Technical FAQs

Question

PAS appears to be unable to retrieve my document. What could be the issue?

Answer

If PAS is trying to retrieve documents from a source with a bad SSL certificate or a self-signed certificate and it is not configured to allow bad SSL certificates, it will fail to retrieve the document and log a generic 580 error.

For more information about Viewing Session creation parameters, including acceptBadSslCertificate see here:

https://help.accusoft.com/PrizmDoc/latest/HTML/webframe.html#pas-viewing-sessions.html

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Curious as to how to use PrizmDoc with Node.JS and HTML? You’ve found the right video! Watch as a Technical Support Rep takes you through the PrizmDoc Node.JS and HTML GitHub sample.

For additional information, please visit PrizmDoc!  To learn more about Accusoft, please visit www.Accusoft.com.

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View this introduction to PrizmDoc and the benefits it can deliver for your web-based application. In this webinar, you will learn:

  • About PrizmDoc’s capabilities for document viewing, conversion, search, annotation, redaction, editing, and its many other document processing functions
  • The benefits of integrating this industry-leading collection of REST APIs into your application
  • How others have benefitted from integrating PrizmDoc into their applications
  • How easy it is for you to get started with PrizmDoc
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Question

I have a document with text on it. I want to find the coordinates of a particular word on it (so I can place annotations, redactions, etc.). How might this be accomplished?

Answer

To programmatically determine the location of text (for annotations, redactions, etc.), we can use the following GET request from the PrizmDoc Server API:

GET /PCCIS/V1/Document/q/{{PageNumberBegin}}-{{PageNumberEnd}}/Text

This GET request will give you the currently available text position metadata of the page, with the corresponding bounding boxes and coordinates (distance from the left/top edge, and width/height). You can then use these coordinates to place your annotations, redactions, etc.

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Question

We entered our S3 bucket name in the customer portal, but used a capital letter for the first character; however, the S3 bucket name is all lowercase in AWS (Amazon Web Services).
Will this cause an issue with starting the service?

Answer

Yes, the bucket name is case-sensitive and must be entered exactly the same as the S3 bucket is named in AWS (Amazon Web Services).

AWS recommends you do not use uppercase letters in your bucket name.

If you made the first character of the name uppercase in the Accusoft Customer Portal, then the service will fail to start.

You will need to contact your Account Manager or Accusoft Technical Support to have the license re-created so that you can re-enter the S3 bucket name properly.

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Question

Why do I still get the “Accusoft Licensing” popup after I have licensed my machine?

Answer

There are a few reasons why this might happen:

  1. You have licensed your machine with a runtime/deployment license and you are not calling the SetSolutionName and SetSolutionKey methods in your code. By default, Accusoft products will look for a license in the registry at this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Accusoft\Licensing\Accusoft. However, for runtime licenses, they are stored at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Accusoft\Licensing\YourSolutionName. So, when you call SetSolutionName, that tells your application to look in the correct directory to find the runtime license. You can find the necessary parameters for these methods on the customer portal customer portal.
  2.  You did not successfully install a license on your machine and the temporary license installed has expired. If you use the SLU (Server License Utility) or the LDK (License Deployment Kit) to license your machine and it fails, a temporary 14 day license will be placed on your machine. When that expires, you’ll no longer be able to use the product. If this happens, you’ll need to run the SLU or try using the LDK again. If that doesn’t work, you might want to try licensing your machine in offline mode.
  3.  You are trying to use a development license and you are calling SetSolutionName and SetSolutionKey in your code. You should only call SetSolutionName and SetSolutionKey in your code when you are deploying your application and using a deployment license. When you install a development license on your machine, it is placed into the registry at the following path: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Accusoft\Licensing\Accusoft”. When you call SetSolutionName in your code, you are telling the control to look for a license at a different path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Accusoft\Licensing\YourSolutionName. If you are calling SetSolutionName and SetSolutionKey while trying to use a developmentlicense, simply comment out those lines for now.
  4. The license information you’ve entered might be wrong. Check on the customer portal to make sure you’ve got the values parameters for the SetSolutionKey and SetSolutionNamecorrect.
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Tampa Bay Software CEOs Call

TAMPA, Fla. September 9, 2020 – In August, Tampa Bay Tech’s Software CEO Council (TBSC) met to tackle what so many CEOs and founders are experiencing right now as the country continues to reopen. The outlook was optimistic amongst the group as all attendees reported that their businesses were maintaining financial stability and growing headcount.

During this quarterly meeting, TBSC usually gathers to discuss business ideas, philanthropic efforts, and community involvement. This meeting was a little different considering the effects that COVID-19 has had on the market.

