How to create a Docusign envelope with a custom pdf (Python, Django)

Question

My goal is to create a pdf using WeasyPrint and add it the the payload sent to the Docusign Api when requesting an envelope to be created.

Here are my steps:

1. generate the a pdf with WeasyPrint and return a based64 string

def generate_envelope_document(document_name: str, context: dict):
    content = render_to_string(f"insurance_contracts/{document_name}.html", 
    context=context)
    css = find(f"insurance_contracts/{document_name}.css")
    doc = HTML(string=content, media_type="screen").write_pdf(stylesheets=[css], 
    zoom=0.8)
    return base64.b64encode(doc).decode("utf-8")

2. create my envelope definition:

def create_envelope_definition(envelope_data: dict, context: dict, custom_fields: dict = None):
    mandate = Document(
        document_base64=generate_envelope_document("name1", context),
        name="name1",
        file_extension="pdf",
        document_id=1,
    )
    conditions = Document(
        document_base64=generate_envelope_document("name2", context),
        name="name2",
        file_extension="pdf",
        document_id=2,
    )
    signer = Signer(
        email=envelope_data["signer_email"],
        name=envelope_data["signer_name"],
        recipient_id="1",
        routing_order="1",
    )
    signer.tabs = Tabs(
        sign_here_tabs=[
            SignHere(
                anchor_string="Sign",
                anchor_units="pixels",
                anchor_y_offset="50",
                anchor_x_offset_metadata="50",
            )
        ]
    )

    envelope_definition = EnvelopeDefinition(
        status="sent", documents=[mandate, conditions], recipients=Recipients(signers=[signer])
    )

    if custom_fields:
        envelope_definition.custom_fields = CustomFields(
            text_custom_fields=[
                TextCustomField(name=field_name, value=field_value, required=False)
                for field_name, field_value in enumerate(custom_fields)
            ]
        )

    return envelope_definition

3. create a Docusign Api object:

def get_envelopes_api_client():
    """
    Create the docusign api client object
    Return  EnvelopesApi object
    """
    api_client = ApiClient()
    api_client.host = settings.DOCUSIGN_BASE_PATH
    api_client.set_default_header("Authorization", "Bearer " + get_access_token())
    envelope_api = EnvelopesApi(api_client)

    return envelope_api

4. create and send the Docusign envelope:

 envelope_api = get_envelopes_api_client()

    try:
        envelope = envelope_api.create_envelope(
            settings.DOCUSIGN_ACCOUNT_ID, envelope_definition=envelope_definition
        )
    except ApiException as e:
        logger.error(e.body.decode())
        return None


    return envelope

at the moment I'm getting this error:

{"errorCode":"INVALID_REQUEST_BODY","message":"The request body is missing or improperly formatted. Could not cast or convert from System.String to API_REST.Models.v2_1.propertyMetadata."}

I don't understand what I could be doing wrong. Is my envelope definition not correct or is there something else I am missing. I can't seem to find official documentation on how to do this. All I have found is [https://developers.docusign.com/docs/esign-rest-api/how-to/send-binary/][1] which does not use the docusign SDK.

Any help would be welcome. Thanks!

Answer 1

• email_subject needs to be added to envelope_definition and has some value. That's the subject of the email sent out by DocuSign.

• document_id="2" instead of document_id=2

• anchor_x_offset_metadata should not be used here and is probably the reason for your error.