Visforms 5
Use PDF documents

Use PDF documents

Use PDF documents

PDF documents can be used in the following places in the form of download links or file attachments:

  • In the result message as download links.
  • In all emails sent as file attachments:
    • Result email,
    • Result edit email,
    • User email,
    • User edit email.
  • In all frontend data views as download links:
    • Data list view,
    • Data detail view,
    • Data edit view.

The result message is displayed to the user after the form has been successfully sent.
One or more PDF download links can appear in the result message, which the user can use to download PDF documents with the data from their transfer.

The PDF download links in the result message also work if the Save result option is not activated.

Note: If the success page with the result message is left or reloaded with F5, the only temporarily available PDF download links are no longer available. The PDF download links are then no longer valid.

On the Result tab in the form configuration, you can set the following:

  • whether one or more PDF download links are displayed in the result message,
  • which PDF templates the user is shown for selection.

Note: The PDF template selected by the user in the result message is used to generate the PDF document.

PDF download link in the result message

PDF attachments in emails

Activate the Mail attachments plugin in the Joomla plugin management. The activated Mail attachments plugin creates the two additional tabs Email attachments and Edit email attachments in the form configuration.

On these two additional tabs you can specify PDF attachments for all emails. On each of the two additional tabs Email attachments and Edit email attachments the PDF attachments are specified separately for the result email and user email. You can also specify there whether the header and footer should be suppressed for the PDF attachments in the emails.

Specifying PDF attachments in emails on the Email Attachments and Edit Email Attachments tabs:

PDF attachments in emails

With the Mail Attachments plugin, you can add file attachments to emails in general. This includes:

  • formatted email content as a PDF file,
  • submitted form data as a CSV file,
  • any number of other file attachments.

More details in:

PDF download links are possible in all frontend data views.

The visibility of the PDF download links depends on the following:

  • The settings in the form configuration on the Data display in the frontend tab.

  • The user permissions for the respective PDF template.

You can set the display of the PDF download links in the form configuration on the Data display in the frontend tab.

PDF download link in the result message

With the Show PDF download button option you can specify in which views PDF download links should be displayed:

  • List,
  • Details,
  • List and Details.

Frontend data views with the Content Plugin - Visforms Data

If you display the form data with the Content Plugin - Visforms Data, the Show PDF download button option on the Data display in the frontend tab in the form configuration has no effect.

Note: When displaying the form data with the Content Plugin - Visforms Data, you must activate the parameter displaypdfexportbutton in the plugin string for the PDF download links to appear.

More on this in: List of all parameter names and permitted values .

Which PDF templates are available to the user?

Use the options PDF templates for individual data records and PDF templates for list to select which PDF templates are available to the user.

These selection options for PDF templates are available for two situations:

  • the individual data record,
  • the data record list.

PDF templates for individual data records

If you have selected PDF templates for individual data records, the PDF download links for which the user has permission to download the PDF are displayed in the data list view.
The PDF templates for individual data records are also displayed to the user in the data detail view.

PDF templates for individual data records

PDF templates for list

If you have selected PDF templates for list, the PDF download links are displayed above the data list.
These PDF download links can be used to create PDF documents with all data records that are currently displayed in the data view.

The prerequisite for displaying a PDF download link above the data list is that the user has the authorization to create a PDF document for at least one data record.

Note: If the user does not have the authorization to create a PDF document for any data record, no PDF download link will be displayed.

Note: Possible missing authorizations for exporting a data record are taken into account when creating the PDF document.

Note: Possible active data filters in the data list view are taken into account when creating the PDF document.

Note: A possible pagination of the data list with many data records is not taken into account when generating the PDF document.

PDF templates for list

The file name of the PDF document

Without any further settings, the title of the PDF template is used for the name of the generated PDF file. The title of the PDF template is set in the PDF configuration on the General tab in the Title option.

Note: For PDF documents for lists, the title of the PDF template from the PDF configuration is always used.

PDF templates have an option Name of the PDF file in the PDF configuration on the General tab, with which an individual file name can be configured for the downloaded PDF document.
Visforms placeholders can be used for this file name: Visforms placeholder usage » PDF configuration options.

The information required to replace the Visforms placeholders is not available for all uses of the PDF templates to create a PDF document. Therefore, despite a possible set option Name of the PDF file, the Title of the PDF template is used if the replacement of the Visforms placeholders is not possible.

The file name of the PDF document

Result text, email and edit email

For the PDF documents in the following areas, all information is available to replace placeholders in the Name of the PDF file option of the PDF template.
In these areas, the file name with replaced placeholders is therefore used if the Name of PDF file option is set:

  • Result text,
  • Email and Edit email.

Frontend data views

For the frontend data views, the Visforms placeholders in the Name of PDF file option of the PDF template cannot be replaced.
The necessary information for the placeholder replacement is simply not available.

Note: This is why the PDF title is always used for the name of the PDF file for the frontend data views.

PDF fonts: problems with characters

Note: Not all PDF fonts offered can display all characters correctly.

In this case, a question mark is displayed instead of the character in the PDF document.

The following fonts offer complete support for all characters available in the UTF-8 character set:

  • free mono
  • freesans
  • dejavuesans
  • dejavuesans condensed
  • dejavuesansmono
  • dejavu serif
  • dejavueserifcondensed

screenshots

PDF Settings

PDF settings

PDF document with placeholders

PDF document

PDF preview with record selection

PDF Preview

PDF record selection SQL statements

data selection

PDF SQL statements

PDF SQL Statements
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