We recently had a client ask us to automate the conversion of PDF to PNG images as part of their business process. Working with PDF files usually involves the time-intensive manual process of opening the PDF with Adobe Acrobat to make changes. Their process involved converting hundreds of PDF files into individual PNG images for each page, all within a few seconds of upload. With Adobe Livecycle this entire process was automated without writing a single line of code. Leveraging the Adobe Livecycle Enterprise Suite and the Adobe LiveCycle Workbench, we were able to map, design, develop, and test the entire solution in a very short time. An excerpt from the LiveCycle workflow can be seen below, which shows the logic of determining the orientation (portait or landscape) of the imported page, and the conversion to two separate sets of image sizes.
Realizing this is only the beginning of what the Adobe Livecycle suite can do, we were also able to utilize the LiveCycle PDF Generator combined with the open source iText PDF manipulation library to automate the creation of a PDF file compiled from a variety of separate sources. The compiled PDF was generated from existing PDF files along with tabbed pages and inserts from their book layout system to create a complete book ready for printing.
The final piece of Livecycle utilized for this project was the PDF Generator IPP driver that allows a user to install a printer driver that they can print directly to from their favorite desktop applications. This lightweight PDF printer will generate the PDF on the Adobe LiveCycle Server and email the generated PDF to the user.
This is just the beginning of what Adobe LiveCycle can accomplish, and we are eager to explore more solutions that leverage LiveCycle. If you’d like more information about what we’re doing with Adobe LiveCycle, please feel free to comment or contact us.
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