[SalesForce] getContent returns PDF that consists of blank pages

I have a Visualforce page that generates a PDF document (it contains renderAs="pdf"). If I use the URL of the page directly and supply some parameters, it works brilliantly. Embedded images, the Arial font, even a page break (done with CSS).

But: if I try to get this PDF using Pagereference … getContent(), I always get a PDF with 2 blank pages. The number of bytes are correct, the font is correct, but the contents are blank.

I have tried a lot: set the font, the color, … The method that calls getContent() is a synchronous method, I think that is important, because there are some constraints. Googling shows people with the same problem, but so far, no solution helps my particular situation.

The code of the page as it is per 2016-01-19:

<apex:page id="authorizationForm" language="!$CurrentPage.parameters.language}" showHeader="false" sidebar="false" standardStylesheets="false" applyBodyTag="false">
<head>
<style type="text/CSS">
  @page {
    size: A4;
    margin: 25mm;
  }
  body {
    font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';
    font-size: 11px;
    color: black;
  }
</style>
</head>
<body>


Things with <apex:outputText> etc.

</body>
</html>
</apex:page>

The code that performs the getContent() as it is per 2016-01-19:

RestResponse res = RestContext.response;
PageReference authorizationForm = Page.AuthorizationForm;
res.addHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf');
Blob pdfBody = authorizationForm.getContentAsPdf();
res.statusCode = 200;
res.responseBody = pdfBody;

Best Answer

I'm a little confused by your updated question. I'm not sure what you're doing with the response object. Here's a little test that I just did which might give you some food for thought:

Visualforce:

<apex:page id="authorizationForm" language="!$CurrentPage.parameters.language}" showHeader="false" sidebar="false" standardStylesheets="false" applyBodyTag="false">
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/CSS">
  @page {
    size: A4;
    margin: 25mm;
  }
  body {
    font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';
    font-size: 11px;
    color: black;
  }
</style>
</head>
<body>


Things with apex:outputText etc.

</body>
</html>
</apex:page>

Apex REST:

@RestResource(urlMapping='/TestPDF/') 
global class TestRestPDF 
{
    @HttpGet
    global static String getPdf()
    {
        Blob pdf = new PageReference('/apex/authorizationForm').getContentAsPDF();
        return EncodingUtil.base64Encode(pdf);
    }
}

The REST service basically returns a Base64 encoded String representing the PDF. You would then need to decode that in your client app to reconstruct the PDF. You could also generate the PDF directly from the response of the method, for example if you were to paste this in its entirety to your browser URL you'd get a PDF on screen:

data:application/pdf;base64,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

What is your client application? i.e. the application calling your REST service?

This also appears to return correctly:

global class TestRestPDF 
{
    @HttpGet
    global static void getPdf()
    {
        Blob pdf = new PageReference('/apex/authorizationForm').getContentAsPDF();

        RestContext.response.addHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf');
        RestContext.response.responseBody = pdf;
    }
}

Though, I can only see the RAW response, it may well be worth converting to Base64 first, e.g.:

RestContext.response.responseBody = Blob.valueOf(EncodingUtil.base64Encode(pdf));
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