> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.pd4ml.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.pd4ml.com/legacy/pd4ml-v3-programmers-manual-legacy.md).
# PD4ML v3 Programmer's Manual (Legacy)
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**Legacy reference.** This page preserves PD4ML's original v3-era programmer's manual, describing the classic `org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4ML` API. That API is not dead code: it still ships today as a backward-compatibility wrapper around the current v4 engine (`com.pd4ml.PD4ML`), so an existing v3 integration keeps working unchanged on a current PD4ML build. New projects should start from the current [PD4ML Programmer's Manual](https://docs.pd4ml.com/) instead, and an existing v3 codebase considering a move onto the modern API surface should read the [PD4ML v3 to v4 Migration Guide](/legacy/pd4ml-v3-to-v4-migration-guide.md). Notes marked **Current (v4)** below call out where the underlying mechanics have since changed.
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## 1. Basics
PD4ML v3 shipped in two variants: **Standard**, covering core HTML/CSS-to-PDF conversion, and **Professional**, adding TrueType font embedding, HTML (not just text) headers/footers, image watermarks, an auto-generated table of contents, and PDF/A output. Which one a given build behaved as was determined by the license key in effect, checked at runtime by the library itself.
The Java API additionally required the (patched) open-source [CSS Parser](https://cssparser.sourceforge.net/) library, `ss_css2.jar`, on the classpath alongside `pd4ml.jar` -- PD4ML delegated CSS tokenizing to it rather than shipping its own parser.
Core document-level features -- page size/format, running headers and footers, page backgrounds, watermarks, and password/permission protection -- were all available in both variants and are covered with code samples below.
{% hint style="info" %}
**Current (v4):** the Standard/Professional split and the separate `ss_css2.jar` dependency are both gone. A current PD4ML build is a single jar with its own built-in CSS engine; which features are unlocked is governed entirely by the activation license installed (`pd4ml.lic`), not by which jar you happened to download. See the [PD4ML v3 to v4 Migration Guide](/legacy/pd4ml-v3-to-v4-migration-guide.md)'s Activation section (§1).
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## 2. Installation Methods
### 2.1 Standalone Application
`org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser` doubled as both a GUI HTML-to-PDF converter and a command-line tool:
```
java -jar pd4ml.jar -gui
java -jar pd4ml.jar https://example.com/report.html report.pdf
```
### 2.2 Java API
Include both `pd4ml.jar` and `ss_css2.jar` on the classpath, then drive conversion through `org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4ML`:
```java
import org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4ML;
PD4ML pd4ml = new PD4ML();
pd4ml.render(new java.net.URL("https://example.com/report.html"), new java.io.FileOutputStream("report.pdf"));
```
### 2.3 JSP Integration
Deploying into a servlet container required registering PD4ML's taglib descriptor (bundled inside `pd4ml.jar`) and declaring it in the JSP:
```jsp
<%@ taglib uri="https://pd4ml.com/tlds/3.0" prefix="pd4ml"%>
Hello, World!
```
{% hint style="info" %}
**Current (v4):** the taglib is no longer a separate concern layered on top of `pd4ml.jar` -- it's built into the main library. The recommended tag prefix also changed from `pd4ml:` to `pd4tl:`, freeing `pd4ml:` to refer unambiguously to PD4ML's own content tags (`` and similar) within the same page. See the [PD4ML v3 to v4 Migration Guide](/legacy/pd4ml-v3-to-v4-migration-guide.md)'s JSP Taglib section (§5).
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## 3. HTML Conversion Examples
**Converting a URL to PDF, through a proxy:**
```java
import org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4ML;
import org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4Constants;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
PD4ML pd4ml = new PD4ML();
Map params = new HashMap();
params.put(PD4Constants.PD4ML_HTTP_PROXY, "proxy.example.com:8080");
pd4ml.setDynamicParams(params);
pd4ml.render(new java.net.URL("https://example.com/report.html"),
new java.io.FileOutputStream("report.pdf"));
```
See [Configuring an HTTP Proxy](/features/configuring-an-http-proxy.md) for the current v4 equivalents, including the simpler `setHttpOptions(...)` call.
**Converting HTML from an input stream, with a base URL for relative resources:**
```java
import org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4ML;
import java.io.*;
PD4ML pd4ml = new PD4ML();
StringReader reader = new StringReader("Report
");
pd4ml.render(reader, new FileOutputStream("report.pdf"), new java.net.URL("https://example.com/"));
```
**Text-based header/footer with a template:**
```java
import org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4ML;
import org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4PageMark;
PD4PageMark footer = new PD4PageMark() {
public String getHtmlTemplate(int pageNumber) {
return "Page $[page] of $[total]";
}
};
footer.setAreaHeight(30);
pd4ml.setPageFooter(footer);
```
**Document encryption (40-bit or 128-bit):**
```java
import org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4ML;
import org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4Constants;
pd4ml.setPermissions("ownerPassword", PD4Constants.PRINT_PERMISSION, true); // true = 128-bit AES
pd4ml.setPermissions("ownerPassword", PD4Constants.PRINT_PERMISSION, false); // false = 40-bit RC4
```
## 4. Advanced Features
**PDF Bookmarks**, generated from HTML headings or named anchors:
```java
pd4ml.generateOutlines(true); // true = from headings, false = from anchors
```
**Page Breaks**, inserted anywhere in the source markup:
```html
First page content
Second page content
```
**Web Integration:** beyond the plain JSP taglib shown in §2.3, the v3 manual documented working with **ColdFusion** (invoking PD4ML as a Java object via `CreateObject("java", "org.zefer.pd4ml.PD4ML")`) and a compatibility workaround for **Struts** applications, whose `ActionServlet` intercepted request dispatching in a way that needed an explicit forward through `org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4ForwarderServlet` to reach PD4ML's own JSP taglib correctly.
## 5. Professional Edition Features
**TTF font embedding**, for Unicode and non-Latin scripts:
```java
pd4ml.useTTF("java:myfonts", true); // true = embed into the PDF
```
**HTML headers/footers** (not just plain text), via the same `PD4PageMark` mechanism as §3, with `getHtmlTemplate()` returning markup instead of plain text.
**Watermark images**, with opacity control, set on the header/footer mark:
```java
import java.awt.Rectangle;
PD4PageMark mark = new PD4PageMark() { public String getHtmlTemplate(int p) { return ""; } };
mark.setWatermarkUrl("file:///path/to/watermark.png");
mark.setWatermarkBounds(new Rectangle(50, 50, 300, 300));
mark.setWatermarkOpacity(30); // percent
```
**Table of Contents**, auto-generated from document structure -- enabled via the same `generateOutlines(true)` call as PDF bookmarks, or with a dedicated `` tag placed in the source HTML.
**PDF/A support**, for long-term archival compliance:
```java
pd4ml.generatePdfa(true);
```
## 6. Configuration Details
Embedding TrueType fonts required a `pd4fonts.properties` mapping file, associating logical font family names with the `.ttf` files that back them. It could be generated by pointing the standalone tool at a directory of fonts:
```
java -jar pd4ml.jar -configure.fonts /path/to/fonts [pd4fonts.properties location]
```
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**Current (v4):** the `-configure.fonts` flag and its output format are unchanged -- see the [Pd4Cmd Command-Line Reference](/pd4cmd-command-line-reference.md) for the current invocation and the full set of `pd4fonts.properties` options.
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## 7. Best Practices
`