Microsoft Power Automate is a process automation platform which makes automating repetitive tasks with little or no code..

If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription you probably already have access to Power Automate. Check your subscription or talk to your Microsoft partner for more details.

You may be able to automate processes such as picking up when addresses are added to a an Excel spreadsheet and then sending a PDF letter to that address that sits in SharePoint or in OneDrive.

You can send your letters to PC2Paper using Power Automate and our RESTFul JSON API by following these steps below.

In the example below we’ve setup a new Flow in Power Automate with a Manual Trigger. We are getting a PDF file to use, using the OneDrive for Business Action. You can use any action you’d like to provide a file for upload.

Add the Manual Trigger flow (you can use a different one here depending on the process you are after) and the OneDrive for Business Get File Content Action below it. If there is another Action you’d prefer to use you can use that instead. 

Uploading a PDF

We have used the HTTP Action to upload our PDF file add this below the One Drive for Business Get File Content Action. You can search for it as HTTP in the action search box, you will want the plain HTTP adaptor.

Once added you can rename this adaptor to “Upload File”

Enter the following details

• For the URI: https://test.pc2paper.co.uk/uploadfileapi.aspx if you are connecting to production enter https://www.pc2paper.co.uk/uploadfileapi.aspx
• Method: Set this to POST
• Headers: Add the following headers and place your PC2Paper username and password (or API keys) into them
• username
• password
• Queries: Over here you will want to enter “fileName” and in the value field give your file a name. You can enter anything in here and you can populate this from a previous action if you have one.
• Body: For the body you will want to enter the following JSON
  

  {
    "$content-type": "multipart/form-data",
    "$multipart": [
      {
        "headers": {
          "Content-Disposition": "form-data: name=\"file[data]\";filename=\"testfile.pdf\""
         },
        "body": @{body('Get_file_content')}
      }
    ]
  }
  
  Where you see this tag @{body('Get_file_content')} you will want to drag in the content from the OneDrive Action that ran before this action. You select this from the little lightening bolt that appears next to the Body text box when you click in it.
  
  

Parse the results from the PDF Upload

After you have completed the previous step you will want to add a “Parse JSON” action. We will use this to parse the JSON returned by the upload file action.

Schema: Enter the following text into the schema box.

{
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
        "fileGuid": {
             "type": "string"
        },
        "pages": {
            "type": "integer"
        }
     }
}

Content: Select the content box and then select the lightening bolt that appears next to it and select (as per the image above) the Body field from the Upload File step you did previously.

Submit Letter

Now for the final Action

Add another HTTP Action after the “Parse JSON” Action.

Enter the following details

• URI: https://test.pc2paper.co.uk/lettercustomerapi.svc/json/SendSubmitLetterForPosting for production you can use https://www.pc2paper.co.uk/lettercustomerapi.svc/json/SendSubmitLetterForPosting
• Method: Select POST
• Body: This is the same JSON example used in our JSON API example found here. Insert the below JSON into the body text
  
  

  {
    "letterForPosting": {
      "SourceClient": "Power Automate",
      "Addresses": [
        {
          "ReceiverName": "John Smith",
          "ReceiverAddressLine1": "1 Acme Road",
          "ReceiverAddressLine2": "My Street",
          "ReceiverAddressTownCityOrLine3": "Town",
          "ReceiverAddressCountyStateOrLine4": "County",
          "ReceiverAddressPostCode": "Postcode"
        }
      ],
      "ReceiverCountryCode": 1,
      "Postage": 31,
      "Paper": 1,
      "Envelope": 1,
      "Extras": 0,
      "LetterBody": "Dear John, Please find my letter attached",
      "IncludeSenderAddressOnEnvelope": true,
      "SenderAddress": "22 Acme Acres\n Acme Town",
      "YourRef": "MyRef001",
      "FileAttachementGUIDs": [
        "@{body('Parse_JSON')?['fileGuid']}"
      ]
    },
    "username": "username here",
    "password": "password here"
  }
  
  Important: Ensure you changing the following in the JSON. You can read more about these fields here
  
  username and password: Make sure you update these with your own this can also be your API key and API secret
  FileAttachementGUIDs: For this you want to replace @{body('Parse_JSON')?['fileGuid']} with “Body fileGuid” from your Parse JSON action
  
  
  
  Note you can find out more about postage options and country codes in the documentation found here. The postage codes can be found using our postal calculator for a quick lookup

Conclusion

That’s it. Please remember to always test your integration signing up for a free test account on https://test.pc2paper.co.uk you can top up your free test account with the following card number 5555558265554449 (this is not a real card number as it is a test environment), use made up details for the rest of the top-up process. You can then see if the letters you send come through to your test account. Remember to change the test endpoints to our live server when you are done by changing https://test to https://www .

