Each group of 'line items' in a spreadsheet produce an email with attached PDF.

Adjacent rows in the spreadsheet with the same email address are used to produce a single PDF invoice with line items. This is an advanced example where the 'rows to email' method is 'One or more rows generates a email'. This example also demonstrates use of a HTML file as a template.

HTML templates are ideally used for this, as they can use Javascript or the Liquid Templating language to format the document.

Step 1. Create CSV or Excel spreadsheet

The spreadsheet has merge fields as column headings. Each row must have an email address. Create consecutive rows with the same email address for each line item that you want in the PDF.

In this example 3 emails will be sent each with a single attachment.

The first will have 5 line items
The second will have 4 line items
The third will have 1 line item

Step 2. Create HTML with Javascript.

pdfMachine merge installs with ready made profiles to get you started.
This example is "Test Profile - HTML template with line items"

Surround the merge fields that are not to be used as line items with {{ }}. The names of the merge fields must exactly correspond to the column names in the data source. The merge fields can be formatted using the Liquid Templating Language.

<tr>
   <td>Invoice Number</td>
   <td>{{invoice_id}}</td>
</tr>

Create the javascript to iterate through the bundled rows (as shown below).

Sample Javascript

Your HTML template should contain the following special tag:

var data = {{json_here}};

When processed by pdfMachine merge HMTL templates will have this substituted with a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) string containing all the data for the bundled rows. This allows a you to write javascript that iterates through the data, for calculation or rendering. This allows a you to write javascript that iterates through the data, for calculation or rendering. The "json_here" tag will look like:

                                
                                var data = [

                                {"email": "wayne@acme.com","customer": "Acme
                                Corp","invoice_id":223,"invoice_date": "23/01/2011 12:00:00 AM","item":
                                "blue
                                widget","unit_cost":23,"quantity":4,"amt_due":391},

                                {"email": "wayne@acme.com","customer": "Acme
                                Corp","invoice_id":223,"invoice_date": "23/01/2011 12:00:00 AM","item": "red
                                widget","unit_cost":21,"quantity":2,"amt_due":391},

                                ];

Javascript can then be used to iterate through the data array to create HTML to display the line items.

function generateLineItems()
{
   var html = "<table class='hor-minimalist-b'><thead><tr><th>Item</th><th>Quantity</th><th>Unit Cost</th><th>Price</th></tr></thead>\
   <tfoot><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td class='amountDue'>${{amt_due}}</td></tr></tfoot><tbody>";

   for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++)
   {
      var ob = data[i];
      html += "<tr><td>" +
      ob.item + "</td><td>" +
      ob.quantity + "</td><td>" +
      ob.unit_cost + "</td><td>" +
      "$" + ob.quantity*ob.unit_cost + "</td></tr>";
   }
   html += "</tbody></table>";

   document.getElementById("lineItemsTable").innerHTML =html;
}

When using HTML templates, don't forget set your page setup in Internet Explorer for things such as Paper Size and Orientation, Headers, Footers, Margins, Background printing, and shrink to fit page. You should also set your Broadgun pdfMachine print preferences. This example should be set up as :

Each group of 'line items' in a spreadsheet produce an email with attached PDF.

Step 1. Create CSV or Excel spreadsheet

Step 2. Create HTML with Javascript.

Step 3. Set 'rows to emails method' to 'One or more rows generates an email'.