Odd error from ColdFusion when building a PDF with CFPDFFORM

Question

I have this problem on one of two production systems. As far as I have been able to determine, both systems are as identical as I can make them, but server 2 comes back with this error:

The web site you are accessing has experienced an unexpected error.
Please contact the website administrator. 

The following information is meant for the website developer for debugging purposes.
Error Occurred While Processing Request
An exception has occured in the processing of PDF forms.

''

The error occurred in /opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm: line 1
Called from /opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm: line 1
Called from /opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm: line 1
Called from /opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm: line 1
1 :         <cfpdfform source="/opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/test.pdf" action="populate">
2 :             <!---cfpdfformparam name="source_system_id" value="steve"--->
3 :         </cfpdfform>
Resources:
Check the ColdFusion documentation to verify that you are using the correct syntax.
Search the Knowledge Base to find a solution to your problem.
Browser     Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/28.0.1500.72 Safari/537.36
Remote Address      10.71.236.245
Referrer    
Date/Time   28-Aug-13 03:28 PM
Stack Trace
at cfpdf2ecfm1382985840.runPage(/opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm:1) 
 at cfpdf2ecfm1382985840.runPage(/opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm:1) 
 at cfpdf2ecfm1382985840.runPage(/opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm:1) at cfpdf2ecfm1382985840.runPage(/opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm:1) 

org.jdom.input.JDOMParseException: Error on line 1: Attribute name "xml:xml" associated with an element type "xfdf" must be followed by the ' = ' character.
    at org.jdom.input.SAXBuilder.build(SAXBuilder.java:533)
    at org.jdom.input.SAXBuilder.build(SAXBuilder.java:946)
    at coldfusion.pdf.XFDFDataXMLGenerator.createFormXMLData(XFDFDataXMLGenerator.java:84)
    at coldfusion.tagext.lang.PDFFormTag.doEndTag(PDFFormTag.java:328)
    at cfpdf2ecfm1382985840.runPage(/opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm:1)
    at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:244)
    at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:444)
    at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.invoke(CfincludeFilter.java:65)
    at coldfusion.filter.IpFilter.invoke(IpFilter.java:64)
    at coldfusion.filter.ApplicationFilter.invoke(ApplicationFilter.java:449)
    at coldfusion.filter.RequestMonitorFilter.invoke(RequestMonitorFilter.java:48)
    at coldfusion.filter.MonitoringFilter.invoke(MonitoringFilter.java:40)
    at coldfusion.filter.PathFilter.invoke(PathFilter.java:112)
    at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:94)
    at coldfusion.filter.BrowserDebugFilter.invoke(BrowserDebugFilter.java:79)
    at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28)
    at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)
    at coldfusion.filter.NoCacheFilter.invoke(NoCacheFilter.java:46)
    at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)
    at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)
    at coldfusion.filter.CachingFilter.invoke(CachingFilter.java:62)
    at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:219)
    at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:89)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at coldfusion.monitor.event.MonitoringServletFilter.doFilter(MonitoringServletFilter.java:42)
    at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapFilter.doFilter(BootstrapFilter.java:46)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.filters.ReplyHeaderFilter.doFilter(ReplyHeaderFilter.java:96)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityAssociationValve.invoke(SecurityAssociationValve.java:183)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.JaccContextValve.invoke(JaccContextValve.java:95)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.process(SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.java:126)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.invoke(SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.java:70)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.jca.CachedConnectionValve.invoke(CachedConnectionValve.java:158)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.request.ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.internalProcess(ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.java:74)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.request.ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.invoke(ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.java:47)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:330)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:829)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:599)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:451)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException; lineNumber: 1; columnNumber: 52; Attribute name "xml:xml" associated with an element type "xfdf" must be followed by the ' = ' character.
    at org.apache.xerces.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.createSAXParseException(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.fatalError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLScanner.reportFatalError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanAttribute(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl$NSContentDispatcher.scanRootElementHook(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDispatcher.dispatch(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.jdom.input.SAXBuilder.build(SAXBuilder.java:518)
    ... 48 more
Caused by: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException; lineNumber: 1; columnNumber: 52; Attribute name "xml:xml" associated with an element type "xfdf" must be followed by the ' = ' character.
    at org.apache.xerces.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.createSAXParseException(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.fatalError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLScanner.reportFatalError(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanAttribute(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl$NSContentDispatcher.scanRootElementHook(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDispatcher.dispatch(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.jdom.input.SAXBuilder.build(SAXBuilder.java:518)
    at org.jdom.input.SAXBuilder.build(SAXBuilder.java:946)
    at coldfusion.pdf.XFDFDataXMLGenerator.createFormXMLData(XFDFDataXMLGenerator.java:84)
    at coldfusion.tagext.lang.PDFFormTag.doEndTag(PDFFormTag.java:328)
    at cfpdf2ecfm1382985840.runPage(/opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/pdf.cfm:1)
    at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:244)
    at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:444)
    at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.invoke(CfincludeFilter.java:65)
    at coldfusion.filter.IpFilter.invoke(IpFilter.java:64)
    at coldfusion.filter.ApplicationFilter.invoke(ApplicationFilter.java:449)
    at coldfusion.filter.RequestMonitorFilter.invoke(RequestMonitorFilter.java:48)
    at coldfusion.filter.MonitoringFilter.invoke(MonitoringFilter.java:40)
    at coldfusion.filter.PathFilter.invoke(PathFilter.java:112)
    at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:94)
    at coldfusion.filter.BrowserDebugFilter.invoke(BrowserDebugFilter.java:79)
    at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28)
    at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)
    at coldfusion.filter.NoCacheFilter.invoke(NoCacheFilter.java:46)
    at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)
    at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)
    at coldfusion.filter.CachingFilter.invoke(CachingFilter.java:62)
    at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:219)
    at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:89)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at coldfusion.monitor.event.MonitoringServletFilter.doFilter(MonitoringServletFilter.java:42)
    at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapFilter.doFilter(BootstrapFilter.java:46)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.filters.ReplyHeaderFilter.doFilter(ReplyHeaderFilter.java:96)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityAssociationValve.invoke(SecurityAssociationValve.java:183)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.JaccContextValve.invoke(JaccContextValve.java:95)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.process(SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.java:126)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.invoke(SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.java:70)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.jca.CachedConnectionValve.invoke(CachedConnectionValve.java:158)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.request.ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.internalProcess(ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.java:74)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.request.ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.invoke(ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.java:47)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:330)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:829)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:599)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:451)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)

The code looks like this:

<cfpdfform
    source="/opt/hrms/jboss-ewp-5.2/jboss-as-web/server/default/deploy/cfusion.war/test.pdf"     
    action="populate">
</cfpdfform>

But the other server displays the PDF just fine. How can I determine more information to help me fix this issue?

Thanks in advance

-- Charles

Answer 1

We found a work-around that solves our immediate issue, but not without some pain involved.

In the ColdFusion documentation wiki, there is a new attribute allowed for in the cfpdfform tag that allows you to specify fdf over xml as the interim step in filling the data into your form. Set fdf="true" in your cfpdfform tag to skip XML and use FDF instead. Whatever that is...

Unfortunately this is a code change to our CF site, with some moderately far reaching impacts. But we are implementing it shortly. If more comes available I'll post here again. Thanks.