Top Sites>DocSpring | Fill out PDF forms with an API request

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# DocSpring Integration Guide

## Quick Start

1. Install the official client library:

    # Node.js
    npm install docspring

    # Python
    pip install docspring

    # Ruby
    gem install docspring

    # PHP
    composer require docspring/docspring-php

    # Java
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.docspring</groupId>
      <artifactId>docspring</artifactId>
      <version>1.1.1</version>
    </dependency>

2. Basic PDF generation (Python example):

    import docspring
    import urllib.request

    client = docspring.Client()
    client.api_client.configuration.username = "YOUR_API_TOKEN_ID"
    client.api_client.configuration.password = "YOUR_API_TOKEN_SECRET"

    response = client.generate_pdf({
      "template_id": "tpl_xxx",
      "test": True,
      "data": {
        "first_name": "John",
        "last_name": "Smith"
      }
    })

    urllib.request.urlretrieve(response.submission.download_url, "output.pdf")

## Core Concepts

1. Templates
   - Manage at https://app.docspring.com
   - Each template has a unique ID (e.g. tpl_xxx)
   - Define field names, types, and validation
   - Get the template_id from the URL or the “API” tab

2. Authentication
   - Generate tokens at https://app.docspring.com/api_tokens
   - Test tokens (test_xxx) produce watermarked PDFs
   - Live tokens (live_xxx) produce production PDFs
   - Use HTTP Basic auth with token_id:token_secret
   - Don’t commit tokens to source control

3. PDF Generation
   - Synchronous (recommended): sync.api.docspring.com returns the finished PDF immediately.
   - Can use sync subdomain for all API requests.
   - Append "?wait=false" to the URL to return a pending submission immediately.
   - Asynchronous: api.docspring.com returns a submission ID, then you poll for completion
   - For EU region: sync.api-eu.docspring.com or api-eu.docspring.com

## Advanced Features

1. Batch Processing

    response = client.batch_generate_pdfs({
      "template_id": "tpl_xxx",
      "submissions": [
        {"data": {"name": "John"}},
        {"data": {"name": "Jane"}}
      ]
    })
    # Up to 50 PDFs per request

2. Data Requests (e.g., for signatures)

    response = client.generate_pdf({
      "template_id": "tpl_xxx",
      "data": {"company": "Acme Inc"},
      "data_requests": [{
        "email": "john@example.com",
        "fields": ["signature", "date"],
        "auth_type": "email_link"
      }]
    })
    # submission.state will be "waiting_for_data_requests"

3. Combine PDFs

    response = client.combine_pdfs({
      "source_pdfs": [
        {"type": "submission", "id": "sub_xxx"},
        {"type": "submission", "id": "sub_yyy"}
      ]
    })

4. Field Customization

    response = client.generate_pdf({
      "template_id": "tpl_xxx",
      "data": {"name": "John"},
      "field_overrides": {
        "signature": {
          "required": True,
          "alignment": "center",
          "font_size": 10
        }
      }
    })

## Common Issues & Solutions

1. PDF Generation
   - Use the sync API for simpler flow (no polling or webhooks needed)
   - Check submission.state == "processed" (if not using sync API)
   - Handle submission.json_schema_errors for invalid data
   - download_url expires after 24 hours; use permanent_download_url for long-term access
   - Check for truncated_text in logs when text overflows
   - Batch requests support up to 50 PDFs

2. Data Formatting
   - Field names are case-sensitive
   - Can use %%LF%% if \n doesn’t work for new lines
   - Send dates as YYYY-MM-DD (ISO8601)
   - Use numeric types for numbers, boolean true/false for booleans

3. Templates
   - All templates have a JSON schema based on the fields defined in the template editor
   - Submission data is validated against the JSON schema before PDF generation
   - Test changes with test tokens
   - Validation happens on submission
   - Existing submissions aren’t affected by edits

## API Response Examples

1. Successful submission

    {
      "status": "success",
      "submission": {
        "id": "sub_xxx",
        "state": "processed",
        "download_url": "https://...",
        "permanent_download_url": "https://..."
      }
    }

2. Validation error

    {
      "status": "error",
      "error": "validation_error",
      "json_schema_errors": [
        {
          "field": "name",
          "message": "is required"
        }
      ]
    }


More details: https://docspring.com/docs/