blocks/mail_merge

 * Mail merge:

 * Output an imported PDF page several times, with its blocks being filled with

 * with different personalized data

 *

 * Import a PDF page representing a letter template. To create letters for

 * various persons, output the page several times with the contained blocks

 * being filled with personalized data related to the respective person.

 *

 * Required software: PPS 7

 * Required data: PDF document with blocks

 */

package com.pdflib.cookbook.pdflib.blocks;

import com.pdflib.pdflib;

import com.pdflib.PDFlibException;

public class mail_merge

{

    public static void main (String argv[])

    {

    /* This is where the data files are. Adjust as necessary. */

    String searchpath = "../input";

    String outfile = "mail_merge.pdf";

    String title = "Mail Merge";

    pdflib p = null;

    double width, height;

    String infile = "stationery_blocks.pdf";

    int i, j, inpage, indoc;

    String optlist;

    int nblocks = 3; // number of person-related blocks to be filled

    /* Names of the person-related blocks contained on the imported page */

    String blocknames[] = {

        "name", "business_address", "business_city"

    };

    int npersons = 3; // number of persons

    /* Data related to various persons used for personalization */

    String persons[][] = {

        {"Mr Maurizio Moroni", "Strada Provinciale 124", "Reggio Emilia"},

        {"Ms Dominique Perrier", "25, rue Lauriston", "Paris"},

        {"Mr Liu Wong", "55 Grizzly Peak Rd.", "Butte"}

    };

    /* Static texts to output */

    final String intro = "Dear ";

    final String goodbye = "Yours sincerely Victor Kraxi";

    final String announcement =

        "Our BEST PRICE OFFER includes today:\n\n" +

        "Long Distance Glider\nWith this paper rocket you can send all your " +

        "messages even when sitting in a hall or in the cinema pretty near " +

        "the back.\n\n" +

        "Giant Wing\nAn unbelievable sailplane! It is amazingly robust and " +

        "can even do aerobatics. But it is best suited to gliding.\n\n" +

        "Cone Head Rocket\nThis paper arrow can be thrown with big swing. " +

        "We launched it from the roof of a hotel. It stayed in the air a " +

        "long time and covered a considerable distance.\n\n" +

        "Super Dart\nThe super dart can fly giant loops with a radius of 4 " +

        "or 5 meters and cover very long distances. Its heavy cone point is " +

        "slightly bowed upwards to get the lift required for loops.\n\n" +

        "Visit us on our Web site at www.kraxi.com!";

    try {

        p = new pdflib();

        p.set_parameter("SearchPath", searchpath);

        /* This means we must check return values of load_font() etc. */

        p.set_parameter("errorpolicy", "return");

        if (p.begin_document(outfile, "") == -1)

            throw new Exception("Error: " + p.get_errmsg());

        p.set_info("Creator", "PDFlib Cookbook");

        p.set_info("Title", title + " $Revision: 1.2 $");

        /* Open a PDF containing blocks */

        indoc = p.open_pdi_document(infile, "");

        if (indoc == -1)

            throw new Exception("Error: " + p.get_errmsg());

        /* Open the first page */

        inpage = p.open_pdi_page(indoc, 1, "");

        if (inpage == -1)

            throw new Exception("Error: " + p.get_errmsg());

        /* Get the width and height of the imported page */

        width = p.pcos_get_number(indoc, "pages[0]/width");

        height = p.pcos_get_number(indoc, "pages[0]/height");

        /* Based on the imported page output several pages with the blocks

         * being filled with data related to different persons

         */

        for (i = 0; i < npersons; i++)

        {

            /* Start the output page with the size given by the imported page */

            p.begin_page_ext(width, height, "");

            /* Place the imported page on the output page */

            p.fit_pdi_page(inpage, 0, 0, "");

            /* Option list for text blocks; the "bordercolor" and "linewidth"

             * options are only used to illustrate the block rectangles */

            optlist = "fontname=Helvetica encoding=unicode " +

                "bordercolor={gray 0.5} linewidth=0.25";

            /* Loop over all person related blocks. Fill the j-th block with the

             * corresponding entry of the persons array.

             */

            for (j = 0; j <  nblocks; j++) {

                if (p.fill_textblock(inpage, blocknames[j], persons[i][j],

                        optlist) == -1)

                    System.err.println("Warning: " + p.get_errmsg());

            }

            /* Output the "intro" block */

            if (p.fill_textblock(inpage, "intro", intro + persons[i][0],

                    optlist) == -1)

                System.err.println("Warning: " + p.get_errmsg());

            /* Output the "announcment" block */

            if (p.fill_textblock(inpage, "announcement", announcement,

                    optlist) == -1)

                System.err.println("Warning: " + p.get_errmsg());

            /* Output the "goodbye" block */

            if (p.fill_textblock(inpage, "goodbye", goodbye, optlist) == -1)

                System.err.println("Warning: " + p.get_errmsg());

            p.end_page_ext("");

        }

        p.close_pdi_page(inpage);

        p.end_document("");

        p.close_pdi_document(indoc);

        } catch (PDFlibException e) {

            System.err.print("PDFlib exception occurred:\n");

            System.err.print("[" + e.get_errnum() + "] " + e.get_apiname() +

                ": " + e.get_errmsg() + "\n");

        } catch (Exception e) {

            System.err.println(e.getMessage());

        } finally {

            if (p != null) {

                p.delete();

            }

        }

    }

}