Since the release of LiveDocx 1.1 many people have suggested interesting new features. In addition, the core developers of the backend service LiveDocx also have wanted to improve their service in several respects. Below is a summary of the features, which will be available in next phpLiveDocx version:
Save documents as HTML
TX Text Control 15.0 – the technology upon which the backend service LiveDocx is based – supports embedded images in HTML. Thus, it is now possible to introduce HTML as an output format to phpLiveDocx.
Whether for a quick preview, platform independent exchange format or for use in web applications, there are a number of ways that HTML output can be useful.
Note that this feature embeds image data directly into the output HTML file – this is only supported by modern browsers.
Create multiple documents in one run
The new version will accept multiple lines of merge data. The resulting documents will be appended to one another, so that they become a single (possibly long) document. This is quite useful for scenarios such as label printing, creating vouchers or certificates.
Reduce file size
Documents containing images can become quite big. The next version phpLiveDocx will address this issue, resulting in significantly reduced file sizes.
The backend engineers are currently reviewing the internal handling and management of image files, especially the compression settings, are thoroughly revised.
The benefits of this are obvious: smaller documents = faster downloads = overall improved user experience.
Get list of all available fonts
Since templates may contain only fonts, which are installed on the backend server, it is important for a developer to be able to programmatically retrieve a list of installed fonts, hence ensuring that an end-user only uses fonts which are available. Should an end-user wish to use a font that is not installed on the server, an administrator must install the missing font, before it can be used in phpLiveDocx.
The next version of phpLiveDocx will offer a method to get a list of installed fonts.