Server platform allows for embedding PDF
publishing functionality into custom
applications, including conversions from XML,
XSL:FO, HTML and Microsoft Word formats
CAMBRIDGE –
August 18, 2003 -
CambridgeDocs today announced the release of a
new server product built on its patent-pending
XML transformation technology. The PDF-XML
Publishing Server allows for the embedding of
dynamic PDF generation within a custom
application, or for the generation of PDFs via
Web Services requests.
The PDF-XML publisher is a server product that
can be invoked from a Java API to be embedded
within J2EE applications, or via the COM API or
.NET API for embedding within applications
developed using Microsoft application. The API
provides functionality to programmatically
generate PDFs or other formats on the fly. Other
dynamically generated formats include XHTML,
HTML, XML, or RTF.
The PDF-XML Publishing Server is ideal for
situations where a customer needs to generate
“PDF” documents on-demand as part of an
application, publishing system, or Web Services
implementation. The PDF files are generated from
XML using XSL:FO, and the API allows companies
to manipulate the generated PDFs using industry
standards such as XML and XSL.
This is particularly useful when a group of
documents share similar formatting but the data
is looked up from a relational database or from
some other source content that changes rapidly,
making it ideal for server based applications.
In the past, many PDFs have been generated
individually from desktop applications such as
Microsoft Word, FrameMaker, Quark, etc. As the
popularity of PDF files has grown, many
companies have realized that distributing
content in PDF format is the most effective way
to keep the desired “look and feel” of documents
and content. However, the old method of
“manually” producing PDFs one at a time, or in
batch from a series of Microsoft Word documents
doesn’t work if the content is dynamic and
changes often.
The PDF-XML server, a part of the CambridgeDocs
XML Content Backbone, first converts content
from its source format into XML. This can be
done automatically if the source format is in
HTML , Microsoft Word, or Word Perfect, or
existing PDF documents. This XML can be
manipulated by the business application as
necessary (for example, pulling data from a
relational database to put into the PDF).
“We believe an increasing number of organization
want to consolidate data coming from different
sources, including both structured and
unstructured content, into a single,
customer-shareable format,” said Irfan Virk,
CambridgeDocs CEO, “By using XML, we have a
single intermediate format. By using PDF, we
have the ideal format for distribution of
document. By using the PDF-XML Publishing
Server, customers have the best of both worlds.”
The PDF-XML Publishing Server can be combined
with CambridgeDocs Microsoft Word plug-ins. This
allows end users to submit documents into a
publishing workflow right from their desktop
applications; the process maintains the fidelity
of the document during the conversion process
while adding any necessary dynamic data. Behind
the scenes, The PDF-XML Publishing Server
converts the source document into XML, applies
custom templates for creating the appropriate
“look and feel” of the PDF documents, and then
delivers the final PDF file or SOAP envelope for
Web Services.
The PDF-XML Publishing Server can also deliver
XHTML versions of documents and RTF versions of
documents. It uses industry standards such as
XSL and XSL:FO for its customization layer,
making it easily accessible to a wide variety of
developers.
Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) has become
a de-facto standard for sharing printed
materials electronically. One of its strengths
is to position items at specific points on the
page. Because of this, content published to PDF
files have been difficult to edit and modify.
The CambridgeDocs XML Content Backbone can
“unlock” information stored in PDFs by
transforming them to XML, and can transform XML
content into PDFs.
The PDF-XML Publishing Server is priced at $7500
per server. More information can be found at the
CambridgeDocs web site (www.cambridgedocs.com).
About CambridgeDocs
CambridgeDocs is a leader in the emerging market for XML-based content
integration and publishing. This market deals
with the integration of legacy content with new
XML-based systems (e.g. Content Management,
Enterprise Information Portals, EAI, and Web
Services) and standards (e.g. DocBook, HRXML,
RIXML, IRXML, FPML, DAS-XML, NewsML, any custom
XML schema/DTD’s, etc.).
Towards this end, CambridgeDocs provides a
technology platform & services for taking
existing unstructured and semi-structured
internal and external content (e.g. MS Word,
HTML, PDF, Quark, etc.), and transforming it
into "meaningful XML". Once transformed, the
content can be made available for delivery
through XML-based Web Services, classified and
indexed within Enterprise Information Portals,
and aggregated, assembled and published in
multiple different formats including support for
wireless and mobile devices.
The xDoc Converter is the first step in
CambridgeDocs' strategy for providing Content
Interoperability via a middleware platform, the
CambridgeDocs XML Content Backbone. The
CambridgeDocs XML Content Backbone allows for
the sharing, indexing, migration, repurposing,
republishing and delivery of content between
numerous legacy formats and a variety of
enterprise content systems.
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