How can Adobe Acrobat Services help with things such as offering \u201cteaser\u201d samples of documents that are up for sale?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Raymond](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fill:88:88\/1*ldF-FsLonNyTUOmQ7cIV_g.jpeg\")
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<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nMany organizations offer documents for sale, and as part of that process, they will sometimes create a sample of the document to offer online for free.<\/p>\n
As an example, an online technical bookseller may offer the first thirty pages as a \u2018teaser\u2019 to help encourage sales.<\/p>\n
Creating these samples could be done by hand, but this is a great example of where Adobe Acrobat Services<\/a> can help automate the process.<\/p>\nIn this blog, we\u2019ll demonstrate a simple example of this process. We\u2019ll use Node.js, but the principals shown here could be done in any language via the REST APIs<\/a>. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\nBefore going into the code, let\u2019s quickly cover what exactly is being built.<\/p>\n
For the purpose of this particular demo, the process of creating samples will be done via a Node.js script that reads from one folder and saves it to another.<\/p>\n
This is, obviously, not automated, but could be migrated to a platform where that would be allowed.<\/p>\n
For example, this same process could be done in Microsoft PowerAutomate and set up to automatically kick off when a new file is added.<\/p>\n
Our process will do two things to each PDF:<\/p>\n
\n- Separate out the first five pages for the sample.<\/li>\n
- Place a PDF in front that describes the fact that this is only a sample and that the full version can be purchased online.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Our code is split between two files.<\/p>\n
The first file is responsible for checking the directories (both input and output) to figure out what it needs to do. Once it determines the PDFs that need to be actually processed, it calls that routine which is set up in the second file.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the code for that first file:<\/p>\n
From the top, you can see our configuration variables pointing to the input and output directories, as well as the PDF that\u2019s placed in front of each sample result.<\/p>\n
Also, make note of the SAMPLE_SIZE<\/code> variable which determines the number of pages to use when creating the sample. It would be possible to make this dynamic.<\/p>\nSo for example, the PDF Properties<\/a> API could be used to figure out the total number of pages, and math could then be used to generate a relative size for the number of pages. Perhaps 10% or so, with an upward maximum bound of some limit. For this example, we’ll keep it to a simple 5-page max.<\/p>\nTo run quicker, the script checks to see if a corresponding file of the same name from the input directory already exists in the output and skips over it. Finally, when it figures out what needs to be done, it iterates over each and calls makeSample<\/code> in our next script. Let’s now take a look at that.<\/p>\nThe script, makeSamples.js<\/code>, is essentially a wrapper for our REST APIs<\/a>. In general, the process of working with the Acrobat Services APIs all follow the same basic flow:<\/p>\n\n- Convert credentials into an access token<\/li>\n
- Create a new asset, which represents the document we\u2019re uploading to use for some job<\/li>\n
- Actually upload that document<\/li>\n
- Start the process<\/li>\n
- Check the status of the process<\/li>\n
- When done, download the result.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This may sound a bit complex, but each part is a relatively small REST call that\u2019s easy to write. Here\u2019s the makeSample<\/code> function:<\/p>\nLet\u2019s break this down. First, getting an access token:<\/p>\n
This is code we\u2019ve shared before. Essentially the client ID and secret and exchanged for the token. Do note we added a bit of caching (cachedToken<\/code>) so that we can reuse the value.<\/p>\nNext, the upload<\/code> function, which is actually two bits – the creation of an “Asset” and the actual upload itself. This function simplifies it into one:<\/p>\nWhich then chains to the two utility functions:<\/p>\n
So far, everything has basically been \u201csetup\u201d and preparation for the real work: actually creating the sample.<\/p>\n
Luckily we can do this in one quick call to the Combine PDF<\/a> call. This API not only lets you combine two PDFs, it also lets you specify a page range when combining, which means we can take our \u201cprepend\u201d PDF, take our larger PDF document, combine them, and specify a page range for the later to only get the specified number of sample pages.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s what that code looks like:<\/p>\n
In the body of the call, we pass in two assets, with the first representing the PDF \u201cprepended\u201d in front of our result and the second being a \u2018slice\u2019 of the main PDF.<\/p>\n
This API call, like others in Acrobat Services, returns a job URL we can ping for our status update. The pollJob<\/code> function handles hitting this endpoint once a second and waiting until the job succeeds or fails. (Note that this example doesn’t actually handle<\/em> errors, and usually it should!)<\/p>\nThe final bit handles the download. Our job, when successful, returns the URL where the bits can be downloaded, so this is just passed to downloadFile<\/code>:<\/p>\nThat was quite a bit of code to show you, so if you want to review, the entire application may be found here: https:\/\/github.com\/cfjedimaster\/document-services-demos\/tree\/main\/article_support\/book_demo<\/a><\/p>\nHere\u2019s a screenshot from one of the samples, showing the first and second pages:<\/p>\n\n![\"Screenshot]()
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nIn this article, we demonstrated a process to automate a fairly common requirement for stores that sell digital documents \u2014 creating a sample PDF. However, there\u2019s room for improvement.<\/p>\n