We've had several requests for an example on using our SOAP API, so decided to throw one together for you to get an idea of how it works.

The example below will send PDF documents as a letter with a cover letter which is written as a formatted HTML string (see the LetterBody attribute below).

To make more use of this example and to adapt it to your needs you may need to look at the Letter Pricing API along with the country code list which can all be found here.

If you would like us to advise you on what are the best options to use for postage and paper usage please contact us.

   1:  <?php

   2:   

   3:  $client = new SoapClient("https://www.pc2paper.co.uk/lettercustomerapi.svc?wsdl");

   4:   

   5:  // Your PC2Paper Username and Password go below

   6:  $pc2paperUsername = "username";

   7:  $pc2paperPassword = "password";

   8:   

   9:  //First we upload a PDF we wish to attach to our letter

  10:   

  11:  $file = file_get_contents("C:\tempfiles\mytestfile.pdf");

  12:   

  13:  //We give the pdf a friendly name

  14:  $parametersUpload->filename = "mytestFile.pdf";

  15:  $parametersUpload->fileContent = $file;

  16:  $parametersUpload->username=$pc2paperUsername;

  17:  $parametersUpload->password=$pc2paperPassword;

  18:   

  19:  //We submit our PDF to PC2Paper

  20:  $uploadedFileResult = $client->UploadDocument($parametersUpload);

  21:   

  22:  // Not the above return value contains the following

  23:  // $uploadedFileResult->UploadDocumentResult->ErrorMessages  (A a string array of any errors that took place)

  24:  // $uploadedFileResult->UploadDocumentResult->FileCreatedGUID (The created files GUID)0

  25:  // $uploadedFileResult->UploadDocumentResult->Status (OK or ERROR, if error check ErrorMessages array

  26:   

  27:  //After our PDF has been submited we get a GUID which we store in an array to use with our letter below.

  28:  //Note you can attach multiple PDF's to your letter by adding to this array.

  29:  $fileGuidArray =  array($uploadedFileResult->UploadDocumentResult->FileCreatedGUID);

  30:   

  31:   

  32:  // ********** The actual Letter.

  33:  // We put an address together

  34:  $address->ReceiverName = "Tom Smith";

  35:  $address->ReceiverAddressLine1 = "Line 1 ";

  36:  $address->ReceiverAddressLine2 = "Line 2";

  37:  $address->ReceiverAddressTownCityOrLine3 = "My Town";

  38:  $address->ReceiverAddressCountyStateOrLine4 = "County";

  39:  $address->ReceiverAddressPostCode = "ZZ1 2ZZ";

  40:   

  41:  // Add the address to an address array

  42:  $addressArray = array($address);

  43:   

  44:  //Add the address array to our letter

  45:  $letter->Addresses = $addressArray ;

  46:   

  47:  //Setup our postage options (use the LetterPosting API for these values 

  48:  //or ask us and we will be happy to provide the values based on your needs)

  49:   

  50:   

  51:  // 1=UK , 240=US for a list of more please refer to country.csv file from the API section of our website.

  52:  $letter->ReceiverCountryCode = 1; 

  53:   

  54:  $letter->IncludeSenderAddressOnEnvelope = true;

  55:  $letter->Postage = 3; //UK First Class

  56:  $letter->Paper = 1;  // B&W Single Sides print

  57:  $letter->Extras = 0;

  58:  $letter->Envelope = 1; //Simple DL envelope

  59:  $letter->Pages = 2;

  60:  $letter->FileAttachementGUIDs = $fileGuidArray;

  61:   

  62:  $letter->SenderAddress = "Peter Smith\nMy Town";

  63:   

  64:  //This is the cover letter of your letter. Leave this null if you do not want a cover letter

  65:  //You may use formatted HTML in here to format your letter.

