[Enhancement]: ALDOC -> possibility to build pdf

[navdotnetreqs]

Feature description

I would love to see the ability to build a pdf using docfx instead of publishing as a webpage.
It could then be deployed to storage like the .app-file, or emailed to the customer or what have you.

Local command line this is very easy, just running
docfx build docfx.json
docfx pdf docfx.json

[navdotnetreqs]

I just confirmed that this can be done by replicating files from AL-Go-Actions, and modifying docfx.json to include globalMetadata.pdf=true, and then running docfx pdf docfx.json. But it's dumb to replicate and keep outdated files in our own repo, when this could be a nice and easy additional functionality to implement.

[freddydk]

sounds like a good idea to add.
IMO, this should be a property added to the aldoc called publishPdfArtifact, which default is false, but if true will cause the reference documentation code to publish a pdf artifact.
We should also add a setting called publishHtmlArtifact, which default is true to control whether you want the github-pages artifact.
If you want to, you are more than welcome to create a PR on the AL-Go repository from a fork with this and we will perform code reviews to ensure that things are created in the right places in the right way.
If not, please add the full code snippet of where you added the code in our code, for us to save a little time on this.

[navdotnetreqs]

Hi @freddydk ,
sounds like a great plan. Here's the hack I did. Only supports one pdf though.

[freddydk]

Please copy/paste code instead of screen shots, thanks.

[navdotnetreqs]

Hi @freddydk ,

paste of example below, images give positions.

$docfxJson.build.globalMetadata | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "pdf" -Value $true # OK

        $arguments = @(
            "pdf"
            "--output ""$docsPath"""
            "--logLevel $loglevel"
            """$docfxJsonFile"""
            )
        Write-Host "invoke PDF docfx $arguments"
        CmdDo -command docfx -arguments $arguments

# Define the path for toc.pdf

dir
Write-Host "-"
dir $artifactsFolder
$pdfFolder = Join-Path $docsPath "_site"
Write-Host "-"
dir $pdfFolder
Write-Host "-"
Write-Host $pdfFolder
$pdfPath = Join-Path $pdfFolder "toc.pdf"

# Check if the PDF file exists
if (Test-Path $pdfPath) {
    # Remove all other files and folders except for the toc.pdf
    Get-ChildItem $pdfFolder -Exclude "toc.pdf" | Remove-Item -Recurse -Force

    # Optionally, log that only toc.pdf is being retained
    Write-Host "Retained toc.pdf, cleaned up other files."
    Rename-Item -Path $pdfPath -NewName "Tailorator_documentation_$($settings.repoName).pdf"
}
else {
    Write-Host "toc.pdf not found. No artifacts to handle."
}

jobs:
  DeployALDoc:    
    if: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'success' }}
    runs-on: [ windows-latest ]
    name: Generate Reference PDF

      - name: Publish artifacts - pdf output
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@65c4c4a1ddee5b72f698fdd19549f0f0fb45cf08 # v4.6.0
        with:
          path: ".aldoc/_site/"

[navdotnetreqs]

Related to #1466