This tutorial offers a .NET example on how XF Web Service can be accessed.

 

1. A new Console Application Project must be created in Visual Studio 2010. Any name can be set. For example, "ConsoleApplication1". .NET Framework 4 must be selected before continuing.

 

 

2. In Solution Explorer, "ConsoleApplication1" must be right-clicked and Add Reference selected.

 

 

3. In the Add Reference dialog-box, the .NET tab located at the left must be selected and the System.ServiceModel chosen

 

 

4. In Solution Explorer, "ConsoleApplication1" must be right-clicked and Add Service Reference selected.

 

 

5. In the Add Service Reference dialog-box, the address can be set to http://localhost/XFWS/ecrion/services/xfws.asmx or an url pointing to any other valid web service. The namespace must be set to “localhost”.

 

 

6. Now, the project will look like the following in Solution Explorer:

 

 

7. "Program.cs" must be opened and all the existing code lines must be replaced by the following:

 

 

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.IO;

using System.ServiceModel;

using ConsoleApplication1.localhost;

 

namespace ConsoleApplication1

{

   class Program

   {

       static void Main(string[] args)

       {

           String inputFilePath = @"test.fo";

           String outputFilePath = @"output.pdf";

 

           try

           {

               // Read the XSL-FO file content

               string xslfoContent = null;

               using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(inputFilePath))

                   xslfoContent = reader.ReadToEnd();

                          

               // Initialize data source

               XmlDataSource inputDataSource = new XmlDataSource();

 

               // Set input content; the value can be a string or a byte array

               inputDataSource.Content = xslfoContent;

 

               // Set input format

               inputDataSource.Format = InputFormat.XSLFO;

 

               // Create parameters for the rendering operation.

               RenderingParameters renderingParameters = new RenderingParameters();

 

               // Set output format

               renderingParameters.OutputFormat = OutputFormat.PDF;

 

               // Initialize web service client

               EndpointAddress serviceAddress = new EndpointAddress("http://localhost/XFWS/ecrion/services/xfws.asmx");

               xfwsSoapClient webServiceEndpoint = new xfwsSoapClient(new BasicHttpBinding(), serviceAddress);

              

               // Creates print ready documents using Ecrion XF Web Service

               byte[] outputBytes = webServiceEndpoint.Render(inputDataSource, renderingParameters);

 

               // Write the output bytes

               using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(outputFilePath, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write))

               {

                   fs.Write(outputBytes, 0, (int)outputBytes.Length);

               }

 

               Console.WriteLine("Rendering finished.");

               Console.WriteLine(Path.GetFullPath(outputFilePath) + " has been created.");

           }

           catch (Exception e)

           {

               // Report errors

               Console.Out.WriteLine(e.Message);

               if (e.InnerException != null)

                   Console.Out.WriteLine(e.InnerException.ToString());

 

               // Delete the (partial) output file if any

               if (File.Exists(outputFilePath))

                   File.Delete(outputFilePath);

          }

       }

   }

}

 

Example 1: Converting FO to PDF using XF Web Service

 

Notes:

 

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format" xmlns:xf="http://www.ecrion.com/xf/1.0">

 <fo:layout-master-set>

   <fo:simple-page-master master-name="all-pages" page-width="11in" page-height="8.5in">

     <fo:region-body region-name="xsl-region-body" margin="0.7in"/>

   </fo:simple-page-master>

 </fo:layout-master-set>

 <fo:page-sequence master-reference="all-pages">

   <fo:flow flow-name="xsl-region-body">

     <fo:block>

       Hello World

     </fo:block>

   </fo:flow>

 </fo:page-sequence>

</fo:root>

 

Example 2: Sample test.fo

Using XML Input

For XML/XFD input inputDataSource.Format = InputFormat.XSLFO; and parameters must be used. The following code snippet presents a sample template:

 

 

ServerDocumentTemplate template = new ServerDocumentTemplate();

                   

template.ID = "Sample:Invoice.xfd";

parameters.Template = template;
inputDataSource.Format = InputFormat.XML;

 

Example 3: Converting XML to PDF using XF Web Service

 

Notes: