Assemble Document

When it is time to assemble a document, you can call the AssembleDocument method of the HotDocs Cloud Services web service to assemble a document in one or more formats.

1. Create an AnswersSource object, which contains the answers to be used in the assembled document. Typically, these answers come from a browser interview.
2. Create a Template object, which indicates which template package to use for the assembly, as well as the name of the template within that package.
3. Create an AssembleDocumentOptions object, which indicates which format and settings to use for the assembly.
4. Call AssembleDocument. The following code sample illustrates how this can be done:

   AssemblyResult result = null;

   using (HotDocs.Core.Client.SvcClient client = new HotDocs.Core.Client.SvcClient(Settings.SubscriberID, Settings.SigningKey, Settings.CoreServicesUrl))

   {

        try

        {

           System.IO.MemoryStream answerStream = new MemoryStream(answers.Data);

           HotDocs.Core.Client.PackageSource packageStreamProvider = new HotDocs.Core.Client.PackageSource(packageFileName);

           HotDocs.Core.Client.Template template = new Template(packageID, templateName, packageStreamProvider);

           HotDocs.Core.Client.AnswersSource answerStreamsProvider = new HotDocs.Core.Client.AnswersSource(answerStream, true);

           HotDocs.Core.Client.AssembleDocumentOptions options = new AssembleDocumentOptions(format, settings);

           result = client.AssembleDocument(template, answerStreamsProvider, options, Util.BillingRef);

        }

        catch (Exception ex)

        {

           throw ex;

        }

   }

   return result;

5. Inspect the AssemblyResult object that is returned to retrieve the assembled document(s).

To assemble a document using the web service directly

1. Call AssembleDocument. The following code sample illustrates how this can be done:

   <code language="C#" title="Example"> 
   AssemblyResult result = null;
   using (HDCoreSvc.CoreClient client = new HDCoreSvc.CoreClient(Settings.WSEndpoint))
   {
       bool sendPackage = false;
       int retries = 0;
       DateTime timeStamp = DateTime.UtcNow;
       while (result == null && retries < 2)
       {
           try
           {
             result = client.AssembleDocument(
                   Settings.SubscriberID,
                   packageID,
                   templateName,
                   answers == null ? null : new BinaryObject[] { answers },
                   format,
                   settings,
                   Util.BillingRef,
                   timeStamp,
                   sendPackage ? CreateBinaryObject(packageFileName) : null,
                   HotDocs.Core.HMAC.CalculateHMAC(Settings.SigningKey, timeStamp, Settings.SubscriberID, packageID, templateName,                    sendPackage.ToString(), Util.BillingRef, format, settings)
               );
           }
        
           catch (FaultException<ExceptionDetail> ex)
           {
              switch (ex.Detail.Type)
              {
                  case "HotDocs.Cloud.Storage.PackageNotFoundException"
                      // The package was not found on the server, so try again, this time sending the package
                      sendPackage = true;
                      retries++;
                      break;
                  default:
                      retries = 2; // This is an exception we don't know how to handle, so don't retry any more.
                      throw ex;
              }
          }
      }
      SafeCloseClient(client);
   }
   return result; 

2. Inspect the AssemblyResult object that is returned to retrieve the assembled document(s).