Class AutoFiller

AutoFiller class

Represents a class to receive data from database or other datasource, fills them into the designed fields of the template pdf and at last generates new pdf file or stream. It has two template file input modes:input as a stream or a pdf file. It has four types of output modes:one merged stream, one merged file, many small streams, many small files. It can recieve literal data contained in a System.Data.DataTable.

public sealed class AutoFiller : ISaveableFacade

Constructors

Name	Description
AutoFiller()	The default constructor.

Properties

Name	Description
BasicFileName { get; set; }	Gets or sets the basic file name if many small files will be generated. The generated file will be like “BasicFileName0”,“BasicFileName1”,… It works with another property `GeneratingPath`GeneratingPath.
GeneratingPath { get; set; }	Gets or sets the Generating Path of the small pdf files if many small pdf files to be generated. It works with another property `BasicFileName`BasicFileName. One of the four output modes.
OutputStreams { get; set; }	Gets or sets the many Output Streams. One of four output modes.
UnFlattenFields { set; }	Sets the fields which will not be flattened. If this property is not set, all the fields will be flattened.

Methods

Name	Description
BindPdf(Document)	Binds a Pdf document.
BindPdf(Stream)	Binds a Pdf file.
BindPdf(string)	Binds a Pdf file.
Close()	Closes the object and output streams.
Dispose()	Closes the object and output streams.
ImportDataTable(DataTable)	Imports data of DataTable type. Every column’s name of the dataTable must be the same as one field name of the template pdf in case sensitive.
Save(Stream)	Saves all the pdfs.
Save(string)	Saves all the pdfs.

Examples

[C#]
//Note: mail.pdf is a template pdf which has seven text fields. NorthWind.mdb is the microsoft access db.
////Common part: Get the data from the database NorthWind.mdb fill it into the DataTable.
			
OleDbCommand mQueryCommand;
OleDbDataAdapter mDbDataAdapter;
OleDbConnection mDbConnection;

//Construct the data table.
DataTable mDataTable = new DataTable("MailMerge");
DataColumnCollection columns = mDataTable.Columns;
columns.Add("CompanyName",typeof(string));
columns.Add("ContactName",typeof(string));
columns.Add("Address",typeof(string));
columns.Add("PostalCode",typeof(string));
columns.Add("City",typeof(string));
columns.Add("Country",typeof(string));
columns.Add("Heading",typeof(string));


//Connect to the database source and query the data.
mDbConnection = new OleDbConnection();
mDbConnection.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + 
DbPath + "NorthWind.mdb";
mQueryCommand = new OleDbCommand();
mQueryCommand.Connection = mDbConnection;
mDbConnection.Open();


mQueryCommand.CommandText = "select CompanyName, ContactName, Address, PostalCode, City, Country from Customers;";
mDbDataAdapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(mQueryCommand);
		
mDbDataAdapter.Fill(mDataTable);

for (int i = 0; i<mDataTable.Rows.Count;i++)
{
	mDataTable.Rows[i][mDataTable.Columns.Count - 1] = "Dear " + mDataTable.Rows[i][0].ToString() + ",";
	System.Console.WriteLine("postalCode:" + mDataTable.Rows[i][3].ToString());
	System.Console.WriteLine("Heading:" + mDataTable.Rows[i][mDataTable.Columns.Count - 1].ToString());
}

mDbDataAdapter.Dispose();
mDbConnection.Close();
////End of Common part.

////case one:
////Input template pdf is a pdf file and output is a big merged stream.		
 
AutoFiller autoFiller = new AutoFiller();
		
autoFiller.InputFileName = "mail.pdf";
autoFiller.OutputStream = Response.OutputStream;

autoFiller.ImportDataTable(mDataTable);
autoFiller.Save();

////case two:
////Input template pdf is a pdf file and output is a lot of small files.
AutoFiller autoFiller = new AutoFiller();
		
autoFiller.InputFileName = "mail.pdf";
autoFiller.GeneratingPath = ".\\";
autoFiller.BasicFileName = "outputFile";

autoFiller.ImportDataTable(mDataTable);
autoFiller.Save();

[Visual Basic]
'Note: mail.pdf is a template pdf which has seven text fields. NorthWind.mdb is the microsoft access db.
'Common part: Get the data from the database NorthWind.mdb fill it into the DataTable. 
mQueryCommand As OleDbCommand = Nothing
mDbDataAdapter As OleDbDataAdapter = Nothing
mDbConnection As OleDbConnection = Nothing

mDataTable As DataTable = Nothing

mPath As String = Nothing
mTemplatePdf As String = Nothing

'Construct the data table.
mDataTable = New DataTable("MailMerge")
Dim columns As DataColumnCollection = mDataTable.Columns
'Create columns for the datatable. 
'Every column's  name should be the same as one field's name of the templatePdf.
columns.Add("CompanyName", Type.GetType("System.String"))

columns.Add("ContactName", Type.GetType("System.String"))
columns.Add("Address", Type.GetType("System.String"))
columns.Add("PostalCode", Type.GetType("System.String"))
columns.Add("City", Type.GetType("System.String"))
columns.Add("Country", Type.GetType("System.String"))
columns.Add("Heading", Type.GetType("System.String"))


'Connect to the database source and query the data.
mDbConnection = New OleDbConnection
mDbConnection.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + DbPath + "NorthWind.mdb"
mQueryCommand = New OleDbCommand
mQueryCommand.Connection = mDbConnection
mDbConnection.Open()

'Query the data and insert into the datatable.
mQueryCommand.CommandText = "select CompanyName, ContactName, Address, PostalCode, City, Country from Customers;"
mDbDataAdapter = New OleDbDataAdapter(mQueryCommand)
mDbDataAdapter.Fill(mDataTable)

'Construct the last column  of the Datatable.
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To mDataTable.Rows.Count - 1 Step i + 1
	mDataTable.Rows(i)(mDataTable.Columns.Count - 1) = "Dear " + mDataTable.Rows(i)(0).ToString() + ","
	System.Console.WriteLine("postalCode:" + mDataTable.Rows(i)(3).ToString())
	System.Console.WriteLine("Heading:" + mDataTable.Rows(i)(mDataTable.Columns.Count - 1).ToString())
Next

mDbDataAdapter.Dispose()
mDbConnection.Close()
'End of Common part.

'case one:
'Input template pdf is a pdf file and output is a big merged stream.
Dim autoFiller As AutoFiller = New AutoFiller

autoFiller.InputFileName = "mail.pdf"
autoFiller.OutputStream = Response.OutputStream

autoFiller.ImportDataTable(mDataTable)
autoFiller.Save()

'case two:
'Input template pdf is a pdf file and output is a lot of small files.
Dim autoFiller As AutoFiller = New AutoFiller

autoFiller.InputFileName = "mail.pdf"
autoFiller.GeneratingPath = ".\";
autoFiller.BasicFileName = "outputFile"

autoFiller.ImportDataTable(mDataTable)
autoFiller.Save()