Tutorial: How to Get Document Information with GroupDocs.Signature Cloud

Learning Objectives

In this tutorial, you’ll learn:

How to retrieve detailed information about documents before applying signatures
How to extract metadata, page count, and document dimensions
How to incorporate document information into your signature workflows

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, you should have:

A GroupDocs.Signature Cloud account (if you don’t have one, sign up for a free trial)
Your document files uploaded to GroupDocs cloud storage or accessible via URL
Basic REST API understanding
Development environment set up for your chosen SDK

Why Document Information Matters

Before applying digital signatures to a document, understanding its structure is crucial. The document information API helps you:

Determine how many pages are available for applying signatures
Identify document dimensions to properly position signature elements
Verify document format and properties before processing
Plan signature placement based on page layout

Step 1: Setting Up Authentication

All GroupDocs.Signature Cloud API calls require authentication using your client credentials.

Retrieve your Client ID and Client Secret from GroupDocs Dashboard
Generate an access token using these credentials

Here’s how:

# First get JSON Web Token
curl -v "https://api.groupdocs.cloud/connect/token" \
-X POST \
-d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET" \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

Step 2: Preparing Your Document

Before retrieving document information, ensure your document is available either:

Uploaded to your GroupDocs Cloud Storage, or
Accessible via a public URL

For this tutorial, we’ll use a document already uploaded to cloud storage.

Step 3: Making the API Request

To get document information, you’ll make a POST request to the info endpoint:

cURL Example

curl -X POST "https://api.groupdocs.cloud/v2.0/signature/info" \
-H "accept: application/json" \
-H "authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{  \"FileInfo\": {    \"FilePath\": \"documents/sample.docx\",    \"StorageName\": \"MyStorage\",    \"VersionId\": \"\",    \"Password\": \"\"  }}"

Request Parameters Explained

FilePath: Path to your document in cloud storage
StorageName: Name of the storage where your document is located
VersionId: Optional parameter for versioned documents
Password: Optional parameter for password-protected documents

Try It Yourself

Replace the placeholder values with your actual document path and access token, then run the command.

Step 4: Understanding the Response

The API returns a JSON object containing detailed document information:

{
  "fileName": "sample.docx",
  "extension": ".docx",
  "fileFormat": "Microsoft Words",
  "size": 324608,
  "dateModified": "2023-05-15T12:57:58.9646989Z",
  "pages": {
    "totalCount": 5,
    "entries": [
      {
        "number": 1,
        "name": null,
        "width": 816,
        "height": 1056,
        "angle": 0,
        "visible": true,
        "rows": null
      },
      // Additional pages...
    ]
  }
}

Key information includes:

fileName: The document’s name
extension: File extension
fileFormat: Human-readable format description
size: File size in bytes
dateModified: Last modification date
pages: Array of page information including dimensions and count

Step 5: Implementing in Your Application

Now let’s implement this functionality using various SDKs:

C# Example

// Get document information in C#
// Tutorial Code Example
using GroupDocs.Signature.Cloud.Sdk.Api;
using GroupDocs.Signature.Cloud.Sdk.Client;
using GroupDocs.Signature.Cloud.Sdk.Model;

string MyClientSecret = "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET"; // Get from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud
string MyClientId = "YOUR_CLIENT_ID"; // Get from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud

var configuration = new Configuration(MyClientId, MyClientSecret);
var apiInstance = new InfoApi(configuration);

// Document information request
var fileInfo = new FileInfo
{
    FilePath = "documents/sample.docx",
    StorageName = "MyStorage",
    // Password = "document_password" // Uncomment if document is password-protected
};

var request = new GetInfoRequest(fileInfo);
var response = apiInstance.GetInfo(request);

// Display document information
Console.WriteLine($"File Name: {response.FileName}");
Console.WriteLine($"File Format: {response.FileFormat}");
Console.WriteLine($"Page Count: {response.Pages.TotalCount}");

// Process page dimensions for signature placement planning
foreach (var page in response.Pages.Entries)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Page {page.Number}: Width = {page.Width}, Height = {page.Height}");
    
    // Calculate potential signature zones (example)
    var bottomRightZone = new
    {
        X = page.Width - 200,  // 200 pixels from right edge
        Y = page.Height - 100, // 100 pixels from bottom edge
        Width = 180,
        Height = 80
    };
    
    Console.WriteLine($"  Recommended signature zone: X={bottomRightZone.X}, Y={bottomRightZone.Y}, Width={bottomRightZone.Width}, Height={bottomRightZone.Height}");
}

Java Example

// Get document information in Java
// Tutorial Code Example
import com.groupdocs.signature.cloud.api.InfoApi;
import com.groupdocs.signature.cloud.client.Configuration;
import com.groupdocs.signature.cloud.model.FileInfo;
import com.groupdocs.signature.cloud.model.InfoResult;
import com.groupdocs.signature.cloud.model.PageInfo;

