in the constructor pass the path to the layout data on your local system.

• Create a new DlexLayout instance and in the constructor pass the cloud path in the File Manager and theLayoutData instance.

• Add a call to the Process method the returns a PdfResponse instance.

• If the call to the endpoint is successful, then save the response's PDF content to a file.

• Run the application go dlex-layout-example.go and the JSON is output to the console.

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "os"
    "github.com/dynamicpdf-api/go-client/endpoint"
    "github.com/dynamicpdf-api/go-client/resource"
)

func main() {

    layoutDataResource := resource.NewLayoutDataResource("c:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout.json", "creating-pdf-dlex-layout.json")

    layoutData := endpoint.NewDlexEndpoint("samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/creating-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex", layoutDataResource)
    layoutData.Endpoint.BaseUrl = "https://api.dynamicpdf.com/"
    layoutData.Endpoint.ApiKey = "DP.xxx-api-key-xxx"
    resp := layoutData.Process()
    res := <-resp

    if res.IsSuccessful() == true {
        os.WriteFile("c:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/dlex-layout-output.pdf", res.Content().Bytes(), os.ModeType)
    } else {
        fmt.Println("errorId: " + res.ErrorId().String())
        fmt.Println("errorMsg: " + res.ErrorMessage())
        fmt.Println("Failed with error json: " + res.ErrorJson())
    }
}

Python

Available at: pip install dynamicpdf-api

• Ensure you have the required Python libraries.

• Create a new file named DlexLayoutExample.py.

• Add a dlex_layout method.

• In dlex_layout create a new LayoutData instance and in the constructor pass the path to the layout data on your local system.

• Create a new DlexLayout instance and in the constructor pass the cloud path in the File Manager and theLayoutData instance.

• Add a call to the process method the returns a PdfResponse instance.

• If the call to the endpoint is successful, then save the response's PDF content to a file.

• Run the application python DlexLayoutExample.py and the JSON is output to the console.

from dynamicpdf_api.dlex_layout import DlexLayout
from dynamicpdf_api.layout_data_resource import LayoutDataResource

def dlex_layout(apiKey, basePath):
    layoutData = LayoutDataResource(basePath + "creating-pdf-dlex-layout.json")
    dlexEndpoint =DlexLayout("samples/creating-pdf-dlex-layout-endpoint/creating-pdf-dlex-layout.dlex", layoutData)
    dlexEndpoint.api_key=apiKey
    response = dlexEndpoint.process() 
    if response.is_successful:
         with open(basePath + "python-dlex-layout-example.pdf", "wb") as output_file:
            output_file.write(response.content)
    else:
        print(response.error_id)
    
# Call the function
api_key = 'DP.---API-KEY---'
basePath = "C:/temp/dynamicpdf-api-samples/"
dlex_layout(api_key, basePath)

---

In all six languages, the steps were similar. First, we created a new LayoutData instance by loading the path to the JSON via the constructor. Next, we created a new instance of the DlexLayout class, which abstracts the dlex-layout endpoint. In the constructor we passed the path to the DLEX file on the File Manager and the LayoutData instance. The DlexLayout instance saves the results as a PDF after processing if the processing was successful. Finally, we called the Process method and saved the resultant PDF.

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