“It’s important for TBSC to keep our meetings going, especially during a pandemic,” states Seng Sun, CEO of SunView Software. “We can rely on each other to share feedback and ideas regarding the management of new COVID-19 protocols.”

Prior to the meeting, the members participated in a brief survey about the impact that the pandemic had on their businesses.

“Across the board our CEOs reported challenges in the past several months, but I was encouraged by the optimism for not only ending the year in a positive place, but heading into 2021 with solid strategies to grow,” reported Jill St Thomas, Tampa Bay Tech’s Executive Director. “The commitment of these leaders to support one another absolutely embodies our mission of building a radically connected tech community in Tampa Bay.”

“We need to understand the way the pandemic has influenced not only our own business plans and strategies, but how it will affect the technology landscape in Tampa Bay,” states Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft. “We have light-hearted meetings, but we do discuss serious subjects. I took over a page of notes on ideas my peers shared, and I’m interested in implementing them across my teams.”

Members of the group in attendance included: Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft, Kevin Coppins, CEO of Spirion, Seng Sun, CEO of SunView Software, Ed Holmes, CEO of FairWarning, Gregory Ross-Munro, CEO of Sourcetoad, Paul Toomey, CEO of Geographic Solutions, Chris Karlo, CEO of Mercury New Media, Jody Haneke, CEO of Haneke Designs, and moderator, Jill St. Thomas, Executive Director of Tampa Bay Tech.

For more information about TBSC, visit the group’s website at https://www.tampasoftwareceos.com/.

About Tampa Bay Tech

Tampa Bay Tech is a 501(c)6 non-profit technology council that has been engaging and uniting the local technology community for 20 years. With over 100 companies representing thousands of tech employees – as well as thousands of students within the area’s colleges and universities – Tampa Bay Tech provides programming and initiatives to support all those in the technology space. Through their membership and partnerships, their mission is to build a radically connected, flourishing tech hub where opportunity is abundant for all. Join the TBTech community at tampabay.tech and follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram and Twitter.

About Accusoft

Founded in 1991, Accusoft is a software development company specializing in content processing, conversion, and automation solutions. From out-of-the-box and configurable applications to APIs built for developers, Accusoft software enables users to solve their most complex workflow challenges and gain insights from content in any format, on any device. Backed by 40 patents, the company’s flagship products, including OnTask, PrizmDoc™ Viewer, and ImageGear, are designed to improve productivity, provide actionable data, and deliver results that matter. The Accusoft team is dedicated to continuous innovation through customer-centric product development, new version release, and a passion for understanding industry trends that drive consumer demand. Visit us at www.accusoft.com.

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Question

What are the technical details/process of “Flattening” a PDF document?

Answer

It is possible to “Flatten” PDF documents in PrizmDoc Viewer. You can do this by converting the document to a raster format (TIFF is recommended for PDF conversion) using PrizmDoc’s Content Conversion Service, and then converting it back to PDF format. This will result in a PDF with a single layer and no hidden objects. However, this will usually lower the quality and increase the file size of PDFs that are largely text.

Here is an example workflow using the Workfile API and the Content Conversion Service API:

1. Create a WorkFile from PDF

POST {{pccisUrl}}/PCCIS/V1/WorkFile
Content-Type: application/octet-stream

{{file bytes}}

2. Initiate Conversion to TIFF

POST {{pccisUrl}}/v2/contentConverters
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "input": {
        "sources": [
            {
                "fileId": "{{fileId}}"
            }
        ],
        "dest": {
            "format": "tiff"
        }
    }
}

3. Poll until response[“state”] === “complete”

GET {{pccisUrl}}/v2/contentConverters/{{processId}}

4. Initiate Conversion from TIFF back to PDF

POST {{pccisUrl}}/v2/contentConverters
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "input": {
        "sources": [
            {
                "fileId": "{{fileId_from_Step3_output}}"
            }
        ],
        "dest": {
            "format": "pdf"
        }
    }
}

5. Poll again

GET {{pccisUrl}}/v2/contentConverters/{{processId}}

6. Download

GET {{pccisUrl}}/PCCIS/V1/WorkFile/{{fileId}}?ContentDispositionFileName={{desiredFileNameWithExtension}}
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scalable vector graphics

The scalable vector graphic (SVG) format continues to enjoy steady adoption across the web. According to data from W3Techs, SVG now accounts for 25 percent of website images worldwide. But it wasn’t always this way. In 1998, it became apparent that vector-based graphics had a future on the web, and the W3C received six different file format submissions from technology companies that year. Some were mere proposals ready for a complete revamp, while others were proprietary products that W3C wasn’t permitted to modify. Instead of forging a format from one of the submissions, however, W3C’s SVG working group decided to start from the ground up — and SVG was born.

