Tempalte tags definition and what they do

hi, I read the documentation but could use a little bit more detail on what each tag does

1. [e2pdf-attachment id="7"] - When I add to my post it does nothing. Can you explain why and hat this is used for?
2. [e2pdf-download pdf="/home/pdfs/document.pdf"] - I added this to my post and template and nothing happens, can you explain how we could use this?
3. [e2pdf-download id="1" dataset="1"] - What are data sets?
4. Is there a way to output the URL for the PDF to be just the post id? Ex: my post ID is 407, could my url to download be http://whatever.com/home/pdfs/407.pdf?

Thanks, this application is great!

I have been working hard to understand the plugin and I can offer some help, maybe, but I did not write the program and so take what I say with that in mind.

With respect to the E2PDF shortcodes, like you have in your question: [e2pdf-attachment id="7"]

That shortcode is supposed to be added to the Formidable Form you created. So I'm not sure that's what you mean when you say "I added this to my post." You don't add it to the post or page: you add it to the Formidable Form itself.

What you need to do is go to your Formidable Form, open the form, go to the Settings for the form, and then scroll down to the bottom and you'll see a box for Messages, which appear when people click the Submit button after they've completed the form. So that's where you past the shortcode [e2pdf-attachment id="7"]. Right into the box which already says something like "Thanks for submitting the form. We'll get back to you!" And then Update your Formidable Form.

Now, you create a page or post in Wordpress, and then paste the shortcode for the Formidable Form into the post or onto the page, and then publish the page, now you can go to that page and see the Formidable Form. Then the user inputs their information, and when they click Submit, now what happens, I think, is that the user's information, which I think what a "dataset" is, is then passed over to E2PDF, and now E2PDF takes over, imports the dataset into the proper fields on your pdf, and generates the pdf. Depending on whether you use the shortcode for [e2pdf-attachment id="7"], or [e2pdf-view id="7"], or [e2pdf-download id="7"], or all three shortcodes, the plugin E2PDF will generate the completed pdf in a variety of ways.

I've been spending hours and hours and hours figuring out how to use the plugin; the learning curve for a novice is really very steep. The way I'm figuring it out, along with Formidable Forms, is to have one Wordpress session open in Chrome, and another in Firefox, and in one browser I work with the Formidable Form designer, and in the other, with the E2PDF template designer (so I don't have to switch between plugins all the time in the same browser window). And then little by little, I started with a Formidable Form with only one field, First Name, and then created an E2PDF template (starting with a 'blank' pdf template) to display the user's First Name on a pdf. And then Save or Update the Formidable Form, and then the E2PDF template (and vice-versa), and click the "preview" button on the Formidable Form (upper right of the screen), to see what happens, and slowly (very, very agonizingly slowly), building up skills (removing the border; changing the font and background, etc); adding Last Name and Address, then seeing what the "Auto PDF" button in the E2PDF plugin does; uploading pdf's from my Desktop, adding E2PDF fields to my uploaded pdf, and then "mapping" onto those E2PDF fields the fields from the Formidable Forms form. The documentation for the FormidablePro2PDF plugin (the old E2PDF), is mostly still valid, for what it is. For the most part. There are a half-dozen videos on YouTube which give clues here and there as to how to use the plugin. But for the most part you have to search the knowledge-base and struggle through it.

I hope this helps a bit.

Richard Bryan
New York, NY

Hi, thank you.

1. [e2pdf-attachment] shortcode used inside mail bodies actions for Formidable Forms, Caldera Forms, Gravity Forms, Forminator and Divi Contact Forms. It's generating PDF and attach it as file to mail message.

2. [e2pdf-download pdf="/home/pdfs/document.pdf"] - it will generate PDF download link for PDF that is exist on your server. It must have "absolute" local path and PDF must already exists to generate download link.

3. "dataset" - is predefined ID of Post, Formidable Forms entry, Caldera Forms entry, etc, depending on which extension you are using for PDF Template. If not set it will generate download link for submitted entry in forms or post where shortcode inserted (if WordPress extension used).

4. Unfortunately it's not yet possible to change download link in such way. But you can try to use [e2pdf-save id="1" dir="/home/pdfs/" overwrite="false"1] with [id] as "PDF Name" inside template (screenshot 1). PDF will be saved (if not exists) under path /home/pdfs/123.pdf. But you will need manually generate output link depending on post ID. We will check if we can extend this shortcode to output URL.

"dir" attribute - must be full "absolute" path to existing folder with slash at the end.

We remain at your service.

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