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README.md

Java Client & Sample code

Details about using the Muhimbi PDF Converter Services Online from Java can be found below. If you prefer to bypass these wrapper libraries, and rather send JSON code to the REST based service directly, then please see the section containing raw JSON examples

If a cloud-based service is not suitable to your needs (e.g. for security or regulatory reasons), and you have the ability to deploy software to your own (Windows) server, then check out the Muhimbi PDF Converter Services and this sample code.


Table of contents


Prerequisites

Prerequisites for using the PDF Converter in combination with Java are as follows:

  • JDK 7 or later

The PDF Converter Java client has the following dependencies:

These dependencies are shipped alongside our libraries. However, if you integrate our software in an existing product / solution that utilise the same dependencies, then make sure the version numbers are correct.

Exact deployment and configuration steps for the various platforms vary slightly. The ones for Linux, tested with Ubuntu, and Windows are provided below.


Linux

There are multiple options for compiling and executing Java code on Linux, the examples provided in this section have been tested with the standard Java Development Kit.

sudo apt-get install default-jdk

This single install is sufficient for compiling and executing code that use our pre-built libraries.


Windows

For Windows developers we recommend using Oracle's official JDK. The examples provided in this section have been tested on Windows with this JDK.


Client libraries

With the prerequisites in place, install the PDF Converter's client libraries using one of the methods described below.


Installing the pre-generated client

Time is precious, so with that in mind, the easiest way to get going is to download the pre-generated client libraries and unzip them to a location in your project.


Generating the client from scratch

❗ This is an advanced topic, most developers do not need to generate the client from scratch ❗

If the pre-generated client libraries are not suiting your needs, then you may want to manually generate them. If you need more control over namespaces then this is the way forward.


Using the command line

All the PDF Converter's client libraries are generated from the Swagger API definition file using swagger-codegen.

You can either download a precompiled version of swagger-codegen or build it from scratch.

Download the precompiled version as follows:

wget https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/releases/io/swagger/swagger-codegen-cli/2.2.2/swagger-codegen-cli-2.2.2.jar -O swagger-codegen-cli.jar

java -jar swagger-codegen-cli.jar help

This downloads version 2.2.2 and, assuming all is well, shows a brief help section. As newer versions are released from time to time, you may want to check what the latest version number is.


If, rather than taking a 'fixed-in-time' precompiled version of swagger-codegen, you prefer the very latest version then you can compile it as described below.

To build from source, you need the following installed and available in your $PATH:

  • JDK 7 or later
  • Apache maven 3.3.3 or greater

Instructions for Linux (Tested in Ubuntu) are as follows.

sudo apt-get install default-jdk
sudo apt-get install maven
git clone https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-codegen
cd swagger-codegen
mvn clean package

This installs the Java Development Kit, the Maven build system, downloads the latest swagger-codegen source and builds it. Assuming the build process completes without error, swagger-codegen-cli.jar can be found under modules/swagger-codegen-cli/target/.

Instructions are correct at the time of writing, but for the latest details about building codegen, compiling on different platforms, or downloading a pre-compiled version of swagger-codegen-cli.jar, see codegen's Readme file.


Regardless of swagger-codegen-cli.jar being downloaded or compiled, the Java client libraries can now be generated as follows:

java -jar swagger-codegen-cli.jar \
	generate \
	-i https://api.muhimbi.com/api-docs/v1/swagger.json \
	-l java \
	-o MuhimbiPDFOnline-client \
	--type-mappings ByteArray=String

You may need to adjust the path to the jar file.

Please note that we have added a type-mapping as the current version of codegen is not consistent with the other clients generated by codegen. The Muhimbi REST service expects a Base64 encoded string, not a raw byte array. You can find more details in this GitHub issue.

The command provided above generates the Java client using the default settings, including a unit-test framework and incomplete documentation. As this is of no use to us, and we need to tweak some other settings as well, you can find the exact command we used in generate-client.sh

Once the client code has been generated it must be build using the Java compiler. The commands for carrying out the build can be found in client/build.sh (Linux). You may need to make some changes to suit your requirements.


Using editor.swagger.io

For a quick-and-dirty way to generate client libraries for the language of your choice, use the web based editor.swagger.io system.

  1. Open editor.swagger.io
  2. From the File menu select Import URL
  3. Enter https://github.com/raw/Muhimbi/PDF-Converter-Services-Online/master/swagger/v1/muhimbi-pdf-online-swagger.json
  4. From the Generate Client menu select the language of your choice.

Sample code

Sample code, and related files, for the various facilities provided by this service can be found below. It is recommended to copy all samples to your local system using one of the following options:

  • Git: Use the following command to clone the entire repository to your system. This will download all files associated with this repository, and is most likely overkill, but it is the only easy way to download files using Git. Once downloaded, you can find the examples under the clients/v1/java/samples folder.

    git clone https://github.com/Muhimbi/PDF-Converter-Services-Online/

  • SVN: A common trick to download only part of a Git repository is to use svn. Download only the Java client and sample code using the following command.

    svn export https://github.com/Muhimbi/PDF-Converter-Services-Online/trunk/clients/v1/java

  • ZIP: Download a ZIP archive of the entire repository. Once downloaded, you can find the examples under the clients/v1/java/samples folder.


An example is provided for each individual REST endpoint. A full overview can be found below.

Sample Description
convert Convert a single file to PDF or other supported output format.
convert_html Convert an HTML fragment, or URL, to PDF.
merge_to_pdf Combine multiple files, and URLs, into a single PDF.
ocr_pdf Convert a scan, fax or other image into a searchable PDF.
ocr_text Use OCR to extract text from a scan, fax or other image.
secure_pdf Apply security settings, passwords and restrictions to a PDF.
split_pdf Split a large PDF into smaller PDFs.
watermarking
   text_watermark Add a simple text watermark to a PDF file.
   rtf_watermark Add a rich text (RTF) based watermark to a PDF file.
   image_watermark Add an image based watermark to a PDF file.
   qr_code_watermark Add a QR Code to a PDF file.
   pdf_watermark Add a PDF based watermark to a PDF file.
   ellipse_watermark Add an ellipse based watermark to a PDF file.
   line_watermark Add a line based watermark to a PDF file.
   rectangle_watermark Add a rectangle based watermark to a PDF file.
   composite_watermark Add a number of different watermarks to a PDF file in a single operation.

API / Documentation

Although the API is largely self-describing, especially when used in code editors with intellisense and code-complete, from time to time it may be easier to consult the full API documentation. An overview of the entire object model can be found in the Wiki.


If you have any questions or comments then please contact our friendly support desk.