PDF Filter Extension for CoreMedia Blueprints

Simple extension to introduce a PDF generating servlet filter.

HTML content for URLs following a certain URI pattern is transformed into PDF.

Since transformation might be too slow and CPU consuming for eager regeneration, a simple caching mechanism is included.

The libraries, this extension depends on, allow for a relaxed licensing footprint.

Feedback

Please use the issues section of this repository at Codeberg for feedback.

Compatibility

CoreMedia Blueprints Content Cloud CMCC-11, CMCC-10, CMS-9, and LiveContext 3 are supported.

This extension can be integrated with blueprint workspaces at least up to platform version 2310. The extension is in daily production use. The latest versions are delivered through the branch master with older releases using separate branches.

When using older platform releases, use the corresponding branch for integration notes, since this README.md is version specific. So switch branches before reading the integration details.

Usage

The templates used on pages to be transformed may only output HTML, which can be handled by the OpenHTMLtoPDF converter library, which in turn uses Apache PDF Box.

The filter transforms the HTML code, if the requested URI matches a pattern given by regular expressions. The default pattern is \\?view=pdf.

The pattern can optionally be changed through the container parameter PDF_FILTER_URI_PATTERN. (see spring details in the filter class code.)

Caching is triggered, if the HTML code contains the string CACHE WITHIN PROVOCON PDF FILTER FOR followed by a caching time in seconds like in

CACHE WITHIN PROVOCON PDF FILTER FOR 3600s

The storage path for cached PDF and HTML can optionally be configured through the container parameter PDF_FILTER_CACHE_FOLDER. (see spring details in the filter class code.)

Integration

Add this extension to your project's workspace as a git submodule for the CAE app's extensions directory.

git submodule add https://codeberg.org/provocon/coremedia-pdf-filter.git apps/cae/modules/extensions/pdf-filter

Activate the extension using the respective CoreMedia Content Cloud activation scheme for the version in use, like e.g. the management tool for some releases:

mvn extensions:sync -Denable=pdf-filter -f workspace-configuration/extensions/pom.xml

Test

When you issue a call to your CAE, and the PDF-Filter was successfully integrated, you can see an HTTP-Response-Header, like this:

HTTP/1.1 200
X-PDFFilter: available
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
...

For a quick check on a command line, you can use curl (example URL):

curl -I http://localhost:8080/blueprint/servlet/corporate-de-de

Operations

From time to time, or through your monitoring, have a look at the tmp directory of your CAE components - live or in preview.

Goals

This extension mostly serves as an internal example of an extension separated as a git submodule. Thus, it serves as a tool to work towards clean workspaces to ensure maintenance and updatebility.

Availability

The home of this extension is the repository at Codeberg with mirrors at GitHub and GitLab. When possible, please prefer references to Codeberg.

Legal and Licensing

This extension itself is covered by the license given in the file "LICENSE" next to this README. The components in use, which are not already part of the CoreMedia workspace, are

• OpenHTMLtoPDF Licensed under the LGPL 2.1
• Apache PDF Box Licensed under the Apache 2.0 License
• Lombok Licensed under the MIT License