Error on rendering PDF using formService.renderPDF by passing XDP template which has exData | Community
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S
SmrithiGo
September 8, 2025
Solved

Error on rendering PDF using formService.renderPDF by passing XDP template which has exData

  • September 8, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 1521 views

Hi,

I am using com.adobe.fd.forms.api.FormService.renderPDFForm for rendering dynamic PDF for a use case.

 

Here I am passing like this:

formsService.renderPDFForm("crx://" + xdpPath, xmlDataDocument, renderOptions)

 

The rendered PDF from the above service works for all the cases, except when the XDP template as 

<value>
    <exData contentType="text/html">
        <body xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:xfa="http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/"><p>sample text</p></body>
    </exData>
</value>
 
the exData is not loading on the rendered PDF. Can anyone help me understand the reason. Is it a bug with the service?

 

Best answer by Pranay_M

Hi @pranay_m , Sorry, I dont have sample xdp files to share here. In this case the PDF is rendered , but the text within exData is not rendered on the PDF.  

 


Hi @smrithigo,

I have attachted a folder "Personal_info_Original.zip" and inside that zip you will find a couple for files, namely: Personal_info.xdp and Personal_info_Original.xml. The XDP has a field that accepts the value in the <exData> format(Rich Text) from the XML. I used the same XDP and the XML  and passed the files from the Forms Service to get the resultant PDF: FormsPDFOutput.pdf.

 

To summarise the use case is working perfectly on my end and you might need to validate either the XDP or the XML souce.

Thanks

Pranay

1 reply

P
Adobe Employee
Pranay_MAdobe Employee
Adobe Employee
September 16, 2025

Hi @smrithigo,

Thanks
Pranay

XFA <exData> with contentType="text/html" is meant to store rich text (RTF-like content with XHTML tags).The FormsService renderPDFForm API will honor <exData> only if:

 

  • The XDP field is configured as a Rich Text field in Designer (not plain text).

  • The incoming <value><exData ...> is well-formed XHTML, matching Adobe’s expected schema.

  • If the <exData> content isn’t parsed properly, the renderer often just ignores it, leaving the field blank

Alternative binding

  • Instead of passing <exData>, try passing the same rich text under the field’s rawValue in the XML. This should fix the issue on your end. I gave a quick try and was able to generate the PDF correctly.

Example:

 
<fieldName> <value> <richText> <body xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <p>sample text</p> </body> </richText> </value> </fieldName>
Thanks
Pranay

 

    S
    SmrithiGoAuthor
    September 16, 2025

    HI @pranay_m , Another question, that I have is, is there any way to parse the <exData> correctly.

     

    • If the <exData> content isn’t parsed properly, the renderer often just ignores it, leaving the field blank

    As I have the control when the PDF is rendered, is there any way to parse this tag value and then render PDF.

    S
    SmrithiGoAuthor
    September 16, 2025

    Hi @smrithigo,

    As I can understand, you have an XDP/PDF and an XML that you are passing using the Forms service to create a dynamic PDF. Can you please confirm if you are passing the <exData> in the XML or it is part of the XDP. Also can you please share the sample files for which the conversion ois failing.

    Thanks
    Pranay


    Yes you are right, we are rendering a dynamic PDF using formservice.renderPDF, by passing XDP template and XML data for (user and customer information).

     

    exData is not something that we are creating or passing, but it is a part of XDP template, that we are using at the time of rendering PDF. 

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