Web page to update word documents
Discussion
I have a product set I've created, I use this with clients and manually update certain fields based on their requirements
What I would like to do is launch a web site where they pay for the documents but fill in fields which automatically update fields within a word template this then produces the document set for them
Ideally I would like them to set their header logo and enable don't and colours to be set to match their standards too (Or leave as is)
Is this possible? My preference would be to host this in my company azure platform.
What sort of cost would I be looking at too?
Thanks
What I would like to do is launch a web site where they pay for the documents but fill in fields which automatically update fields within a word template this then produces the document set for them
Ideally I would like them to set their header logo and enable don't and colours to be set to match their standards too (Or leave as is)
Is this possible? My preference would be to host this in my company azure platform.
What sort of cost would I be looking at too?
Thanks
Not overly complex to have web code producing doc xls pdf etc
You then just have your content in a database / they add theirs / upload image etc and the code combines it using your style sheet for layout and spits out the end document which you could save automatically to a cloud system / email / allow to be downloaded etc...
Costs depend on how you want to present it , so you need the ability to edit your content online (the default content) do they need to log in / what you are integrating it into / complexity of the documents / etc etc
So conceptually not an issue - cost - more detail would be required... it is the kind of system we build regularly but not in the Azure framework- we tend to do everything on an open source platform and avoid anything Microsoft where possible!
You then just have your content in a database / they add theirs / upload image etc and the code combines it using your style sheet for layout and spits out the end document which you could save automatically to a cloud system / email / allow to be downloaded etc...
Costs depend on how you want to present it , so you need the ability to edit your content online (the default content) do they need to log in / what you are integrating it into / complexity of the documents / etc etc
So conceptually not an issue - cost - more detail would be required... it is the kind of system we build regularly but not in the Azure framework- we tend to do everything on an open source platform and avoid anything Microsoft where possible!
having been on many a project burnt by OS code changing or projects suddenly dropped, I'm looking at using the MS Cloud Apps approach to enable support and development in the future.
The process would be:
The process would be:
- purchase product
- provide access to their own portal/customisation area for 12 months (user access management required)
- Answer set of questions
- Update documents based on answers given (word and ppt)
- Download documents in PDF formats
jonamv8 said:
How many unique word docs are you requiring and how many unique fields on average in each?
There are 3 word documents, not that many fields (would have to check) but circa 10 to 20 (would need to go back and check)The issue with shoving the main templates into a database is that they include internal references/hyperlinks
George Smiley said:
The issue with shoving the main templates into a database is that they include internal references/hyperlinks
does that cause a problem?shouldn't be an issue to handle hyperlinks etc.
with one system we wrote the user even has the option to us shortcodes which then are replaced interactively with other database content when the PDF is created... pretty much anything is possible - issue comes with the balance of functionality required and the cost!
The hyperlinks reference other areas within the document, if that could be overcome then there should be no issue - this would be beneficial as updating the document content could be a simple case of updating a database field
I just want to make sure the formatting etc flows as it does in the current raw format.
I just want to make sure the formatting etc flows as it does in the current raw format.
George Smiley said:
The hyperlinks reference other areas within the document, if that could be overcome then there should be no issue - this would be beneficial as updating the document content could be a simple case of updating a database field
I just want to make sure the formatting etc flows as it does in the current raw format.
again - depends on your solution...I just want to make sure the formatting etc flows as it does in the current raw format.
but using a library such as mPDF to generate PDFs allows use of the Adobe Bookmark feature which lets you set up the bookmarks you see on the left: https://mpdf.github.io/reference/html-control-tags... - you also have options for index / contents / etc. - in theory you can also use internal a tags - links to an anchor which gives you ad-hoc links (not sure we have ever done it - but meant to be supported)
so, a lot will depend on the detail / the compromise you can or can't manage / the time you are happy to pay for etc. but in principle it should be fine - we do some quite complex documents / merge PDFs / and even produce mm precision PDFS (ATOL certification) - there is a lot you can do...
We have some software we wrote that does something quite similar.
Our client has templates (lots of them), with blank fields. They edit these with bookmarks in Word and save them as a template document and upload to the webserver.
Customers have a secure login and complete required information, upload logo etc and its all saved in the systems database.
When the customer downloads a template, our system hijacks that download request on the webserver, grabs the selected Word template, opens it on the server (behind the scenes), fills in the blanks and then completes the download request. The client gets a document with the blanks filled in.
It works very well.
Our client has templates (lots of them), with blank fields. They edit these with bookmarks in Word and save them as a template document and upload to the webserver.
Customers have a secure login and complete required information, upload logo etc and its all saved in the systems database.
When the customer downloads a template, our system hijacks that download request on the webserver, grabs the selected Word template, opens it on the server (behind the scenes), fills in the blanks and then completes the download request. The client gets a document with the blanks filled in.
