This article is relevant if you produce NetSuite based Advanced PDF templates.
Background
NetSuite has done a good job offering syntax checking in its more recent editions of the Advanced PDF template editor. Nonetheless, syntax issues can be difficult to diagnose when producing templates that generate PDFs. Usually, it is a trial and error process to find where the problem is within the template. This debugging process can be slow and frustrating.
Using the Content Renderer Engine (CRE) to Generate Content
In previous articles, I have shared how the Content Renderer Engine extends NetSuite’s Advanced PDF technologies. It’s free of charge for all of our clients. Basically, the tool takes everything NetSuite natively offers but goes well beyond. The interactive development tool allows you to get close to the syntax and the intermediate outputs that are generated from your template work.
Advanced PDFs require Valid XML
A common syntax problem is: “Error Parsing XML: XML document structures must start and end within the same entity” and many others. The key to PDF development is to understand that there is a two stage process to get to your PDF. The first is to produce the intermediate XML document which is then fed into the Big Faceless Organization (BFO) Report processor to produce the ultimate PDF document. See related image. The trick now is to get at that intermediate XML document and inspect it with a validation tool.
Interactively Change Output from PDF to HTML
Using the CRE tool, it is easy to interactively change the output from PDF to HTML. When choosing HTML as an option, we do not send the output to the BFO processor which then affords you and opportunity to take the malformed XML document to an XML validation utility (I personally like to use this online xml validator).
Video (1:49) How To
See video below on how you can interactively debug the template syntax using the CRE Tool.
Get the Content Renderer Engine
The Content Renderer Engine is available to all of our clients free of license charge. We support the offer by training our client’s NetSuite Administrators on its productive use and extending it to meet unique requirements. If you are comfortable with NetSuite’s Advanced PDF technology and NetSuite Saved Search, the CRE tool will substantially increase your power to solve many NetSuite related output challenges. Let’s have a conversation about your NetSuite Advanced PDF challenges.
Marty Zigman
Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.
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