In this section you enable PDF publishing from Pricefx.

Pricefx uses a third-party service – CloudConvert – to produce PDF files out of Quotes, Rebate Agreements, Agreements/Promotions, etc. CloudConvert is an online service that does conversions from XLSX to PDF through MS Excel and so the final layout is exactly the same as when you print the document locally in your MS Office.

To be able to download PDF files from Pricefx, you need to enable the service in this section. By clicking Enable you express that you have read the CloudConvert Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and agree with them.

Verify with the project team that this procedure is acceptable before enabling the PDF publishing. If not, an alternative is to produce the PDF files yourself via MS Excel.

How It Works

The PDF output is produced from an Excel file generated by Pricefx, so the definition of the PDF layout and content is driven by the Excel template used in Pricefx. The procedure is the same as having MS Office installed locally and using it to open an Excel file and generate a PDF file from it.

In detail, the sequence of steps is as follows:

Pricefx generates a downloadable XLSX/XLSM file and sends it to cloudconvert.com for conversion.
This service works only with the first tab which should contain a template defining what data and in what format should be rendered.
The template is defined at Administration > Configuration > Templates > Publishing Templates.
CloudConvert sends the PDF back to the PFX server and the server resends it to the PFX client.

By default, CloudConvert does not store the Excel file any longer than necessary for the conversion purposes.

If the Excel template is missing or CloudConvert is not enabled, the PDF export button is not displayed in the application.

When generating large PDF files, you can adjust the timeout in pricefx-config.xml in the socketTimeout property:

<fileConversionService>
	<url>https://api.cloudconvert.com/</url>
	<socketTimeout>30000</socketTimeout> <!-- CloudCovert connect/request/socket timeout in ms -->
</fileConversionService>

CloudConvert also supports templates with placeholders; you can find the syntax at the CloudConvert site. This works only for DOCX and PPTX.