Assemble Document

The Assemble Document method is used to produce a completed document, by merging answer data with a HotDocs template. The completed document can be assembled in different formats, such as DOCX and PDF.

Assemble Document Output

The documents produced by the AssembleDocument method can be output in different formats, including DOCX, PDF, and HTML. See output format for a full list of available formats.

Answer Output

You may need to output the answers used in an assembly instead of a completed document. To output Answer XML, specify the Answers output format in the format parameter when making a request.

Assemble Document POST

HTTP Request

POST https://{subscribedEndpoint}/hdcs/assemble/{subscriberID}/{packageID}/{templatename=null}

Parameters

Name	Location	Required	Description
subscribedEndpoint	Path	Yes	The endpoint to which the caller is subscribed. This is either: USA – cloud.hotdocs.ws EU – europe.hotdocs.ws
subscriberID	Path	Yes	The caller's Cloud Services subscriber ID
packageID	Path	Yes	An ID identifying the package containing the template from which you wish to assemble a document. This is set when uploading the package file. If you are using the HotDocs Hub to store templates, see Get a Package ID from HotDocs Hub.
templatename	Path	No	The file name of the specific template from which you are requesting to assemble a document. This can be omitted to automatically request an assembly from the primary template in the package.
date	HTTP header or query string	Yes	The date and time (in UTC) of the request, formatted according to RFC 1123. This date can be included either as a parameter on the query string or in an "x-hd-date" (custom) HTTP header.
signature	HTTP header	Yes	The base64-encoded HMAC calculated using the parameters of this request. Note: the HMAC must be included in an "Authorization" HTTP header. See HMAC Calculation for Assemble Document for more information.
format	Query string	No	The output format requested. For example, DOCX for a Microsoft Word document. Use the Answers output format to output the Answer XML string used by the assembly
billingRef	Query string	No	Enables you to specify information to include in usage logs for this call. For example, you can use a string to uniquely identify the end user that initiated the request and/or the context in which they made the call. When you later review usage logs, you can see which end users initiated each request. This information can enable you to audit or pass costs on to those end users.
encodeFileNames	Query string	Yes	Either True (encoded) or False (unencoded). Indicates whether filenames in the returned multi-part MIME document are encoded. All new integrations with Cloud Services must encode file names. Unencoded file names are for legacy integrations only. If True, the filenames are first encoded in UTF-8, then URL-encoded. This allows any special character valid in a file name to be passed back in the Response. This flag is useful as special characters can lead to errors when parsing the response back from the server, if filenames are not encoded properly. If retrieved files are saved to disk, the file names should be decoded before writing to disk.
RetrieveFromHub	Query string	No	Enables you to retrieve a HotDocs template from the HotDocs Hub instead of a template stored in the Cloud Services cache. Select from the following options (case-insensitive): No (default value) – do not connect to HotDocs Hub; use the Package ID in request path (see above) to get the template from the Cloud Services cache ByTemplateId – use the Package ID in request path as the ID of the template to retrieve. Cloud Services checks the HotDocs Hub for the latest version of the template and: If the Cloud Services cache has the latest version of the template, the template is retrieved from the cache. If the Cloud Services cache does not have the latest version of the template, the latest version of the template is retrieved from the HotDocs Hub. The Cloud Services cache is updated with the template retrieved from the HotDocs Hub. ByVersionId – use the Package ID in request path as the ID of the specific template Version to retrieve. Cloud Services checks the HotDocs Hub for the specific version of the template and: If the Cloud Services cache has the same version of the template as the Hub, the template is retrieved from the cache. If the Cloud Services cache does not have the same version of the template as the hub, the specific version of the template is retrieved from the HotDocs Hub. The Cloud Services cache is updated with the template retrieved from the HotDocs Hub.
(additional settings)	Query string	No	You can also optionally include on the query string any document assembly settings from those listed in AssembleDocumentOptions.Settings. Settings specified on the query string will override the defaults designated in the Cloud Services administration portal.
answers	Request body	No	You must supply the XML answer string used in the assembly in the request body. You must also add the appropriate Content-Type header to the request (see below).