String MyClientSecret = "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET"; // Get from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud
String MyClientId = "YOUR_CLIENT_ID"; // Get from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud

Configuration configuration = new Configuration(MyClientId, MyClientSecret);
InfoApi apiInstance = new InfoApi(configuration);

// Document information request
FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo();
fileInfo.setFilePath("documents/sample.docx");
fileInfo.setStorageName("MyStorage");
// fileInfo.setPassword("document_password"); // Uncomment if document is password-protected

InfoResult response = apiInstance.getInfo(fileInfo);

// Display document information
System.out.println("File Name: " + response.getFileName());
System.out.println("File Format: " + response.getFileFormat());
System.out.println("Page Count: " + response.getPages().getTotalCount());

// Process page dimensions for signature placement planning
for (PageInfo page : response.getPages().getEntries()) {
    System.out.println("Page " + page.getNumber() + ": Width = " + page.getWidth() + ", Height = " + page.getHeight());
    
    // Calculate potential signature zones (example)
    int x = page.getWidth() - 200;  // 200 pixels from right edge
    int y = page.getHeight() - 100; // 100 pixels from bottom edge
    int width = 180;
    int height = 80;
    
    System.out.println("  Recommended signature zone: X=" + x + ", Y=" + y + ", Width=" + width + ", Height=" + height);
}

Python Example

# Get document information in Python
# Tutorial Code Example
from groupdocs_signature_cloud import *
import groupdocs_signature_cloud

client_id = "YOUR_CLIENT_ID"  # Get from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud
client_secret = "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET"  # Get from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud

api = groupdocs_signature_cloud.InfoApi.from_keys(client_id, client_secret)

# Document information request
file_info = groupdocs_signature_cloud.FileInfo()
file_info.file_path = "documents/sample.docx"
file_info.storage_name = "MyStorage"
# file_info.password = "document_password"  # Uncomment if document is password-protected

request = groupdocs_signature_cloud.GetInfoRequest(file_info)
response = api.get_info(request)

# Display document information
print(f"File Name: {response.file_name}")
print(f"File Format: {response.file_format}")
print(f"Page Count: {response.pages.total_count}")

# Process page dimensions for signature placement planning
for page in response.pages.entries:
    print(f"Page {page.number}: Width = {page.width}, Height = {page.height}")
    
    # Calculate potential signature zones (example)
    x = page.width - 200  # 200 pixels from right edge
    y = page.height - 100  # 100 pixels from bottom edge
    width = 180
    height = 80
    
    print(f"  Recommended signature zone: X={x}, Y={y}, Width={width}, Height={height}")

Step 6: Using Document Information for Signature Placement

Now that you have document information, let’s use it for signature placement planning:

// Example signature positioning function
function calculateSignaturePosition(pageInfo, signatureType) {
    let position = {x: 0, y: 0, width: 0, height: 0};
    
    switch(signatureType) {
        case 'digital':
            // Bottom right corner for digital signatures
            position.width = Math.min(200, pageInfo.width * 0.3);
            position.height = Math.min(80, pageInfo.height * 0.1);
            position.x = pageInfo.width - position.width - 20;
            position.y = pageInfo.height - position.height - 20;
            break;
            
        case 'barcode':
            // Top right for barcodes
            position.width = Math.min(150, pageInfo.width * 0.2);
            position.height = Math.min(150, pageInfo.height * 0.15);
            position.x = pageInfo.width - position.width - 20;
            position.y = 20;
            break;
            
        case 'qrcode':
            // Bottom left for QR codes
            position.width = Math.min(150, pageInfo.width * 0.2);
            position.height = position.width; // Square
            position.x = 20;
            position.y = pageInfo.height - position.height - 20;
            break;
            
        default:
            // Default center position
            position.width = Math.min(200, pageInfo.width * 0.3);
            position.height = Math.min(80, pageInfo.height * 0.1);
            position.x = (pageInfo.width - position.width) / 2;
            position.y = (pageInfo.height - position.height) / 2;
    }
    
    return position;
}

Troubleshooting Tips

Common issues you might encounter:

“File not found” error: Double-check your file path and storage name
Permission errors: Ensure your access token has the right permissions
Format errors: If getting incorrect page information, verify the file is not corrupted
Password issues: For protected documents, ensure you’re providing the correct password

What You’ve Learned

In this tutorial, you’ve learned:

How to retrieve detailed document information using GroupDocs.Signature Cloud API
How to extract page dimensions, counts, and document metadata
How to use document information for intelligent signature placement
How to implement document information retrieval in different programming languages

Further Practice

To reinforce your learning:

Create a function that calculates optimal signature positions based on document type
Build a document analyzer that recommends different signature types based on document structure
Implement document validation that checks if the document meets requirements for signing