CF2021 Patch to 19 - htmltopdf now failing constantly

[stephen_5711]

Just patched to CF2021 patch 19 and now htmltopdf does not work.

In the logs I am seeing 

Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: coldfusion.document.DocumentScope not found by htmltopdf [37]

I've tried downgrading back to patch 18.

Uninstalling and reinstalling htmltopdf package.

Uninstalling and reinstalling all the packages.

Upgrading back to patch 19.

and numerous reboots.

The patch notes include

• Sometimes, you are unable to create a PDF due to PDFg service authentication failure. As a workaround, update the service manager and retry creating the PDF.

What does this mean? What service manager and how do I update it?

[BKBK]

Hi @Byron Byron_756 and @Vikram_Kumar_M , thanks for the update. 

When you find the solution, could you please share it? Not just to satisfy my curiosity; I am sure it will benefit many fellow developers.

[BKBK]

Hi @Byron Byron_756 ,

There appears to be an obvious mistake. You are apparently on ColdFusion 2023. However, the Add-On download you used is for ColdFusion 2021.

To get the correct Add-On installer for ColdFusion 2023:

1.  Go to the ColdFusion downloads page.
2.  From the drop-down list, select the option "Adobe ColdFusion (2023 release)"
3.  Click to open the section "Download Adobe ColdFusion (2023 release) Developer Tools".
4.  There you can download the Windows 64-bit Add-on Services Standalone Installer

[Vikram_Kumar_M]

@Byron Byron_756 We have a workaround; you don't need to reinstall the Add-on component. Please contact us at cfsup@adobe.com.

[Byron Byron_756 · Accepted solution]

The new errata posted on "ColdFusion (2023 release) Update 13 release notes" 

("ColdFusion is unable to register PDFg service manager") does not work for my installation.  (thank you @Vikram_Kumar_M for the customer support on it though!)

What worked for me

Uninstall htmltopdf

Stop cf and addon services

Uninstall addon service (mine was installed in jetty, so I used the uninstaller there)

Clear felix-cache

Run the proper addon service installer for my CF version that I downloaded fromhttps://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/kb/coldfusion-downloads.html#download0
It was in the developer tools section. (thank you @BKBK !)

Told addon installer to install to the jetty location, and use to same java location as what my CF uses

Start CF and Addon services

Reinstall htmltopdf

Update and Enable the pdf service manager (the enable step is easy to overlook, button is very tiny, and htmltopdf will fail if not enabled!)

[Byron Byron_756]

also, after reinstalling the add-on service, recreate your IP white and black list inside jetty-ipaccess.xml file since reinstalling the add-on service clears them.

and

if you had your previous cf addon service set to a custom log-on account, then reset that.

[BKBK]

Hi @Byron Byron_756 , Thanks for the comprehensive update, and for sharing your solution.

[Charlie Arehart · Accepted solution]

Hey, everyone. Good news on this front: note that today Adobe has added both an acknowledgement of this problem and a simpler workaround, listed as the new last item in the "known issues" section of the update technotes for CF2023 update 13 and CF2021 update 19. They also offer a zip file from which to extract the needed files (versus the helpful workaround offered to find and extract some or all of the files from the full add-on installer). Note that there's a different zip for each CF version--also, there's none for CF2025 update 1 as it already incorporated this and some other changes  which were introduced in the April updates.

Time will tell if the solution suits everyone with regard to this problem discussed here. If anyone tries it and can report, I'm sure many would apprecaite it. (I'm traveling today, driving several hours to the IntotheBox conference in DC, so I'm afraid I cannot. But I wanted to share the word ASAP.)

And since the current "answer" focuses on that other workaround, I will go ahead and mark this one as another "answer" (I don't like to do that for my own post, but folks seeing the problem may not read all the way to the bottom to see this as a possible solution.)