ways to save report to a file and easily open

[ShumingWang]

Thanks for so many replies!

Shuming Wang

[E. Bartzokas]

Thanks for so many replies!

Shuming Wang

One more from me...

You may use PDF995.

This is a printer driver which allows you to do something more than any other PDF driver that I have seen, which is to create a pagkage of all print jobs, in one file (called Combined).
It automatically captures the print job names from your programs, and all you have to do is to change the PDF995.INI file to work either on combine mode, or single document mode.
It offers another tool that allows you to encrypt files from inside your Clipper FW or FWH xHarbour, and set the rights (Print, copy, passwords,etc).
I consider it as an excellent tool and it's very reliable.

The PDF995 is freeware, and the license for some minor splash screens can be removed by purchasing a 10.00$ license key to register it.

For more info try: http://www.pdf995.com/

Kind regards
Evans

[James Bott]

Evans,

I have a few questions about PDF995. If I remember correctly it also requires installing Ghostscript too? If so, then your application installation has to install the app, PDF995, and Ghostscript, right?

Also, to prevent the splash screens, you would need to pay the license fee for each copy of PDF995 that you install with a copy of your application, correct?

Can you print to a PDF without user interaction (no dialogs)?

James

[Enrico Maria Giordano]

Can you print to a PDF without user interaction (no dialogs)?

Yes, using PDFCreator.

EMG

[Richard Chidiak]

Can you print to a PDF without user interaction (no dialogs)?

Yes, using PDFCreator.

EMG

Enrico

You still need to install a pdf printer with PDF creator

Richard

[Enrico Maria Giordano]

You still need to install a pdf printer with PDF creator

Yes, but it is free.

EMG

[E. Bartzokas]

Evans,

I have a few questions about PDF995. If I remember correctly it also requires installing Ghostscript too? If so, then your application installation has to install the app, PDF995, and Ghostscript, right?

Also, to prevent the splash screens, you would need to pay the license fee for each copy of PDF995 that you install with a copy of your application, correct?

Can you print to a PDF without user interaction (no dialogs)?

James

James,
PDF995 is a freeware tool, requiring no fees to use, unless you want to get rid of the splash screens. According to its creators (www.pdf995.com), the license key costs 9.95 USD, and it's really worth to pay for this.
Obtaining THINSETUP.EXE with the license, stops the splash screens.

How do we use it...
We install it as a regular printer. It does not require ANY OTHER software drivers, other than those provided by PDF995.

We simply create a PDF995.INI file in C:\PDF995\RES folder (which is used for the PDF995 program) and tell the PDF995 drivers to use the current document's filename to create a PDF.
We may alterntaviely create one big file called COMBINED.PDF (or any filename of your choice), by writing this PDF995.INI file.
Example of non combined pdf (single document that will be created with any filename we assign it with PRINT oprn to (cPrinter) name "Summary Report of May_10_2006

Code: Select all

[Parameters]
Output File=SAMEASDOCUMENT
Output Folder=C:\PDF995\OUTPUT
Combine Documents=0
Combine Last=0
Size=letter
Autolaunch=0

Example of combined pdf created with printing multiple documents, for example, print the cover page as one document, then the Summary report, then the detailed report, then the Taxes report, etc. all in one and only single pdf document.

Code: Select all

[Parameters]
Output File=C:\PDF995\OUTPUT\Combined.pdf
Output Folder=C:\PDF995\OUTPUT
Combine Documents=1
Combine Last=0
Size=letter
Autolaunch=0

By saving either one of the above text into C:\PDF995\RES folder, we tell the pdf driver how to handle the printouts.
Believe it or not, it does a great job.
There is also another tool provided by PDF995. It's called "pdf995 Standard Encryption.exe". This accepts parameters to open any file, encrypt it with password, 64-128 bit algorithm, set properties for printing, copying, where to save the encrypted file and even under what filename, etc., all by passing parameters through our xHB/FWH program!

The price for obtaining a license key is at least affordable, and it's the least I can say about it.

What PDF995 offers, is really something else.


Speaking of how to send the created file by email...
I believe that any one who can email something, can also attach this file to an email. It's not so difficult at all. Simply attach the created file to the email and you're done.

For any further (programming) issues, please don't hesitate to ask me.
All and all, we use PDF995 as any other printer driver (we can set the page size also and the resolution of the pdf, through the above PDF995.INI file!)

Kind regards
Evans

ps. Yes, there are no dialogs displayed by PDF995 when we print through it. Everything that we do and that is not much we do, is send our document to the printer (report or print makes no difference)

Finally, I forgot to tell you that you can open the produced file directly from your XHB/FWH program by calling the Adobe Reader as follows:

Code: Select all

Shellexecute(NIL, "OPEN", Chr(34) + xoRepFile + Chr(34), NIL, NIL, 1)

Of course, xoRepFile should be the filename that your document was created, and contain the full path.
e.g. xoRepFile := "C:\PDF995\OUTPUT\COMBINED.PDF"

Sorry for the long post

[James Bott]

Evans,

Thanks for all the detailed info.

PDF995 is a freeware tool, requiring no fees to use, unless you want to get rid of the splash screens.