While the file format had lofty ambitions, focusing on common use rather than specific syntax, the original iteration was cumbersome and complex. However, SVG has improved year after year after year. With increased support came more streamlined functionality and usable features. Now, SVG is often the first choice for meeting the evolving demands of scalable, responsive, and accessible web content.

What is a Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) and how does it work?

Today, SVG is the de-facto standard for vector-based browser graphics. But what exactly is this file format, and how does it work?

Based on XML, SVG supports three broad types of objects: 

  • Vector graphics including paths and outlines that are both straight and curved
  • Bitmap images such as .jpeg, .gif, and .png
  • Text

What sets SVG apart from bitmap-based images is the use of lines and curves along the edges of graphical objects. Because bitmap images use a fixed set of pixels, scaling them up creates blurriness where the edges of pixels meet. In the case of vector images, meanwhile, a fixed-shape approach allows the preservation of smooth lines and curves no matter the image size.

SVG also offers the benefit of interoperability. Because it’s a W3C open standard, SVG plays well with both other image format and web markup languages including JavaScript, DOM, CSS, and HTML. This allows the format to easily support responsive design approaches that scale websites and web content based on the user device rather than defining standardized size parameters. Thanks to the curves and lines of SVG, scaling presents no problem for responsive designers looking to ensure consistency across device types.

The Benefits of SVG

While scalability is often cited as the biggest benefit of SVG, this format also offers other advantages, including:

  • Responsiveness — Images can be easily scaled up or down and modified as necessary to meet web design and development demands.
  • Accessibility — Since SVG is text-based, content can be indexed and searched, allowing both users and developers to quickly find what they’re looking for.
  • Performance — Image rendering is quick and doesn’t require substantive resources, allowing sites to load quickly and completely.
  • Use in Web Applications — Browser incompatibilities and missing functions often frustrate web design efforts, forcing developers to use multiple tool sets and spend time checking content and images for potential format conflicts. SVG, meanwhile, offers powerful scripting and event support, in turn allowing developers to leverage it as a platform for both graphically rich applications and user interfaces. The result? Better-looking sites that enhance the overall user experience.
  • Interoperability — Because SVG is based on W3C standards, the format is entirely interoperable, meaning developers aren’t tied to any specific implementation, vendor, or authoring tool. From building their own framework from the ground up to leveraging third-party SVG applications, web developers can find their format best-fit.

SVG in PrizmDoc Viewer

Accusoft’s PrizmDoc Viewer offers multiple ways for developers to make the most of SVG elements at scale, such as:

  • File Transformation — Conversion is critical for effective and efficient web design. If development teams need different file transformation tools for every format, the timeline for web projects expands significantly. PrizmDoc Viewer streamlines this process with support for the conversion of more than 100 file types — including PDFs, Microsoft Office files, HTML, EML, rich text, and images — into browser-compliant SVG outputs. In practice, this permits near-native document and image rendering that’s not only fast, but also accessible anytime, anywhere, and from any device.
  • HTML5 Functionality — Using SVG in PrizmDoc Viewer is made easier thanks to native HTML5 design. The use of HTML5-native framework not only improves load times with smaller document sizes but means that PrizmDoc Viewer works in all modern web browsers — while also dramatically enhancing document display quality.
  • Pre-Conversion — One of the biggest challenges with viewing large documents in a browser is delay. Pages toward the end of the document may take longer to load and frustrate users looking to quickly find a specific image or piece of information. PrizmDoc Viewer solves this problem with a pre-conversion API that returns the first page as an SVG while the rest of the document is being converted, allowing users to interact with documents as conversion takes place and lowering the chance that files will experience format-based delays.

SVG hasn’t always been the go-to web image format. Despite a promising start based on open, interoperable standards, the lack of early support and specific use cases for vector-based file formats saw SVG sitting on the sidelines for decades. 

The advent of on-demand access requirements and mobile-first development realities has changed the conversation. SVG is now continuously gaining ground as companies see the benefit in this scalable, streamlined, and superior-quality file format. Get the big picture and see SVG in action with our online document viewing demo, or start a free PrizmDoc Viewer trial today!

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Curious about how to use PrizmDoc with Node.JS and React? You’ve found the right video! Watch as a Technical Support Rep takes you through the PrizmDoc Node.JS and React GitHub sample.

For additional information, please visit PrizmDoc!  To learn more about Accusoft, please visit www.Accusoft.com.

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