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Suggestion
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Resolution: Low Engagement
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NOTE: This suggestion is for Confluence Server. Using Confluence Cloud? See the corresponding suggestion.
Due to the advent of the new PDF export functionalities in Confluence 3.0, customising the export via Velocity files is no longer relevant.
This results in some limitations where it is no longer possible to use Velocity Content Objects for the PDF exports. For instance, there is no way to include the following items in the exports:
- Page title
- Page version
- Page authors
It would be nice if this feature can be used again in Confluence 3.x
- relates to
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- Closed
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- Gathering Interest
[CONFSERVER-16527] Allow PDF Exports to be customised via Velocity
amna alsaidan
added a comment - thank you for you solution , i tried to put this in the pdf stylesheet , the @bottom-center is working very well
but the content for the top right is not working :
content: "$!content.getTitle() v.$!content.getVersion() ($!content.getIdAsString())";
can any one help me with this ?
amna alsaidan
added a comment - thank you for you solution , i tried to put this in the pdf stylesheet , the @bottom-center is working very well
but the content for the top right is not working :
content: "$!content.getTitle() v.$!content.getVersion() ($!content.getIdAsString())";
can any one help me with this ? Adding my vote so that exported PDFs are able to include a TinyURL reference to the original document.
Chris Gregg
added a comment - Nils - have you developed this any further to add any workflow data to the header/footer of your PDF exports?
Chris
Chris Gregg
added a comment - Nils - have you developed this any further to add any workflow data to the header/footer of your PDF exports?
Chris 
Nils Gladitz
added a comment - I don't think that works since those Layouts do not get applied when exporting PDF; which is what the "PDF Layout" is for which does not work for single page PDF exports and doesn't support Velocity (which is why this bug exists) :/
Nils Gladitz
added a comment - I don't think that works since those Layouts do not get applied when exporting PDF; which is what the "PDF Layout" is for which does not work for single page PDF exports and doesn't support Velocity (which is why this bug exists) :/ 
Laurent Lacôte
added a comment - Hi Nils,
you seem to have found a very elegant solution! 
About the @media, I'd say its because @media and @page are different things altogether.
From what I understood by reading this:
- @media tells the sofware what type of document you want the css rules apply to: sheet of paper, screens, etc...
- @page is, relative to this paper, a modelled set of rules: margins, pagebreak, police size, etc... It's something totally different from the Confluence "Page" concept.
So if you miss the @media, Confluence won't know that you want these rules to apply when you export to PDF, hence the disparition.
Since you went this far, maybe you could try scaling it by rendering it in the templates?
If you want to try:
- copy one of your spaces
- in copied space, go to Browse > Space Admin > Theme and apply "Global Look and Feel".
- then a bit under, click on "Layouts"
- click on "Create Custom" next to the Page.vmd
- find the $body, and, around it, put this: $helper.renderConfluenceMacro("yourmacro")
- it may work or not, I don't know, since I don't know where you retrieve the informations from, but don't have time to try for now, sorry.
Good job anyways, your work should help many users.
Best regards,
Laurent
Laurent Lacôte
added a comment - Hi Nils,
you seem to have found a very elegant solution!
About the @media, I'd say its because @media and @page are different things altogether.
From what I understood by reading this :
@media tells the sofware what type of document you want the css rules apply to: sheet of paper, screens, etc...
@page is, relative to this paper, a modelled set of rules: margins, pagebreak, police size, etc... It's something totally different from the Confluence "Page" concept.
So if you miss the @media, Confluence won't know that you want these rules to apply when you export to PDF, hence the disparition.
Since you went this far, maybe you could try scaling it by rendering it in the templates?
If you want to try:
copy one of your spaces
in copied space, go to Browse > Space Admin > Theme and apply "Global Look and Feel".
then a bit under, click on "Layouts"
click on "Create Custom" next to the Page.vmd
find the $body, and, around it, put this: $helper.renderConfluenceMacro("yourmacro")
it may work or not, I don't know, since I don't know where you retrieve the informations from, but don't have time to try for now, sorry.
Good job anyways, your work should help many users.
Best regards,
Laurent Nils Gladitz
added a comment - Thanks for the hints!
I've managed to build a partial solution which seems to work (even though I'm not sure why).
I build the following user macro (with HTML output):
<style type="text/css"> @media print {} @page { @top-right { content: "$!content.getTitle() v.$!content.getVersion() ($!content.getIdAsString())"; font-size: 8pt; } @bottom-center { content: "Page " counter(page) " of " counter(pages); font-size: 8pt; } } </style>
Which I then invoke on confluence pages that require it.
It adds title, version, ID, current page number and total page count to each page (when exporing to PDF).
I haven't figured out how to access any of the Ad hoc workflow plugin state via Velocity though.
As far as I undestand it <style> elements are only legal in the <head> section though I saw it being used in one of the user macro examples and it seems to work (for the moment).