It works very well.
All thanks.
Ref using WP, I really wouldn't want to do so as I work in security the idea of a WP site terrifies me.
It sounds, from above, this is something that a couple of you might be able to do yourselves so will get in touch.
The basic journey is as follows:
1. Customer signs up to web portal, they state their contact preferences
2. They purchase the product
3. They are then asked a set of questions, if they choose not to answer it uses default answers
4. They are asked for a copy of their company logo for branding (set size) which will appear in the header
5. They are asked for their colour options - the format will be set but they can change the colour, pref from a pantone type selector
6. Their answers and options are saved, they can edit in the portal as often as they want
7. They documents are prepared and saved into their personal area
8. After a set period their access to the portal for product updates is blocked
It would be nice if as part of their logon process, when they enter a password that a one time use link is then sent to their registered address and only once that is clicked can they access the service.
For mobile site access a text to their registered number
That's the basics, if would be nice if the app on the phone could receive push notifications from my Twitter, RSS or alternate sources
Ref using WP, I really wouldn't want to do so as I work in security the idea of a WP site terrifies me.
It sounds, from above, this is something that a couple of you might be able to do yourselves so will get in touch.
The basic journey is as follows:
1. Customer signs up to web portal, they state their contact preferences
2. They purchase the product
3. They are then asked a set of questions, if they choose not to answer it uses default answers
4. They are asked for a copy of their company logo for branding (set size) which will appear in the header
5. They are asked for their colour options - the format will be set but they can change the colour, pref from a pantone type selector
6. Their answers and options are saved, they can edit in the portal as often as they want
7. They documents are prepared and saved into their personal area
8. After a set period their access to the portal for product updates is blocked
It would be nice if as part of their logon process, when they enter a password that a one time use link is then sent to their registered address and only once that is clicked can they access the service.
For mobile site access a text to their registered number
That's the basics, if would be nice if the app on the phone could receive push notifications from my Twitter, RSS or alternate sources
So apart from user accounts, SMS integration, payment gateway integration and a mobile app receiving push notifications is there anything else this "web page to update word documents" needs to do? 
Joking aside do you have anything in place already - SSL certificate? Payment provider (eg Stripe or something)? SMS gateway (eg. Twilio) ?
Can you provide a supplier with access to your Azure hosting or is there some sort of formal process for delivering/accepting/installing software on your company infrastructure?
Joking aside do you have anything in place already - SSL certificate? Payment provider (eg Stripe or something)? SMS gateway (eg. Twilio) ?
Can you provide a supplier with access to your Azure hosting or is there some sort of formal process for delivering/accepting/installing software on your company infrastructure?
48k said:
So apart from user accounts, SMS integration, payment gateway integration and a mobile app receiving push notifications is there anything else this "web page to update word documents" needs to do?
Joking aside do you have anything in place already - SSL certificate? Payment provider (eg Stripe or something)? SMS gateway (eg. Twilio) ?
Can you provide a supplier with access to your Azure hosting or is there some sort of formal process for delivering/accepting/installing software on your company infrastructure?
LOL well it is a product service so the other bits are the bulk of it, If it wasn't for the customised updates of the document it wouldn't be too tricky for me.Joking aside do you have anything in place already - SSL certificate? Payment provider (eg Stripe or something)? SMS gateway (eg. Twilio) ?
Can you provide a supplier with access to your Azure hosting or is there some sort of formal process for delivering/accepting/installing software on your company infrastructure?
No to all the above, other than I have an Azure presence - the certificates are not an issue to generate and for the payment side I would use a payment provider.
Think of this as a blank canvas but with the end goal understood, I want to avoid the use of OS where possible as I need to be able to get support if needed but I am not closed off to it
George Smiley said:
48k said:
So apart from user accounts, SMS integration, payment gateway integration and a mobile app receiving push notifications is there anything else this "web page to update word documents" needs to do?
Joking aside do you have anything in place already - SSL certificate? Payment provider (eg Stripe or something)? SMS gateway (eg. Twilio) ?
Can you provide a supplier with access to your Azure hosting or is there some sort of formal process for delivering/accepting/installing software on your company infrastructure?
LOL well it is a product service so the other bits are the bulk of it, If it wasn't for the customised updates of the document it wouldn't be too tricky for me.Joking aside do you have anything in place already - SSL certificate? Payment provider (eg Stripe or something)? SMS gateway (eg. Twilio) ?
Can you provide a supplier with access to your Azure hosting or is there some sort of formal process for delivering/accepting/installing software on your company infrastructure?
No to all the above, other than I have an Azure presence - the certificates are not an issue to generate and for the payment side I would use a payment provider.
Think of this as a blank canvas but with the end goal understood, I want to avoid the use of OS where possible as I need to be able to get support if needed but I am not closed off to it
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