  66:  $letter->LetterBody = "<p>Hi Tom,</p> <p>This is a letter sent from PHP!</p>";

  67:   

  68:   

  69:  $parameters->letterForPosting = $letter;

  70:   

  71:  // Your PC2Paper username and password

  72:  $parameters->username = $pc2paperUsername;

  73:  $parameters->password = $pc2paperPassword;

  74:   

  75:  $result = $client->SendSubmitLetterForPosting($parameters);

  76:   

  77:  // The return object will give you the following

  78:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->CostOfLetter

  79:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->ErrorMessages  (any errors that took place)

  80:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->FundsLeftInYourAccount

  81:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->LetterId

  82:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->Status (OK if everything went ok or ERROR, if error check the ErrorMessages array)

  83:   

  84:   

  85:  print_r($result);

  86:  ?>

The PC2Paper API documentation has been updated to version 3. The API now enables you to associate costs from our Letter Pricing API with letters. There is also a .NET C# example of how to use the XML RPC interface for sending PDF documents.

To find out more click here..

PC2Paper provides two letter sending API's and one Letter Pricing API (please see below)

PC2Papers API Letter Sending Interfaces

PC2Paper has two letter sending API interfaces available. One interface is a simple back end form post interface that only accepts text input (our most popular) and the other is a back end XML RPC interface that only accepts PDF and MS Word documents.

Form Post Interface

The Form Post Interface (FPI) is our most popular because of how simple it is to setup. If you have ever created a backend form interface to integrate with services such as PayPal and World Pay then you already have most of the skills you need to use the FPI. Simply speaking the FPI accepts a form post from either a normal webpage or a back end server to authenticate you, you provide your PC2Paper username and password to it and that is how the site knows who to bill the cost of the letter to. To use the interface and to find out more download the PC2PaperFPI pack.

XML RPC Interface

The PC2Paper XML RPC Interface is a bit more advanced than the form post interface and enables the sending of PDF and Word documents from server to server or desktop application to PC2Paper. Inside the PC2PaperXMLRPC pack we provide you with the sample XML the interface is expecting and a compiled (optional) VB 6 DLL called PC2PaperRemote.DLL which you can call instead of trying to create the XML the interface is expecting yourself. You should be able to use PC2PaperRemote.DLL from most COM aware languages such as VB, ASP, Delphi, .NET etc.

To use the PC2PaperRemote.DLL you will need to install MSXML if it is not already installed on the machine you intend to use it from. However if you prefer to generate the XML yourself and Base64 encode the file you wish to send into the XML, the format of the XML file can be found in the file XMLFormat.txt which can be found in the PC2PaperXMLRPC.

Letter Pricing API

PC2Paper provide an XML based interface that enables you to workout the price of your letter before sending it. This is useful for websites that resell our service and would like to know how much to bill the customers before actually sending the letter. To get started you can download the documentation for our interface here. You can also download the country code file, a csv you will need to lookup country codes.

PC2Paper have released a new Letter Pricing API which enables you to do real time price queries on letters before they are sent from your own system. You may find this useful if you are reselling the PC2Paper service and would like to provide your customers with all the pricing options available such as special delivery, different printing options, envelope selections, printing station selection etc. Given all these options the PC2Paper Letter Pricing API will give you a price for your letter which you can then use to bill your user.

For more about Letter Pricing API, please visit the API section of our web site.

We have now launched a Developer section on www.pc2paper.co.uk to help developers create new applications and integrate their existing back end systems with PC2Paper's API interface, enabling easier sending of real letters from the Internet using our service.

The area consists of a chat section for developers to raise questions with us and other developers and an API documentation section. All these features will also be backed up with updates from our blog site www.pc2paper.org.

There are no sign up fees to use our API interface, it is enabled on all PC2Paper accounts as standard. If you are a business or just a novice programmer who would like to integrate with our service please visit our Developer section.

I had a chat with one of our technical guys Rob Forber yesterday about PC2Papers API interfaces and how he had just finished helping one our customers with a Delphi interface into PC2Paper. Now I'm not a technical person and all I know is that Delphi is another programming language and that he was excited by the accomplishment.

My interest is that we have helped another of our customers to interface their back office systems with our service.

For those who don't know PC2Paper API or Application Interface enables our customers to integrate their own back office systems (systems they use to run their businesses) and websites so that they can automatically send letters via our service. Over the coming months I will be getting Rob to write a few articles about how you can write your own interfaces into PC2Paper.

If you would like to know before then, please contact us