HTML to PDF Converter

Highwire Enterprise and Highwire - HTML to PDF Converter Comparison

	Highwire	Highwire Enterprise
Purchase Price (single CPU pricing)	$2,995	$9,995
Annual Maintenance & Support	Click Here	Click Here
Added Auto-book marking feature (table of contents) (tiered bookmarks when if finds h1 tags, h2 tags, h3 tags, etc.)	X	X
Table support in footers	X	X
Minor updates and Improvements to CSS support	X	X
Conversion of HTML to PDF, using real-time and on-demand XHTML or well-formed HTML	X	X
Create page headers, footers, and page numbers	X	X
Automatically carry over table headings on multi-page tables	X	X
Insert Corda images into PDF as vector images	X	X
Serve images from Highwire Java Servlet		X
Use Highwire as Java library		X
Preservation of HTML hyperlinks in the PDF document	X	X
Support for nested tables	X	X
Security built-in	X	X
HTTP redirectors for greater security and SSL support (J2EE, ISAPI/Windows IIS and Apache)		X
Automatically adjusts paper orientation and size to accommodate wide documents	X	X
Easily handles modern web page components like cascading style sheets and nested tables	X	X
Can create encrypted, locked and/or password protected PDF documents	X	X
Caching		X
Clustering		X
Server Fail-over		X
Load Balancing		X
Creates 508-compliant PDF files (Descriptive text for the visually impaired)	X	X
100% JAVA	X	X
	single-thread	multi-thread

Single Thread - when a query is performed single thread creates a queue for those requests
Multi Thread – threads can be executed in parallel on many computer systems simultaneously

Highwire 7 Definitions of Features

Click on any topic below to learn more:

Conversion of HTML to PDF, using well-formed HTML
Headers and footers
Column headings in tables can carry over to multiple pages
Automatic adjustment of fonts to fit into typical page sizes
Insert Corda images into PDF as vector images
Support for cascading style sheets
Support for nested tables
Preservation of HTML hyperlinks in the PDF document
Accessibility - Section 508 Compliant
Security
Scalability and Redundancy

Conversion of HTML to PDF, using well-formed HTML

Highwire quickly and easily converts most web-pages created with well-formed HTML into PDF reports. A document is well-formed when it is structured according to the rules defined in Section 2.1 of the XML 1.0 Recommendation. Basically, this definition states that elements, delimited by their start and end tags, are nested properly within one another.

Headers and footers

Highwire can be used to automatically create headers and/or footers for each page of the PDF document. This feature can be used to improve the appearance of the report or to include disclaimers and/or other legally-required warnings.

Column headings in tables can carry over to multiple pages

When an HTML table carries over to more than one page in the PDF report, Highwire can automatically create column headers for the second and each succeeding page of the table.

Automatic adjustment of fonts to fit into typical page sizes

When an HTML page is rendered by Highwire, the program will attempt to adjust fonts and other design elements in order to fit the web page into a single PDF page or, if this is not possible, Highwire will intelligently format the PDF document over multiple pages.

Insert Corda images into PDF as vector images

When PopChart and/or OptiMap are used with Highwire, any graphs or maps will be inserted into the PDF file as a vector image, ensuring the highest-quality viewing and output while reducing the size of the PDF file.

Support for cascading style sheets

Cascading style sheets are a common feature of most modern commercial web sites. Highwire supports most features of cascading style sheets.

Support for nested tables

Nested tables are often used to create the "right" look and to position web page elements precisely. Highwire handles most nested tables without difficulty.

Preservation of HTML hyperlinks in the PDF document

When Highwire converts a web page or web pages into a PDF document, any hyperlinks on the web page will be carried over into the PDF report.

Accessibility - Section 508 Compliant

PDF documents present a significant problem for visually-impaired Web visitors who use screen-readers. When a conventional PDF document includes a graph or a map, no provision is made to ensure that the visually-impaired have equal access to the information included in the graph or map. When Highwire is used to generate a PDF containing a PopChart graph or an OptiMap map, Corda's D-Link technology can be used to automatically insert a text description of the graph or map which can be accessed with a screen reader.

D-LINK DESCRIPTIVE TEXT  Highwire's devotion to accessibility for the visually impaired makes it easy for you to create 508 compliant PDF files, including PopChart graphs and OptiMap maps.

Highwire automatically provides D-Link text for every PopChart graph or OptiMap map it creates. D-Link is a textual description to assist visually impaired who browse the web with screen readers. This textual description describes each data item in the graph, and is fully customizable using templates and macros.

Not only does Highwire D-Link describe your data, it also provides the same interactive features and annotations that sighted users would see viewing the graph or map. For example, visually impaired users can navigate from one text-description to another using drill-down links. Navigation through large amounts of data is simple, fast and convenient.

Click here to learn more about accessibility.

Security

SEPERATE COMM PORT  All communication between the Highwire server, your web server, and your database takes place over a secure port that is different from the one used to serve documents to clients. This ensures that data and other information passed to Highwire will remain inside of your firewall, while Highwire can still deliver reports to the outside world.

HTTP REDIRECT  Deliver PDF reports from your web server instead of the Highwire server using HTTP Redirection. HTTP Redirection allows web servers to handle requests to the Highwire server for reports. The web server forwards the request to the Highwire server (which rests completely behind your firewall) which returns a report back to the web server. The report is then forwarded back to the client who requested it.

This has two benefits: 1) you do not have to expose an additional port through your firewall to get Highwire to work; 2) by using the web server as a middle-man, Highwire adopts the same level of security provided by the web server. For example, if your web server provides SSL, and you use Highwire HTTP Redirection, you graphs will also benefit from SSL.

HTTP Redirection modules are available in the following forms: ISAPI (for Windows IIS), Servlet (for J2EE application servers), and Apache Module.

FILE AND DOMAIN RESTRICTION  For added security, administrators can control from which paths and domains Highwire can retrieve HTML pages.

Scalability and Redundancy

CACHING  Take advantage of Highwire's image cache to speed performance when multiple users view the same report. This greatly increases efficiency and reduces the load on the CPU, which can be invaluable in high traffic environments. In many cases you will see a performance increase of 10 to 30 times.

CLUSTERING  Fully utilize the power of your multiple server system with Highwire clustering. Highwire provides clustering for high throughput and redundancy. Highwire supports multiple clustering architectures.

SERVER FAIL OVER  Prevent service failure in high-availability graphing and mapping environments by taking advantage of Highwire's backup feature for clustered servers. With server failover, when one server in a cluster goes down, another server in the cluster seamlessly picks up the load from the failed server.

LOAD BALANCING  Highwire is compatible with external hardware or software load-balancing systems.