pdfChip

pdfChip is a command-line application for the creation of high-quality PDF from HTML, taking full advantage of CSS and JavaScript.

pdfChip is a command-line application for the creation of high-quality PDF from HTML (taking full advantage of CSS and JavaScript). It supports all HTML features, but extends to support CMYK, spot color, XMP metadata, PDF standards, SVG, MathML, barcodes and more. Capable of generating single and multi-page PDF documents it is ideally suited for high-volume dynamic PDF generation.

Based on established technology

pdfChip creates high-quality PDF from HTML, taking full advantage of styling with CSS3 and optionally augmented with JavaScript. A good understanding of up-to-date web technology is sufficient to get started with pdfChip. There is no need to learn custom XML or XSL-FO based languages; anything that works in HTML is immediately usable in pdfChip.

Support for high-quality PDF

Standard HTML and CSS are limited with regards to color spaces, prepress related features like overprint, or advanced pagination. pdfChip extends the syntax of HTML 5, CSS3 and JavaScript to provide support for often needed professional publishing, print, document exchange and archival features. Some of the extensions to HTML5 and CSS3 are:

• Advanced color space support (including support for CMYK, Lab, ICC-based color spaces and spot colors)
• Lossless import of CMYK JPEG images, PDF pages and SVG
• Generation of XMP metadata
• Generation of standards-compliant PDF/X and PDF/A files

Support for advanced pagination

pdfChip provides custom JavaScript functions and objects for full control of the PDF output process. This includes extensive support of variable data type scenarios where a basic HTML template is modified at runtime using JavaScript, and pages are output for as many instances as necessary (for example based on data dynamically retrieved from a database). pdfChip can also output long documents (such as for example books). It includes a multi-pass option for advanced pagination, supporting page numbers, running headers and context dependent backgrounds or overlays.

Barcodes and other advanced content

HTML already provides numerous possibilities to describe content and apply styling; pdfChip takes this one level higher and also supports advanced scenarios. SVG is fully supported, both inline in HTML files or as a referenced SVG image; conversion from SVG to PDF is carried out without any loss of quality. MathML is also fully supported, introducing high quality PDF representation of formulas of any complexity; this is especially important for text book or scientific publishing.

And last but not least pdfChip incorporates full-featured barcode functionality. Barcodes can be inserted through easy-to-define custom objects; pdfChip supports over 100 types of barcodes used throughout the world.

Command-line processing for easy integration

pdfChip is a command-line application. Because it is easy to install (installation is basically extraction of the installation archive) and has a clear and easy-to-learn command line interface, it’s ideally suited for use on a web server to provide dynamic PDF creation. But it can just as easily be integrated in a custom application or be driven by automated solutions such as Laidback FileTrain or Enfocus Switch.

Wide applicability across different markets

With its extensive feature set and high-quality PDF output, pdfChip is ideally suited as the back-end PDF creation solution for many different applications, amongst others:

• Imposition and content aggregation workflows
• Composition workflows where templates and user contents have to be combined on the fly and where printable PDF documents have to be delivered
• On-the-fly preparation of magazine, newspaper and book content or sales literature
• Dynamic generation of one-off content such as tickets, stubs, order data, invoices … (for example in web-to-print environments)
• Variable data printing where templates have to be filled with data coming from a data source (such as a database or CRM system)
• Transactional printing workflows where transactional data needs to be combined with visually rich designs

Different license levels for different businesses

Because nobody’s needs are the same, pdfChip comes in four different license levels carrying a different price tag and sporting matching feature sets. Consult the table below for more information.

Pricing

So, what's the price tag of each license level? Have a look at the pricing! If you are interested in pdfChip, let us know and we'll make you a quote.

System requirements

Built on WebKit

• Support for all standard HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript features
• Ability to use JavaScript libraries such as JQuery or MathJax to speed up development
• Support for HTML editors to develop HTML input for pdfChip
• Highly optimized PDF generation to overcome inefficiencies of typical HTML output
• Support for professional TrueType and OpenType fonts

Extensions for professional PDF generation

• Proper definition of media, crop, trim and bleed box
• Generation of CMYK, Lab and Gray color spaces
• Generation of ICC-based color spaces
• Generation of spot colors (named colors)
• Inclusion of dynamic XMP metadata
• Inclusion of necessary PDF/X or PDF/A standard tags
• Control over PDF specific properties (overprint, line styles…)

Custom pagination support

• JavaScript support to modify the HTML DOM and output custom PDF pages at will
• Support for multiple PDF generation passes to add any number of static or dynamic underlays and overlays to the final PDF document
• Support for any page numbering pattern and running headers and footers

Integrated bar code support

• Integrated barcode generation functionality, with support for over one hundred different types of common and specialist bar codes
• Bar code addition through addition of easy to define custom HTML object
• Full control over barcode appearance through HTML parameters and CSS styling

