[AccessD] Re: [dba-Tech] Alternate PDF writing solution

Gustav Brock gustav at cactus.dk
Sun Oct 17 11:43:28 CDT 2004


Hi Arthur

Any fool can buy Distiller but many clients find it pretty expensive.
We use the German FreePDF which is absolutely free:

  http://freepdfxp.de/fpxp.htm

It has the advantage of using the Apple PS driver as well as
Ghostscript which ensures a high level of compatibility. Some time ago
we did some testing with the alternatives and found all sort of
troubles from using wrong fonts, margin offsets, wrong paper format,
and other things. Some issues are only present for complicated docs.

Be sure to download the "Administration Manual" as well as the
resource kit (some VBA code examples) and the Multidocument Printer
option. 
There is no API but you can control it by registry settings and
command line parameters.

Installation is not that difficult. Batch files are included for
silent install on user's station as well as Terminal Server.

/gustav


> Date: 2004-10-16 17:51

> As some of you may know from previous messages, when the subject of PDF 
> and Email came up, I recommended PDFMail, a class library from Attac 
> Consulting. Recently I encountered significantly different behaviour 
> when using Acrobat 6 as opposed to 5; which behaviour the client deems 
> unacceptable. So I inquired about the costs of upgrading and was 
> dismayed to learn that the Pro package I had bought for $199 now goes 
for >> $500, and the upgrade is more than I paid in the first place.

> So now I'm looking for an alternative. At a minimum, it must:
> a) support creation of a PDF from any given Access report;
> b) support, with a minimum of fuss, emaling said PDF to any specified 
> recipient, and ideally setting up mail subject and body with a minimum 
> of fuss;
> c) support the merging or amalgamation of several reports into a single PDF.

> Attac's PDFMail does all this, and works flawlessly with Acrobat 5, but 
> without the upgrade there are issues if Acrobat 6 is installed rather 
> than 5.

> In case it helps, in the app of concern I print several documents -- an 
> invoice, a hotel confirmation, a ticket to a party, etc. All these 
> documents are based on the invoice selected when you hit PrintAndEmail. 
> The reason we went PDF in the first place is that conversion to RTF etc. 
> failed to reproduce the documents exactly as they were.

> To phrase this last part in another way, PDF reproduces the color logos 
> etc., which are a big part of the sizzle, flawlessly. But PDF itself is 
> not a mandatory part of the spec -- flawless reproduction IS. If there 
> is another way to go, I'm interested, the more so if this way is free or 
> cheap. The client is extremely reluctant to spring the $500 + that Attac 
> wants for the upgrade.

> Any alternatives come to mind? I don't want to have to install 5 pieces 
> of software on each client machine, nor cause the users to do anything 
> more than click on one button. After that everything should simply "happen".

> TIA,
> Arthur
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