JSON report – based on JS object

With pdfToolbox 13, beside the existing human-readable PDF reports, the JSON report has been added. This report type allows easier access to details about the PDF and its processing. Parsing the structure might be simpler than with the existing XML report for several automation environments.

You have the option to choose between two different JSON reports:

  1. JSON report – based on JS object: Structure is similar to the app.doc.results array available in JavaScript Variables within callas products.
  2. JSON report – similar to XML report: Structure is similar to the XML report and lists resources that are referenced from the "result" section.

The JSON report is available:

  • After the normal Profile execution in Desktop in the "Create Report" functionality of the results dialog
  • In Process plans as a report type in transitions after suitable Steps (Profile, Fixup, Check)
  • On the CLI for Profile execution using --report=JSON (all possible parameters for the JSON report on the CLI are are documented here).

Components of the JSON report

The JSON report contains five sections:

  1. doc: information regarding to the document . These informations are independent of the executed profile.
  2. env:  information about various aspects of the environment such as platform and version.
  3. result:  shows the executed steps (Checks/Fixups) and the number of corrections.
  4. settings: reflects the options selected for the report generation.
  5. steps: lists name, comment and type from all steps.

The doc section

  1. info: information about the PDF file e. g. creation date, PDFX version, Titel
  2. metadata: contains the XMP metadata of the PDF
  3. pages: contains the dimension (relative and absolute) and the inks of all pages
  4. quickcheck: since pdfToolbox 14 a predefined Quick Check configurations file is included in the report creation. This file provides the JSON report with additional  information about the document, such as used ressources (images, fonts, spot colors), annotations, embedded files, layers or the output intent. If a JSON report is generated within a Process Plan or on CLI, various settings can be made regarding the Quickcheck configurations file.

The result section

  1. checks: lists all checks which created a hit, whereas Checks without hits will not be listed. If a Property used in the respective Check provides a trigger value, it will also be listed.
  2. fixups: lists all executed Fixups, the number of corrections is included. For process plan execution only the last sequence step will be listed in the result section.

The steps section

Under the steps section all executed steps will be listed with name, comment and type. Regarding Process Plans: unlike the result section, the steps section lists all sequence steps contained in a Process Plan (not just the last one).