PDF Merge

Merge PDF files from ABAP
Applies to:
SAP Net Weaver 7.0, ABAP. For more information, visit the ABAP homepage.
Summary
This article explains how to merge PDF files using an external non SAP solution from ABAP.
Author(s): Krisztian Katona

Company: Swisscom
Created on: 10 August 2010
Author Bio
Krisztian Katona is working as an ABAP developer at Swisscom specialized to technologies
as ABAP Objects, WebDynpro and Process Integration.
SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com
2010 SAP AG 1
Table of Contents
Step 1: Installing PDFTK............................................................................................................................... 3

Step 2: Setting up the external execution of PDFTK.....................................................................................4
Step 3: Set default path in SAP..................................................................................................................... 5
Step 4: Set up number range........................................................................................................................ 6
Step 5: Installing ZCL_PDF_MERGE............................................................................................................ 7
Creating the instance of the PDF merge class.............................................................................................. 7
Getting example PDF documents to merge................................................................................................... 7
Execute the merge........................................................................................................................................ 7
Download Merged PDF into the PC client..................................................................................................... 7
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Introduction
This article will show you how to merge two ore more PDF files into one using ABAP. As ABAP language or
the integrated Adobe Document Services does not support PDF merge operations hence we have to use
PDFTK which is an external non SAP solution for PDF manipulation and ZCL_PDF_MERGE an ABAP class
to manage the merging process.
How does it work

The PDFTK based merge process consist the following steps:
The source PDF files are written to a temporary directory on the SAP application server
(ZCL_PDF_MERGE)
Run PDFTK to merge the PDF files and save the merged file
Read the merged PDF file and forward it to the ABAP program (ZCL_PDF_MERGE)
How to set up the environment

This document will describe the process to set up the SAP PDF merging environment on Linux machines. As
PDFTK is an open source cross-platform product, it is also possible to set up the environment in different
operating systems but it is out of the scope of this article.
Step 1: Installing PDFTK

Download the PDFTK binary and install it onto the SAP application server. Make sure the binary is on the
PATH and the user of the SAP installation has the execution right.
As SAP cannot handle the asterix character when executing external OS commands we have to use a shell
script as a transient layer. Create a shell script called runpdftk.sh and place it into the application server. The
shell script should have the following content:
#!/bin/sh
exec "/usr/local/bin/pdftk" $1*.pdf cat output $2
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Step 2: Setting up the external execution of PDFTK

Go to transaction SM49.
Press the create button and add the new command ZPDFMERGE
Write the absolute path of the shell script you created in the previous step into the Operating system
command field.
Check Additional Parameters Allowed
Save your changes
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Step 3: Define a temporary directory path in SAP

This will be a directory in the application server to store temporary files for the merge operation.
Go to transaction FILE
Click on the New Entries button and add the logical path ZPDFMERGE
Double click on the Assignment of Physical Paths to Logical Path label on the tree structure and add the
following Physical path: /tmp/<FILENAME>
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Step 4: Set up number range

A number range will be used to compose the name of the temporary files.
Go to transaction SNRO
Write ZPDFMERGE into the Object field and press the Create button
Create a number range using the following parameters:
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Step 5: Installing ZCL_PDF_MERGE

Download and install ZCL_PDF_MERGE SAP nugget from site and install it using SAPLINK. For
documentation on using SAPLINK check this link.
ABAP Code example
Merging individual PDFs into a new PDF

The following code sample illustrates how to use ZCL_PDF_MERGE class for the PDF merge operation.
DATA: lo_pdfmerge TYPE REF TO zcl_pdf_merge,

lv_pdf_merged TYPE xstring,
lv_pdf TYPE xstring.
CREATE OBJECT lo_pdfmerge.
LOOP AT lt_pdf INTO lv_pdf.
lo_pdfmerge->add_pdf( lv_pdf ).
ENDLOOP.
lv_pdf_merged = lo_pdfmerge->get_merged( ).
You can call the ADD_PDF method and add PDF pages one by one in XSTRING format. Finally call the
GET_MERGED method
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Related Content
For more information, please visit the ABAP homepage.
PDF files in SAP
Offline Interactive Forms Using ABAP
2010 SAP AG 8
Copyright
Copyright 2010 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP AG.
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2010 SAP AG 9

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Merge PDF files from ABAP

Author(s): Krisztian Katona

Step 1: Installing PDFTK............................................................................................................................... 3

How does it work

How to set up the environment

Step 1: Installing PDFTK

Step 2: Setting up the external execution of PDFTK

Step 3: Define a temporary directory path in SAP

Step 4: Set up number range

Create a number range using the following parameters:

Step 5: Installing ZCL_PDF_MERGE

ABAP Code example

Merging individual PDFs into a new PDF

DATA: lo_pdfmerge TYPE REF TO zcl_pdf_merge,

CREATE OBJECT lo_pdfmerge.

LOOP AT lt_pdf INTO lv_pdf.

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