Also I have no idea why the empty "@media print" block is required; without it the extra content vanishes.
Nils Gladitz
added a comment - Thanks for the hints!
I've managed to build a partial solution which seems to work (even though I'm not sure why).
I build the following user macro (with HTML output):
<style type= "text/css" >
@media print {}
@page {
@top-right
{
content: "$!content.getTitle() v.$!content.getVersion() ($!content.getIdAsString())" ;
font-size: 8pt;
}
@bottom-center
{
content: "Page " counter(page) " of " counter(pages);
font-size: 8pt;
}
}
</style>
Which I then invoke on confluence pages that require it.
It adds title, version, ID, current page number and total page count to each page (when exporing to PDF).
I haven't figured out how to access any of the Ad hoc workflow plugin state via Velocity though.
As far as I undestand it <style> elements are only legal in the <head> section though I saw it being used in one of the user macro examples and it seems to work (for the moment).
Also I have no idea why the empty "@media print" block is required; without it the extra content vanishes. Hi Nils,
you can take a first step to your goal by combining:
- Visibility plugin (macro {show-if:display=printable}) to enclose informations
- Reporting plugin (
{report-info:page:title}
,
{report-info:page:id}and
{report-info:page:version}macros)
- Customizations of PDF Stylesheet and PDF Layout as explained here
- Documentation Theme (not mandatory but much easier).
To display the content you want, you'd like to add:
- this code in top of your page's content:
{show-if:display=printable}
{report-info:page:title} - idn°{report-info:page:id}
Version: {report-info:page:version}{show-if} - this code in bottom of your page's content: {span:id=pageNum}
- this code in your space's PDF Stylesheet:
#pageNum:before { content: counter(page); }
Problem is, you'd have to replicate this onto all pages. I tried to scale by using Documentation theme's header/footer, but it seems they aren't included during PDF buildout.
Hope a more knowledgeable people can help you automate this customizations on all pages.
Cheers,
Laurent
Laurent Lacôte
added a comment - - edited Hi Nils,
you can take a first step to your goal by combining:
Visibility plugin (macro {show-if:display=printable}) to enclose informations
Reporting plugin (
{report-info:page:title}
,
{report-info:page:id}
and
{report-info:page:version}
macros)
Customizations of PDF Stylesheet and PDF Layout as explained here
Documentation Theme (not mandatory but much easier).
To display the content you want, you'd like to add:
this code in top of your page's content:
{show-if:display=printable}
{report-info:page:title} - idn°{report-info:page:id}
Version: {report-info:page:version}{show-if}
this code in bottom of your page's content:
{span:id=pageNum}
this code in your space's PDF Stylesheet:
#pageNum:before
{
content: counter(page);
}
Problem is, you'd have to replicate this onto all pages. I tried to scale by using Documentation theme's header/footer, but it seems they aren't included during PDF buildout.
Hope a more knowledgeable people can help you automate this customizations on all pages.
Cheers,
Laurent Nils Gladitz
added a comment - I'm currently evaluating Confluence to manage documents for quality management.
As far as I understand for us all printed documents are at least required to show on each page:
- document title
- reference number (I'm hoping there is an internal numeric unique ID that can be used for this?)
- document version
- workflow state (from the Ad hoc Workflows plugin)
- page number
Are there any other known ways to achieve this (e.g. without the PDF export perhaps)?
Nils Gladitz
added a comment - I'm currently evaluating Confluence to manage documents for quality management.
As far as I understand for us all printed documents are at least required to show on each page:
document title
reference number (I'm hoping there is an internal numeric unique ID that can be used for this?)
document version
workflow state (from the Ad hoc Workflows plugin)
page number
Are there any other known ways to achieve this (e.g. without the PDF export perhaps)? 
Daryl Halliday
added a comment - One suggestion that might work for you is to install the plugin Scroll Office ( https://plugins.atlassian.com/plugin/details/24982 ).
Although this is a commercial plugin (i.e. will cost you money), from my perspective addresses a lot of the short comings that Confluence has with both the PDF export and Word export.
Using this plugin, you can define templates (and most likely satisfy your requirements above), and then export to a word document.
From a word document, you can then generate a pdf file (using any available free tool such as PDF995).
Although it would have been nice to see these features in Confluence it self, I find it worth the money, given that it is not available. Check it out.
Daryl Halliday
added a comment - One suggestion that might work for you is to install the plugin Scroll Office ( https://plugins.atlassian.com/plugin/details/24982 ).
Although this is a commercial plugin (i.e. will cost you money), from my perspective addresses a lot of the short comings that Confluence has with both the PDF export and Word export.
Using this plugin, you can define templates (and most likely satisfy your requirements above), and then export to a word document.
From a word document, you can then generate a pdf file (using any available free tool such as PDF995).
Although it would have been nice to see these features in Confluence it self, I find it worth the money, given that it is not available. Check it out.
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