The PDF prepended in front of the document is the same for all samples. What if we could personalize it and make it more specific to the source PDF being sampled? In the next article, we\u2019ll show just that, making use of the powerful Document Generation API<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Many organizations offer documents for sale, and as part of that process, they will sometimes create a sample of the document to offer online for free.<\/p>\n As an example, an online technical bookseller may offer the first thirty pages as a \u2018teaser\u2019 to help encourage sales.<\/p>\n Creating these samples could be done by hand, but this is a great example of where Adobe Acrobat Services<\/a> can help automate the process.<\/p>\n In this blog, we\u2019ll demonstrate a simple example of this process. We\u2019ll use Node.js, but the principals shown here could be done in any language via the REST APIs<\/a>. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n Before going into the code, let\u2019s quickly cover what exactly is being built.<\/p>\n For the purpose of this particular demo, the process of creating samples will be done via a Node.js script that reads from one folder and saves it to another.<\/p>\n This is, obviously, not automated, but could be migrated to a platform where that would be allowed.<\/p>\n For example, this same process could be done in Microsoft PowerAutomate and set up to automatically kick off when a new file is added.<\/p>\n Our process will do two things to each PDF:<\/p>\n Our code is split between two files.<\/p>\n The first file is responsible for checking the directories (both input and output) to figure out what it needs to do. Once it determines the PDFs that need to be actually processed, it calls that routine which is set up in the second file.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the code for that first file:<\/p>\n From the top, you can see our configuration variables pointing to the input and output directories, as well as the PDF that\u2019s placed in front of each sample result.<\/p>\n Also, make note of the So for example, the PDF Properties<\/a> API could be used to figure out the total number of pages, and math could then be used to generate a relative size for the number of pages. Perhaps 10% or so, with an upward maximum bound of some limit. For this example, we’ll keep it to a simple 5-page max.<\/p>\n To run quicker, the script checks to see if a corresponding file of the same name from the input directory already exists in the output and skips over it. Finally, when it figures out what needs to be done, it iterates over each and calls The script, This may sound a bit complex, but each part is a relatively small REST call that\u2019s easy to write. Here\u2019s the Let\u2019s break this down. First, getting an access token:<\/p>\n This is code we\u2019ve shared before. Essentially the client ID and secret and exchanged for the token. Do note we added a bit of caching ( Next, the Which then chains to the two utility functions:<\/p>\n So far, everything has basically been \u201csetup\u201d and preparation for the real work: actually creating the sample.<\/p>\n Luckily we can do this in one quick call to the Combine PDF<\/a> call. This API not only lets you combine two PDFs, it also lets you specify a page range when combining, which means we can take our \u201cprepend\u201d PDF, take our larger PDF document, combine them, and specify a page range for the later to only get the specified number of sample pages.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what that code looks like:<\/p>\n In the body of the call, we pass in two assets, with the first representing the PDF \u201cprepended\u201d in front of our result and the second being a \u2018slice\u2019 of the main PDF.<\/p>\n This API call, like others in Acrobat Services, returns a job URL we can ping for our status update. The The final bit handles the download. Our job, when successful, returns the URL where the bits can be downloaded, so this is just passed to That was quite a bit of code to show you, so if you want to review, the entire application may be found here: https:\/\/github.com\/cfjedimaster\/document-services-demos\/tree\/main\/article_support\/book_demo<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a screenshot from one of the samples, showing the first and second pages:<\/p>\n In this article, we demonstrated a process to automate a fairly common requirement for stores that sell digital documents \u2014 creating a sample PDF. However, there\u2019s room for improvement.<\/p>\n The PDF prepended in front of the document is the same for all samples. What if we could personalize it and make it more specific to the source PDF being sampled? In the next article, we\u2019ll show just that, making use of the powerful Document Generation API<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:640\/format:webp\/1*ccN-zUTmU-qQXYV8OmpmVw.jpeg)
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SAMPLE_SIZE<\/code> variable which determines the number of pages to use when creating the sample. It would be possible to make this dynamic.<\/p>\nmakeSample<\/code> in our next script. Let’s now take a look at that.<\/p>\nmakeSamples.js<\/code>, is essentially a wrapper for our REST APIs<\/a>. In general, the process of working with the Acrobat Services APIs all follow the same basic flow:<\/p>\n\n
makeSample<\/code> function:<\/p>\ncachedToken<\/code>) so that we can reuse the value.<\/p>\nupload<\/code> function, which is actually two bits – the creation of an “Asset” and the actual upload itself. This function simplifies it into one:<\/p>\npollJob<\/code> function handles hitting this endpoint once a second and waiting until the job succeeds or fails. (Note that this example doesn’t actually handle<\/em> errors, and usually it should!)<\/p>\ndownloadFile<\/code>:<\/p>\n![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:640\/format:webp\/1*HsPZocL2iPftrMXtY1ljbA.png)