DS Server
DS Server is a document server that you run on your own infrastructure. Your applications send it documents and data over HTTP, and it converts them, merges templates with data, creates PDFs and barcodes, and hosts the Document Editor and the Document Viewer that your users work with in the browser. The calling application can be written in any language, because every request is ordinary HTTP with JSON.
That is what separates DS Server from the other Text Control products. They are components you compile into a .NET application; DS Server is a server your applications talk to. One installation serves every application that can reach it, on Linux or Windows, in a container or on a virtual machine, and, once OAuth is enabled, security profiles decide which applications may use it.
What You Can Build
| Task | Read |
|---|---|
| Convert documents between DOCX, RTF, HTML, PDF and the other supported formats | Converting Documents |
| Merge a template with JSON data to produce invoices, contracts and reports | Merging Templates |
| Create PDF and PDF/A documents, and read PDF metadata, attachments and form fields | PDF Documents |
| Give users an MS Word compatible editor in the browser | Document Editor |
| Let users read, annotate and sign documents in the browser | Document Viewer |
| Add your own endpoints and workflows to the server | Plugins |
Who This Documentation Is for
It is written for developers who integrate document services into an application, and for the administrators who install and run the server. It does not assume you know anything about TX Text Control.
- Calling the Web API: you need to know how to make an HTTP request and handle JSON. The language does not matter. Start at Web API.
- Putting an editor or a viewer into a web application: start at Getting Started, which covers ASP.NET Core, Angular, React and JavaScript.
- Running the server: start at the Installation Guide, then Administration and Settings.
How This Documentation Is Organized
The navigation on the left follows the order you meet the product in.
- Overview explains what DS Server consists of, how its parts run and connect, how Core and Classic differ, which file formats are supported and how licensing works.
- Installation Guide covers the requirements, installing with Docker, by hand or on IIS, several servers behind a load balancer, configuration, HTTPS and upgrading.
- Getting Started starts with a trial token and builds a first application with DocumentProcessing, the Document Editor or the Document Viewer.
- Administration and Settings covers the admin portal: the admin password, the license, security profiles, OAuth and authentication servers.
- Client-Side Libraries describes the NuGet and npm packages that connect an ASP.NET Core, Angular or React application to DS Server.
- Document Processing shows each task of the DocumentProcessing Web API with cURL and with the .NET package.
- Plugins extends DS Server with your own controllers, middleware and services.
- Troubleshooting is what you open when the server does not start, a client is not authorized or the editor does not connect.
- What's New lists the changes in each version.
- API Reference documents every endpoint of the Web API, the .NET packages and the JavaScript API of the Document Editor and the Document Viewer.
Where to Start
- Introduction: what DS Server is and what it consists of.
- Trial Token: try DS Server without installing it.
- Requirements and Installing with Official Image from Docker Hub: a running server of your own.
- Licensing and Creating Security Profiles: register your server, which processes no documents until it is registered, and create the credentials a client application authenticates with.
- Getting Started: a first application that uses the server.
Getting Help
- Something does not work. Troubleshooting collects the common problems with installation, authentication, the Document Editor and the Document Viewer, and Linux.
- You need to know what changed. What's New lists every version with the TX Text Control version it is based on.
- You have a question about licenses or prices. Contact the Text Control sales team.