Benefits

High-speed and high-quality PDF generation

• Highly-optimized engine based on WebKit
• Smallest output PDF size possible
• Supports multi-processor environments for parallel generation of multiple PDF files
• Generation of standards-compliant PDF files in PDF/X and PDF/A workflows
• Dynamic inclusion of all necessary XMP metadata
• Possibility to use the exact same HTML and CSS code on the web and for PDF generation (through use of pdfChip specific custom HTML, CSS and JavaScript where necessary)

Low entry level

• Based on widely understood technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript
• No need to learn custom XML or XSL-FO based template syntax
• Command-line integration for fast and seamless implementation of the technology in your projects
• Easy installation through unzipping of installation archive; no dependencies on special software or hardware
• Comprehensive user documentation and tutorial included, quick learning curve guaranteed

Wide feature support

• Full support for SVG, either inline in HTML or through referencing separate SVG files. SVG is converted losslessly into PDF code without rasterisation
• Support for MathML
• Built-in support for barcode generation through custom HTML objects with support for CSS based styling

pdfChip is a command-line application for the creation of high-quality PDF from HTML (taking full advantage of CSS and JavaScript). It supports all HTML features, but extends to support CMYK, spot color, XMP metadata, PDF standards, SVG, MathML, barcodes and more. Capable of generating single and multi-page PDF documents it is ideally suited for high-volume dynamic PDF generation.

Downloads

• callas pdfChip Introduction
• callas pdfChip Brochure - EN

Version history

Showing the 5 most recent of 25 releases.

2.5.084

• Update free of charge for all licensees of pdfChip 2 with a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA)

Features

• Support for developer licenses for CLI (–lsdev; requires License Server v1.2)

Fixes

• Problem solved, where rather small quietzone values resulted in a slightly shifted barcode [CA1032781]
• Problem solved, where certain, decimal quietzone values could result into a damaged barcode [FP73509]
• Issue fixed, where a certain style variant of a QR codes could not be created properly due to unsupported colorant parameters [CA1032652]
• Problem solved, where a PDF with document restrictions could not be placed [CA1032533]

2.6.092

• Update free of charge for all licensees of pdfChip 2 with a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA)

Features

• Updated WebKit HTML rendering engine (similar to Safari 16): Support for many more modern CSS and JavaScript feature
  Minor adjustments may be necessary for use of the cchipPrintLoop functionality
• Support for Cartridge pools for CLI (–lspool; requires License Server v1.2) [FP76941]

Fixes

• Problem solved, where the attempt of converting a non-existent HTML to PDF resulted into temporarily blocked licenses [FP65795]
• Issue fixed, where certain, external PNG image could not be loaded properly [FP73977]
• Problem solved, where an activation on AWS was not successful [FP75307]
• Problem solved, where an activation was reported as successful, but software wasn't activated (Linux only) [FP69642, FP75307]
• Issue fixed, where a certain SVG could not be properly converted [FP77844]
• Issue fixed, where HTML with a very high amount of nested <div> elements could not be converted [CA1032880]

System requirements

• Mac: macOS 10.15 (Intel) or macOS 11 (ARM / M1 or newer)

2.6.094

Features

• New CLI options to set the PDF page size: --default-page-size and --force-page-size [CA1033780]
• Support for setting the white point parameter of Lab colors (D50 or D65) [CA1033054]

Fixes

• Problem solved, where not all layer dictionaries from placed PDFs were preserved in the resulting PDF [CA1033836]
• Issue fixed, where unnecessary transparency group entries were introduced, which could result in slower processing on output devices [CA1033808]
• Issue fixed, where hyphenation library was not included in installation package (Linux arm64 only) [CA1033665]
• Problem solved, where a page rotation defined in page tree was not taken into account for placed PDFs [CA1033654]
• Issue fixed, where SVG masks were no longer respected for rotated content [FP78204]

2.6.095

Fixes

• Problem solved, where performance decreased for documents with a large number of pages [CA1034087]

2.6.098

Update free of charge for all licensees of pdfChip 2 with a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA)

Features

• Support for HEIC images
• Better proxy support and new parameter "--insecure" to ignore SSL handshake errors (e.g. when using internal proxy servers) [CA1034163]

Fixes

• Problem solved, where unnecessary nesting levels of Form XObjects were used in the created PDF [CA1033808]
• Issue fixed, where converting SVG containing referenced SVG containing Base64-embedded PNG data resulted in missing images [CA1034010]
• Issue fixed, where certain SVGs using nested masks were not converted correctly [CA1034061]
• Problem solved, where the color space of page-level transparency group was not taken into account when placing a PDF [CA1034020]
• Problem solved, where certain escape sequence glyphs (e.g. newline) in barcodes were displayed using a placeholder glyph [CA1034284]
• Issue fixed, where unproportional scaling of barcodes resulted in loss of the quiet zone [CA1033854]
• Updated libxml2.dll to avoid a possible security vulnerability in certain cases [CA1034012]