How to Specify PDF Builder for Output

We offer three different means of generating PDF output through our engines: our internal Windward PDF renderer, Microsoft Office PDF and PdfTron.   We use our internal PDF render by default. Here are the instructions on how to specify which PDF builder you want yo use for output.

.NET Engine

You can specify the output builder in the RunReport.exe.config  file to set it globally for all reports. To do that set these properties:

  • For PdfTron builder:
<WindwardReports>
 <add key="use.external.output.builder" value="on" />  
 <add key="output.builder" value="net.windward.env.PDFTronOutputBuilder" /> 
</WindwardReports> 
  • For Microsoft Office PDF builder, you will need to supply the path to the "OfficeOutputBuilder.dll" file in the bin folder of your engine:
<WindwardReports>
 <add key="use.external.output.builder" value="on" />  
 <add key="output.builder" value="{Path_To_OfficeOutputBuilder.dll};OfficeOutputBuilder.WindwardOutputBuilder"
 />
</WindwardReports> 

(If you want to use the internal Windward PDF renderer, dont change the configurations)


You can also specify the PDF builder on a per request basis programmatically if you are using the .NET Engine API.

  • For PdfTron builder:
Report report = new ReportPdf(...) 
...
report.OutputBuilder = new PDFTronOutputBuilder(); report.UseExternalOutputBuilder = true; 
  • For Microsoft Office builder:
Report report = new ReportPdf(...) 
...
report.OutputBuilder = new OfficeOutputBuilder(); report.UseExternalOutputBuilder = true; 

.NET RESTful Engine

If you use the .NET RESTful engine, you can specify your desired PDF builder in the Web.config file. To do so set these properties:

  • For PdfTron builder:
<WindwardReports>
 <add key="use.external.output.builder" value="on" />  
 <add key="output.builder" value="net.windward.env.PDFTronOutputBuilder" /> 
</WindwardReports> 
  • For Microsoft Office PDF builder, you will need to supply the path to the "OfficeOutputBuilder.dll" file in the bin folder of your engine:
<WindwardReports>
 <add key="use.external.output.builder" value="on" />  
 <add key="output.builder" value="{Path_To_OfficeOutputBuilder.dll};OfficeOutputBuilder.WindwardOutputBuilder"
 />
</WindwardReports> 

Java Engine

You can specify the output builder in the WindwardReports.properties file to set it globally for all reports. To do that set these properties:

  • For PdfTron builder:
use.external.output.builder=true
output.builder=net.windward.env.PDFTronOutputBuilder
  • For Microsoft Office PDF builder, you will need the "OfficeToPdf.exe" file. To get this file please contact our support team at [email protected]. Once you have the file, enter the following values in the WinwardReports.properties file:
use.external.output.builder=true
OfficeToPdf.exe= "PATH_TO\\OfficeToPdf.exe"

(If you want to use the internal Windward PDF renderer, dont change the configurations)


You can also specify the PDF builder on a per request basis programmatically if you are using the Java Engine API.

  • For PdfTron builder:
ProcessReport process = new ProcessPdf(...)
...
IOutputBuilderEngine builder = new PDFTronOutputBuilder();
process.setOutputBuilder(builder);
process.setUseExternalOutputBuilder(true);
  • For Microsoft Office builder:
ProcessReport process = new ProcessPdf(...)
...
IOutputBuilderEngine builder = new OfficeOutputBuilder();
process.setOutputBuilder(builder);
process.setUseExternalOutputBuilder(true);

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