Example URL

https://cloud.hotdocs.ws/hdcs/assemble/examplesubscriber/ed40775b-5e7d-4a51-b4d1-32bf9d6e9e29?format=Native&billingRef=exampleBillingRef

Response

If successful, this method returns a multi-part MIME document in the response body. Each MIME part corresponds to a document/attachment in a requested output format.

Request Headers

When making an Assemble request to Cloud Services, the request must include the following headers.

Name	Type	Example Data	Description	Example (C#)
x-hd-date	DateTime value	2015-01-31T08:55:19Z	A Date and Time for the request. This is the same value as the date/time used when calculating the HMAC.	request.Headers.Add("x-hd-date", timestamp.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ"));
Content-Type	String	text/xml	The type of content being sent with the request. For document assembly, the content is HotDocs Answer XML.	request.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "text/xml");
Authorization	String	Calculated HMAC	The HMAC used to sign the request.	request.Headers.TryAddWithoutValidation("Authorization", hmac);
Keep-Alive	Boolean	false	The connection to Cloud Services should not be a persistent connection when assembling a document, as only a single request is being made.	request.Headers.Add("Keep-Alive", "false");

Example Request

POST https://cloud.hotdocs.ws/hdcs/assemble/examplesubscriber/ed40775b-5e7d-4a51-b4d1-32bf9d6e9e29?format=Native&UnansweredFormat=[Variable] HTTP/1.1
x-hd-date: 2015-07-13T10:09:35Z
Authorization: L+pdiZ7UZ8xbVG66LyYaS30JF94=
Keep-Alive: false
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Host: cloud.hotdocs.ws
Content-Length: 165Expect: 100-continue
Connection: Keep-Alive
Hello World

HMAC Calculation for Assemble Document

For calls to Assemble a document, the HMAC is calculated from the following list of parameters:

Name	Type	Example Data	Description
signingKey	String	example-signing-key	The Signing Key assigned to your Cloud Services account. You can find your Signing Key by logging in to the Cloud Services Portal.
date	DateTime	2015-01-31T08:55:19Z	Date and time, using the format "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ". For example, a datetime of 31/05/2015 08:55:19 is formatted as 2015-01-31T08:55:19Z.
subscriberID	String	ExampleCompany	Subscriber ID named used to connect to Cloud Services. This was provided when you signed up to Cloud Services.
packageID	String	ed40775b-5e7d-4a51-b4d1-32bf9d6e9e29	The name of the HotDocs Package File (.hdpkg) uploaded to Cloud Services.
templateName	String	""	A string value. The name of the template in the package file that is to be assembled. If there is only one template in the package, an empty string is used.
sendPackage	Boolean	False	A boolean value. For assembling a document in Cloud Services, this is always False.
billingRef	String	ExampleCustomer, Template Upload	Enables you to specify information to include in usage logs for this call. For example, you can use a string to uniquely identify the end user that initiated the request and/or the context in which they made the call. When you later review usage logs, you can see which end users initiated each request. This information can enable you to audit or pass costs on to those end users.
format	String	Native	The format of the assembled document.
settings	String	AddHdMainDiv=true\nUnansweredFormat=[Variable]	A string containing assembly settings, to control assembly behaviour, separated by a newline character. These include URLs for retrieving JavaScript and stylesheets. If you are not using any assembly settings, you must use an empty string to calculate the HMAC.

Example (C#)

Walkthrough

For a full walkthrough of calculating the HMAC and assembling a document in Cloud Services, see the Cloud Services Example 2: Assemble a Document article in the HotDocs Integrations documentation.

Code

For a full code example of assembling a document in Cloud Services, see the CloudServicesAPIExample2DocumentAssemble project in the HotDocs Integration Examples.