Generate contract (pdf) from Salesforce Opportunity (Apex)

Hello Eliot,

You're right, directly calling the DocuSign API from Apex to generate a document without the interactive DocuSign UI requires a different approach than using the dfsle__gendocumentgenerator Visualforce page.

Here's a breakdown of the recommended approach and the steps involved:

Since you don't need the signing process, you'll primarily interact with the DocuSign eSignature REST API to generate the document based on your template.

Steps:

1. Authentication with DocuSign:

   • You'll need to establish secure authentication with your DocuSign account. The recommended method for server-to-server integration like this is using JWT (JSON Web Tokens) Grant authentication.
   • This involves:
     • Creating an Integration Key in your DocuSign developer account.
     • Generating a private/public key pair.
     • Requesting an access token from DocuSign by signing a JWT containing your Integration Key, user ID, and the private key.
     • Caching the access token and refreshing it as needed.
     • you can check this link to learn more about Auth with Docusign: https://developers.docusign.com/platform/auth/

2. Identify the DocuSign Template:

   • You already have the Template ID (a1OAZ0000007wXM2AY). You'll use this to tell DocuSign which template to use for generation.

3. Prepare Data for the Template:

   • Your DocuSign template likely has roles and fields that need to be populated with data from your Salesforce Opportunity.
   • You'll need to query the necessary fields from the Opportunity object in Apex.
   • Construct a JSON payload containing the data that maps to the roles and fields in your DocuSign template.

4. Call the DocuSign API to Create an Envelope:

   • Use the DocuSign eSignature REST API endpoint for creating envelopes (/restapi/v2.1/accounts/{accountId}/envelopes). Replace {accountId} with your DocuSign account ID.
   • In the request body, you'll specify:
     • documents: An array defining the document to be generated. You'll reference your template here.
     • templateId: Your DocuSign template ID.
     • templateRoles: An array mapping Salesforce data to the roles and fields in your template. This is where you'll pass the data you prepared in step 3.
     • Crucially, to only generate the document without initiating a signing process, you'll need to ensure there are no recipients defined in a signing role within the envelope definition. You might need to configure your template accordingly or use a role that doesn't trigger signing.

5. Retrieve the Generated Document:

   • After successfully creating the envelope, you'll need to make another API call to retrieve the generated document.
   • Use the Get Envelope Documents endpoint (/restapi/v2.1/accounts/{accountId}/envelopes/{envelopeId}/documents). Replace {envelopeId} with the ID of the envelope you just created.
   • You can specify the format of the document you want to retrieve (e.g., application/pdf).

6. Store the Document in Salesforce:

   • Once you have the document data (as a Blob in Apex), you can create a ContentVersion object in Salesforce to store it as a file related to your Opportunity.
   • Set the Title, PathOnClient, and VersionData fields of the ContentVersion.
   • Link the ContentVersion to the Opportunity using a ContentDocumentLink object.

Apex Implementation Considerations:

• HTTP Callouts: You'll need to use the HttpRequest and HttpResponse classes in Apex to make calls to the DocuSign API.
• JSON Handling: Use the JSON.serialize and JSON.deserializeUntyped methods to work with the JSON payloads for the API requests and responses.
• Error Handling: Implement robust error handling to catch exceptions during API calls and Salesforce data operations.
• Authentication Management: Implement logic to securely store and manage your DocuSign API credentials and access tokens. Consider using custom settings or a secure storage mechanism.

Thank you so much and if you need any help you can raise a support case anytime at https://support.docusign.com