DocumentPDFs elements not consistently returned from DocuSign Connect

Question

I have successfully implemented a system that creates documents to be signed via a template using the .NET API, and then has a DocuSign Connect listener that gets called upon the envelope being signed (right now only have Connect reporting on envelope signatures and declines). I have the option set to "Include Documents" on my DocuSign Connect settings. When I create the envelope for signature programmatically with one signer it all works - my Connect listener gets called, the /DocuSignEnvelopeInformation/DocumentPDF/PDFBytes element has Base64 data in it, and I have successfully decoded that and stored it in our doc management system. Cool. Demos well, management loves it.

However, I have noticed at least two scenarios where the /DocuSignEnvelopeInformation/DocumentPDF section isn't being returned at all:

1. When there are multiple signers.

2. When the envelope is created manually, even if it uses the same template.

I can still use the Connect response to get the /DocuSignEnvelopeInformation/EnvelopeStatus/DocumentStatuses and extract the document IDs from the DocumentStatus child elements, and then go retrieve those programmatically using the .NET API. But I am wondering why the PDF bytes aren't being consistently returned all the time? Is the above expected behavior? Am I missing something?

I would prefer to save "round trips" and just have Connect deliver all the signed PDFs to me when it calls (and yes, I have read the Recommendations for Receiving Documents section of the DocuSign Connect Guide and understand the trade-offs. Just wondering if I need to code around this issue, or what I am missing?

Answer 1

Hmmm. Envelopes don't get "signed," they get "sent" and "completed." See the envelopeEvents vs the recipientEvents lists in the Connect::Create call.

Currently, there is an existing issue which is that the connect daemon can miss an event if it is quickly superseded by another event. This might be what is happening when you have multiple signers for an envelope. The safest thing to do is to subscribe to all events and then ignore the notifications that are not of interest to you.

The terminal event of an envelope being "completed" will always be sent if you've subscribed to it.

Also, to make your app more bulletproof, I suggest subscribing to the Connect events via the API call (link is above) rather than depending on the human to setup up the subscription correctly. Since an account can easily have more than one connect subscription, you can track which one is your app's by using a specific name for the subscription.

Added

Just now, I created a Connect subscription for just the Envelope Completed event, for all users in my account on demo.docusign.net. As the subscription (listener) url, I used a free account from requestb.in

Using the web user interface (not the API), I created an envelope with two signers. After I completed the envelope, the requestb.in received the notification, it included:

<DocumentPDFs>
   <DocumentPDF>
      <Name>House architectural overview.pdf</Name>
      <PDFBytes>....

as expected. So I'm unable to reproduce your problem. I suggest that you use requestb.in to double-check exactly what is being sent in the notification messages.