cfdocument vs cfhtmltopdf

[cbeckwith]

My website is down after my CF11 migration because the documentation never mentioned how difficult it was to get cfdocument working in CF11 in https.

I never thought such a big change would not be well-documented in the myriad of migration guides I consulted before the migration.

Question:  Does the CF11 cfdocument only work with Word and Powerpoint and all the rest of the cfdocument functionality was transferred into the new cfhtmltopdf tag?

If so, if you were used to enveloping the content you wanted in cfdocument, why does cfhtmltopdf want a source?  Do we have to write the content to some temp file and then call the cfhtmltopdf tag?

Question:  Do you need to have the PDF service running to use cfdocument?

How do you configure this with https?  The standard examples are so vanilla they are unhelpful.

Chuck Beckwith

[James Moberg]

We were using ColdFusion 9 when we decided to start using CFExecute w/WKHTMLTOPDF.  CFDocument hasn't been updated to render newer CSS and had many strange bugs regarding fonts GIF, transparency, etc. CF9's CFHTTP couldn't handle newer SSL certs or SNI wildcard certs.

If you are looking for an alternative that supports newer HTML5/CSS3, full web font support, isn't hobbled to a single thread, smaller filesizes, supports a JS timeout, doesn't get negatively impacted w/new CF Updates and doesn't even require ColdFusion, check it out.  (I wrote a basic custom tag and shared it online. ColdFusion, jQuery, iPhone • Generating PDFs using ColdFusion & WKHTMLTOPDF)

[cbeckwith · Accepted solution]

I was finally able to get the cfdocument tag to work after restarting the CF Add-On Services service.

This would have been nice to know as a 'try this first' step to fixing cfdocument.

Chuck

[Honey-P]

forgive my ignorance where do the CF Add-On services restart?

[Charlie Arehart]

If you're running cf on windows, open the windows services panel, find the coldfusion add on service, and restart it there. 

[Honey-P]

It would give the same result as if I turn off and turn on the server again?

[Charlie Arehart]

Yes, it would. So it seems you have some problem with pdf processing. Do you feel it's identical to what cbeckwith was reporting originally here in 2017?

You may want to elaborate, to help us help you:

1. what cf version, and what update
2. what do you see on the cf admin pdf services page? where does it show the service being: on the same machine as cf or another? If you hit the little verify button, what does it show? 
3. does a simple 3 line call to cfhtmltopdf work
4. if not then what do you get?
5. For whatever you have that's failing, did it work  before? Does it work sometimes?
6. There are logs for the add-on service. Where that logs folder will be depends on how the add-on service was installed. If with CF, it's in the cfusion/jetty folder; if with its own installer, there would be a separate folder for the coldfusion add on service, with its own logs. What do these logs report for when you try to use the tag or run that verify feature? 

While some folks hit trouble with the feature and move on to alternatives, others have been using it successfully for years (it came out with cf11 in 2014). And as for it not working at all, my experience is that there's some configuration issue that will resolve it. Thus the the questions above. 

[Honey-P]

Sorry for the delay in responding and thank you for being attentive to the situation. he commented:

My server is 2016.0.13 with java 1.8.0_112 on windows 2012

I was using cfdocument to generate my PDFs everything was going fine on my development server, then I released my system to the production server and I remember it worked, but it turned out that when users started using it it didn't work anymore and I didn't get any error message. error, the browser just kept loading forever.

Due to the above, I wanted to migrate to the cfhtmltopdf tag but I still couldn't find it, because it didn't work (now I understand why)

From what I found in the forums it seems to be a problem with JAVA, (https://community.adobe.com/t5/coldfusion-discussions/cfreport-pdf-unable-to-find-registered-ttf-fon... cfimage-and-cfdocument-work-rhel8/m-p/11902370#M187999)

The issue was resolved by downloading a Java update for the 2016 server, which made me think that the aforementioned forum was absolutely right.

[Charlie Arehart]

Ok, so are you saying things are working, after the jvm update? Or is that something you'll do next? I'll say that may or may not solve it. 

Indeed, if the problem remains, I had asked several other questions to help. You have answered only the first. 

Or if you may prefer instead to "just get it fixed" without a lot of 

back and forth here, we may get things solved more effectively via an online consulting session together. If interested, see carehart.org/consulting.

Otherwise, let's keep going here. 

[Honey-P]

Indeed, with the jvm update, the problem I had with cfdocument was solved, so I gave up trying to use cfhtmltopdf, however, it would be good to get cfhtmltopdf to work.

Regarding the previous questions, the answers would be:
1.- the Version is 2016.0.13. with update 17.
2.-In PDF SERVICE it shows the name: localhost , the host: 127.0.0.1 and when pressing the icon for verification the result is "OK"
3.-When trying to execute the basic code of cfhtmltopdf like the following;
<cfhtmltopdf>
This is a test <cfoutput>#now()#</cfoutput>
</cfhtmltopdf>
it does not work

4.-I get this error: No Service manager is available. The specific sequence of files included or processed is: C:\wwwroot\inetpub_SistemasWeb

5.-Actually I hadn't used CFHTMLTOPDF until just a few days. I wanted to use it as an alternative to cfdocument, which didn't work for me.
But giving answer to your questions I see that cfhtmltopdf still doesn't work.

6.-I didn't understand this very well, actually the installation and everything was done by my boss, so there are things I don't understand very well, what I can tell you is that I have the cfucion/jetty route

What file or folder should I check?

And as you comment it must be something misconfigured.

Thank you for your guidance.

[Charlie Arehart]

Sorry this is a couple of years late, but I was searching for pages where people discussed this "No Service manager is available" error. I want to share that in some situations the solution turns out to be very simple: you need to make sure the PDF service (listed in the CF Admin "PDF Services" page) is indeed "enabled", by clicking the "play" button.

Sadly, there are no "words" to the right of the service to indicate if it's enabled, and the play/stop icons are fairly small and so easy to mis/misconstrue. What's more, it can be confusing that the service can VERIFY fine even if not ENABLED.  🙂

[BKBK]

Thanks for sharing that, Chuck. Given the frequency of such PDF issues, Adobe documentation should indeed include your "try this first" advice.