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Print Preview

Status: Reviewed (implemented)​

Print Preview provides browser-based print preview and PDF/A-3b archival document download from Twig/HTML templates. All rendering is server-side using mPDF with bundled DejaVu Sans fonts.

Overview​

Two workflows are supported:

  1. Print preview — Renders the template to HTML with print-optimized CSS (@page rules, page-break-inside: avoid, navigation hiding). The rendered HTML is returned as JSON and injected into an iframe so the browser's native print dialog can produce a pixel-perfect page.
  2. PDF/A-3b download — Generates an archival-quality PDF with embedded fonts, XMP metadata, and PDF/A-3b compliance enforced by mPDF. The pdfa: true flag is always forced regardless of request body options.

Templates can be referenced by stored UUID (via Template Management) or passed inline as a Twig string.

API Endpoints​

MethodPathDescription
POST/api/print/previewRender template to HTML with print CSS; returns { html, title }
POST/api/print/pdf-aRender template to PDF/A-3b; returns binary PDF download

Request Body (both endpoints)​

FieldTypeRequiredDescription
templateIdstring (UUID)One ofLoad stored template via TemplateService
templatestringOne ofInline Twig template content
dataobjectNoTemplate context data
filenamestringNoOutput filename (default: document.pdf, PDF/A endpoint only)

Returns HTTP 400 if neither templateId nor template is provided.

Vue Component​

A PrintPreview Vue component is provided that:

  • Renders the preview in an iframe
  • Provides a print button that triggers the browser print dialog
  • Provides a download button that calls /api/print/pdf-a

Standards​

  • PDF/A-3b (ISO 19005-3) — Long-term archival compliance enforced by mPDF
  • PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1) — Accessible PDF output
  • Forum Standaardisatie: PDF (NEN-ISO) — Dutch government open standard for document portability
  • GEMMA Outputmanagementcomponent
  • TEC-DMS-1 (Content Authoring)