CreatePDF

Review PDF export compatibility!The PDF export script for BlueSpice 4 is different. If you want to migrate your BlueSpice 4 script to BlueSpice 5, consult the migration info.

PDF Export from CLI

You can export PDF files from your MediaWiki installation via the command line by using a specification file in JSON format.

Create a JSON specification file

This file defines all the parameters for the export process. Below is a minimal example:

{
   "module": "batch",
   "params": {
     "filename": "MyExport.pdf",
     "filesystem-path": "/app/d/pdfcreator/cache",
     "target": "filesystem",
     "user": "WikiSysop"
   },
   "options": {
     "attachments": true
   },
   "pages": [
     {
       "type": "page",
       "target": "Main_Page"
     }
   ]
 }

You can expand this file to include more pages, templates, or custom options. Here’s a more advanced example:

{
   "module": "batch",
   "params": {
     "filename": "FullExport.pdf",
     "filesystem-path": "/var/pdf_exports",
     "target": "filesystem",
     "user": "ExportAdmin",
     "title": "My Export Title",
     "template": "AdvancedTemplate",
     "logo": "<nowiki>https://example.com/logo.png</nowiki>",
     "export-date": "2025-04-25",
     "export-time": "14:00"
   },
   "options": {
     "attachments": true,
     "suppress-links": false,
     "embed-page-toc": true,
     "no-redirect": true
   },
   "pages": [
     {
       "type": "page",
       "target": "Main_Page",
       "label": "Hauptseite"
     },
     {
       "type": "pageWithSubpages",
       "target": "Category:Documentation",
       "label": "Dokumentation"
     },
     {
       "type": "pageWithLinkedPages",
       "target": "Help:Editing",
       "label": "Bearbeitungshilfe"
     }
   ]
 }

Start export from CLI

Once your JSON file is ready, run the following command to start the export:

php extensions/PDFCreator/maintenance/CreatePDF.php cache/specification.json

Available parameters

General parameters (`params`):

filename: Name of the exported PDF.
filesystem-path: Path to store the exported file.
target: Can be filesystem or download.
user: Username used for export context.
title: Optional title for the PDF.
template: Optional PDF template.
logo: Optional logo URL.
export-date, export-time: Timestamp data for PDF metadata.

Options (`options`):

attachments: true to include media files.
suppress-links: true to disable links in the PDF.
embed-page-toc: true to include a table of contents.
no-redirect: true to avoid following redirects.

Page definitions (`pages`):

type: One of page, pageWithSubpages, pageWithLinkedPages.
target: Page name.
label: Custom label (optional).
params: Page-specific options (e.g., rev-id, status).

Automating with CronJob

To automate regular exports, set up a CronJob:

php {MW_ROOT}/extensions/PDFCreator/maintenance/CreatePDF.php --specification-file={MW_ROOT}/extensions/BlueSpiceFoundation/data/spec.json

Replace {MW_ROOT} with your MediaWiki installation path.

Migration from older format

If you're using the legacy pdf or bookpdf module format, migrate to the new batch format using the following mapping:

Old format

{
   "module": "pdf",
   "attachments": 1,
   "recursive": 1,
   "title": "MyPDF",
   "target": "localfilesystem",
   "target-file-name": "All.pdf",
   "target-file-path": "/path/to/target-file"
 }

New format

{
   "module": "batch",
   "params": {
     "filename": "All.pdf",
     "filesystem-path": "/path/to/target-file",
     "target": "filesystem",
     "title": "MyPDF"
   },
   "options": {
     "attachments": true
   },
   "pages": [
     {
       "type": "page",
       "target": "Main_Page"
     }
   ]
 }

Key changes

Old Parameter	New Parameter	Notes
`module=pdf`	`module=batch`	Unified module name
`attachments`	`options.attachments`	Moved into `options`, uses `true/false`
`recursive`	Removed	Use `pageWithLinkedPages` instead
`title`	`params.title`	Moved into `params`
`target=localfilesystem`	`params.target=filesystem`	Updated value
`target-file-name`	`params.filename`	Renamed and moved into `params`
`target-file-path`	`params.filesystem-path`	Renamed and moved into `params`

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