Well, of course, for a commercial application (that you are selling) you do not want splash screens from another application showing up. So you need the license.

We install it as a regular printer. It does not require ANY OTHER software drivers, other than those provided by PDF995.

OK, so you need a copy for each user. This creates a problem. You now have to license your commercial application for x number of users, because you need to purchase x number of licenses for the PDF driver to go with the application. So, for instance, if you sell your application for $300 and the customer wants it for 10 users, you will need to add on another $100 to your price for the PDF driver licenses. This is also going to be hard to control, because the customer could then install it on any number of machines I would think (unless PDF995 has some sort of protection against this).

According to their website it DOES require a Postscript "converter:"

Pdf995 is a printer driver that works with any Postscript to PDF converter. The pdf995 printer driver and a free Converter are available for easy download.

Granted the Postscript converter is free, but it is also 5MB and it has to be installed on each PC that the application is run from along with the PDF995. Right?

So, as before, my concerns are two, 1) You have to install both the PDF995 print driver and the Postscript converter on every PC and 2) you have to add on the cost of all the licenses--one for each user.

I am only talking about including it with a commerical application. Of couse, if one is using it in-house, then that is simpler. But, I know you are selling a commericial application, so I wonder how you handle these issues? Or, maybe you are only using it in-house?

A better solution would seem to be a PDF library that could be compiled into the application or distributed as a DLL. This way you would not need to install a copy on each PC and there would only be one developer license required. So even if the license was several hundred dollars, you could distibute any number of applications for any number of users without any additional fees.

James

[StefanHaupt]

James,

for printing to pdf I prefer CutePdf. It´s free and installs as a normal windows printer. CutePdf supports more pageformats than pdf995. And the quality of the createtd pdf is very good.

Stefan

[Richard Chidiak]

James,

for printing to pdf I prefer CutePdf. It´s free and installs as a normal windows printer. CutePdf supports more pageformats than pdf995. And the quality of the createtd pdf is very good.

Stefan

Stefan and others

I guess you should be very careful about licensing if you are distributing software. None of the above stated programs is "free for commercial use". You need a license for all of them. I have spent quite a time on the subject and emailed all the authors including cutepdf, pdf95 ...etc and many others. If you use inhouse, no problem. But we all sell "commercial software" outside .

The only product i have found at a "fairly reasonable price" for unlimited licensing is image2pdf that installs either a dll file or a executable run time. No special printer needs to be installed and the price is 250 Us dollars for unlimited users.

My 2 cents,

Richard

[Frank Demont]

Richard,

I suppose when we distribute a aplication , we have no control which printers the user installs , or downloads.

So , i give the user only 'the information' that such tools can be usefull , he has to install it himself , it has nothing to do with mine distribution.

It is not mine responbility , but from the user !

Frank

[Richard Chidiak]

Richard,

I suppose when we distribute a aplication , we have no control which printers the user installs , or downloads.

So , i give the user only 'the information' that such tools can be usefull , he has to install it himself , it has nothing to do with mine distribution.

It is not mine responbility , but from the user !

Frank

Frank

Are you serious ?

Example : If you want to email a report from your applicatin , then you have to print it on a "specific" printer first (the pdf one) and then email it. Thus you have changed your software for this purpose and this is covered by the licensing issue. You should read the GPL license of these products .

Richard

[James Bott]

Richard,

If you want to email a report from your application , then you have to print it on a "specific" printer first (the pdf one) and then email it. Thus you have changed your software for this purpose and this is covered by the licensing issue. You should read the GPL license of these products.

Are you saying that if your application is designed to look for a specific print driver, that you have to pay for a license for the driver? I don't see how that could be--you don't have to purchase a MS Word license if your app looks for it. Still print drivers are not a good solution.

I think Frank was saying that he does nothing to his application. He just tells the customer that they can get PDF print drivers if they want to. Personally, I don't think this is a good solution. Customers want this capability built-in and simple to use. Add-on print drivers will prompt the user for a filename, then they have to open a new email and find the file to attach it. If one is going to send 100 invoices, this would be really tedious and error prone. I think sooner or later we HAVE to provide email capability for all documents output by our applications. The sooner the better.

It is incredible that the PC industry has been around for over 25 years now, and we still do not have online document generation and delivery built into Windows. I think Apple just did add PDF generation to their OS. Actually, XML documents are a much better solution since you can then get the data back out of the document.

James

[James Bott]

Richard,

The only product i have found at a "fairly reasonable price" for unlimited licensing is image2pdf that installs either a dll file or a executable run time. No special printer needs to be installed and the price is 250 Us dollars for unlimited users.

It seems the price for a developer license has gone up. The lowest price license I could find on their site is US$799.

http://www.verypdf.com/tif2pdf/tif2pdf.htm

James

[Enrico Maria Giordano]

I think Frank was saying that he does nothing to his application. He just tells the customer that they can get PDF print drivers if they want to. Personally, I don't think this is a good solution. Customers want this capability built-in and simple to use. Add-on print drivers will prompt the user for a filename, then they have to open a new email and find the file to attach it. If one is going to send 100 invoices, this would be really tedious and error prone.

Using PDFCreator and SndMail.dll I created a system that sends any email you want without user intervention.

EMG