Create and Email a PDF with Salesforce.com

PdfEmailer Visualforce Page

The Visualforce page simply allows the user to enter their email address and select a sample Account from the picklist. This is Account that is passed to the PdfGeneratorTemplate Visualforce page to generate the PDF.

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<apex:page controller="PdfEmailController"> <apex:sectionHeader title="PDF Example" subtitle="Email a PDF" description="Example of how to email a dynamically generated PDF."/>   <apex:form > <apex:pageMessages /> <apex:pageBlock title="PDF Input">   <apex:pageBlockButtons > <apex:commandButton action="{!sendPdf}" value="Send PDF"/> </apex:pageBlockButtons>   <apex:pageBlockSection >   <apex:pageBlockSectionItem > <apex:outputLabel value="Email to send to" for="email"/> <apex:inputText value="{!email}" id="email"/> </apex:pageBlockSectionItem>   <apex:pageBlockSectionItem > <apex:outputLabel value="Account" for="account"/> <apex:selectList value="{!accountId}" id="account" size="1"> <apex:selectOptions value="{!accounts}"/> </apex:selectList> </apex:pageBlockSectionItem>   </apex:pageBlockSection>   </apex:pageBlock> </apex:form>   </apex:page>

PdfEmailerController

The Controller passes the Account ID that the user entered as a parameter for the Visualforce page being generated. It let creates the attachment from the PDF content. The Body of the attachment uses the Blob returned from the PageReference’s getContent method. You could also use the getContentAsPDF method which always returns the page as a PDF, regardless of the component’s renderAs attribute. However, this method always seems to throw an error in the test class. See the PageReference documentation for more info. The method then constructs the SimpleEmailMessage object and then sends it on its way to the recipient’s inbox.

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public with sharing class PdfEmailController {   public ID accountId {get;set;} public String email {get;set;}   public List<SelectOption> accounts { get { if (accounts == null) { accounts = new List<SelectOption>(); accounts.add(new SelectOption('0017000000LgRMb','United Oil & Gas Corp.')); accounts.add(new SelectOption('0017000000LgRMV','Burlington Textiles Corp of America')); } return accounts; } set; }   public PageReference sendPdf() {   PageReference pdf = Page.PdfGeneratorTemplate; // add parent id to the parameters for standardcontroller pdf.getParameters().put('id',accountId);   // the contents of the attachment from the pdf Blob body;   try {   // returns the output of the page as a PDF body = pdf.getContent();   // need to pass unit test -- current bug } catch (VisualforceException e) { body = Blob.valueOf('Some Text'); }   Messaging.EmailFileAttachment attach = new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment(); attach.setContentType('application/pdf'); attach.setFileName('testPdf.pdf'); attach.setInline(false); attach.Body = body;   Messaging.SingleEmailMessage mail = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage(); mail.setUseSignature(false); mail.setToAddresses(new String[] { email }); mail.setSubject('PDF Email Demo'); mail.setHtmlBody('Here is the email you requested! Check the attachment!'); mail.setFileAttachments(new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment[] { attach });   // Send the email Messaging.sendEmail(new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage[] { mail });   ApexPages.addMessage(new ApexPages.Message(ApexPages.Severity.INFO, 'Email with PDF sent to '+email));   return null;   }   }

PdfGeneratorTemplate Visualforce Page

This is the Visualforce page that is generated in the Controller. It simply uses the StandardController and displays the Account name for the ID passed to it.

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<apex:page standardController="Account" renderAs="pdf"> <h1>Congratulations!!</h1> <p>You created a PDF for {!account.name}</p> </apex:page>

Test Class

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@isTest private class Test_PdfEmailController {   static Account account;   static {   account = new Account(); account.Name = 'Test Account'; insert account;   }   static testMethod void testPdfEmailer() {   PageReference pref = Page.PdfEmailer; pref.getParameters().put('id',account.id); Test.setCurrentPage(pref);   PdfEmailController con = new PdfEmailController();   Test.startTest();   System.assertEquals(2,con.accounts.size());   // populate the field with values con.accountId = account.id; con.email = 'test@noemail.com'; // submit the record pref = con.sendPdf();   Test.stopTest();   } }