OGSAS PDF Generation

We use the iText library, written in Java, to generate, fill in, and manipulate PDF files. More information is at http://www.lowagie.com/iText/.

Confidential Reference Form

Our confidential reference form is a slightly modified version of the refgrad.pdf available from GSO. The modifications consist of renaming the fields to be more consistent with our database field names and adjusting the values used for radio buttons to be useable by an automated process.

A wrapper script around a short Java program is provided. The input, on stdin, is one line per field with each line consisting of a field name, a tab, and the field value. The output, on stdout, is the filled-in PDF file.

From top to bottom of the form, the fields are:

• department_mail: short name of department; will appear in the letterhead
• creation_date: date, at top of page
• surname: applicant surname
• given_names: applicant given names
• department: short name of department, same as department_mail; will appear under "To the Applicant"
• masters/phd: “M” or “D” as appropriate
• specialization: subplan specializations joined by “, ”
• time_and_capacity: answer to 2(a)
• recommend: radio buttons under 2(b), values same as text values from database field
• recommend_remarks: remarks under 2(b) if applicable
• is_record_fair: yes/no radio buttons under 2(c), “TRUE” or “FALSE”
• is_record_fair_remarks: remarks under 2(c)
• compare_group: answer to 2(d)
• compare_group_place: radio buttons under 2(d), values same as text values from database field

• For each of the rating categories relevant to the reference form as indicated in ref_rating, let “CAT” be the short cat_code from the corresponding row in ref_rating_category:
  • CAT-rating: tickboxes, values same as text values from database field, or “NULL” for NULL
  • CAT-remarks: text value for “Remarks” column

• referee_name: “Name of Referee”
• referee_title: “Title/Position”
• referee_institution: “Institution”
• referee_department: “Department”
• referee_address[12]: ”Full Address”

• completion_date: “Date” (at bottom)
• referee_phone: “Telephone Number” (we'll leave the area code field blank)
• referee_email: “E-mail Address”
• referee_fax: “Fax Number” (we'll leave the area code field blank)
• referee_url: “Website”

In most cases the field names are the name of the corresponding database field.

-- IsaacMorland - 18 Oct 2007