<cfhtmltopdf> problem

[Merchlinski]

I'm trying to get <cfthmltopdf> to work and am having problems.  We're running Coldfusion 11, on Red Hat 7.2.  We've done a fresh installation of CF and are sure that PDFG is installed.

Following these steps ColdFusion Help | PDF Generation in ColdFusion , all additional packages are installed on the server except ias32-libs, which my sysadmin tells me does not exist.  Fonts have been extracted in the /usr/share/fonts directory.  I am able to select the 'Verify All Service Managers' button in the CF administrator on the PDF Service page.  The Connection Status returns as OK.

I'm trying to run a simple test and am getting an error.

<cfhtmltopdf>

This is today: #now()#

</cfhtmltopdf>

Error occurred while generating PDF.

coldfusion.document.webkit.PDFgErrorHandler$ServiceManagerConversionException: Error occurred while generating PDF.

at coldfusion.tagext.lang.HtmlToPdfTag.handleRetryError(HtmlToPdfTag.java:1509)

at coldfusion.tagext.lang.HtmlToPdfTag.handlePDFgConversionRequest(HtmlToPdfTag.java:1471)

at coldfusion.tagext.lang.HtmlToPdfTag.convertToPDF(HtmlToPdfTag.java:1413)

at coldfusion.tagext.lang.HtmlToPdfTag.doEndTag(HtmlToPdfTag.java:1551)

at cfcomma2ecfm1427821176.runPage(/local/web/app-dev/playpen/aimee/comma.cfm:1)

at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:246)

at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.handlePageInvoke(IncludeTag.java:734)

at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:570)

at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.invoke(CfincludeFilter.java:65)

at coldfusion.filter.IpFilter.invoke(IpFilter.java:45)

at coldfusion.filter.ApplicationFilter.invoke(ApplicationFilter.java:487)

at coldfusion.filter.RequestMonitorFilter.invoke(RequestMonitorFilter.java:42)

at coldfusion.filter.MonitoringFilter.invoke(MonitoringFilter.java:40)

at coldfusion.filter.PathFilter.invoke(PathFilter.java:141)

at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:94)

at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28)

at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)

at coldfusion.filter.NoCacheFilter.invoke(NoCacheFilter.java:58)

at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)

at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)

at coldfusion.filter.CachingFilter.invoke(CachingFilter.java:62)

at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:219)

at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:89)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:303)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)

at coldfusion.monitor.event.MonitoringServletFilter.doFilter(MonitoringServletFilter.java:42)

at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapFilter.doFilter(BootstrapFilter.java:46)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)

at coldfusion.inspect.weinre.MobileDeviceDomInspectionFilter.doFilter(MobileDeviceDomInspectionFilter.java:121)

at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapFilter.doFilter(BootstrapFilter.java:46)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:220)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:122)

at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:501)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:170)

at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:98)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116)

at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:422)

at org.apache.coyote.ajp.AjpProcessor.process(AjpProcessor.java:198)

at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:607)

at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:313)

at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)

at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)

at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Entries in the coldfusion-out.log file are:

May 26, 2016 15:46:46 PM Error [ajp-bio-8014-exec-10] - PDF conversion failed due to task time out in waiting queue for http://127.0.0.1:8987/PDFgServlet/.

May 26, 2016 15:47:46 PM Error [ajp-bio-8014-exec-10] - PDF conversion failed due to task time out in waiting queue for http://127.0.0.1:8987/PDFgServlet/.

May 26, 2016 15:47:46 PM Error [ajp-bio-8014-exec-10] - Error occurred while generating PDF.Reason: Error occurred while handling request. The specific sequence of files included or processed is: /local/web/app-dev/playpen/aimee/comma.cfm, line: 1

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[James Moberg · Accepted solution]

Have you considered generating PDFs using a non-Adobe product?  I've had huge success using WKHTMLTOPDF (free) with ColdFusion 8, 9, 10, 11 & 2016. (I've found it to be faster and generate smaller PDFs.)   According to the WKHTMLTOPDF website, it works with Window XP/2003/Vista/Server, Linux (Debian, Ubuntu & CentOS) and OS X.

http://wkhtmltopdf.org/

Here are some posts I've written regarding my experience (including a Custom Tag):

http://gamesover2600.tumblr.com/search/wkhtmltopdf

[sdsinc_pmascari]

CFHTML2PDF works only on Windows so with your RedHat install, I hope you haven't been trying too long?  It also only works with the Enterprise version of CF to my knowledge.

I agree with Jamo regarding WKHTMLTOPDF.  It's great.  It has a companion, WKHTMLTOIMAGE that I use quite often with great results.

[Merchlinski]

Per the documentation ColdFusion Help | PDF Generation in ColdFusion, Linux support was added to CF but has additional requirements. 

We've installed WKHTMLTOPDF and initial testing looks very promising.  Many thanks to both of you!

[karih38190410]

I don't know if you still care, but after trying over many years I got this working on red hat and have documented how.

[BKBK]

@karih38190410 ,

Could you pease share your solution with the forum. This seems to be a recurrent problem. So your solution will help many.

[karih38190410 · Accepted solution]

https://community.adobe.com/t5/coldfusion-discussions/installing-coldfusion-add-on-services-pdfg-for...

You can cross-reference this post.  I actually abandoned pdfg for linux because it was buggy even after finally getting it working.  I am using wkhtmltopdf instead.

[BKBK]

Ah. Thanks again, @karih38190410 .