John W. Colby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Sat Oct 16 19:34:24 CDT 2004
The problem with snapshot is that it is not as ubiquitous as PDF, it has to be loaded on the machine and it won't just be found and downloaded like the PDF reader will. John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com Contribute your unused CPU cycles to a good cause: http://folding.stanford.edu/ -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Dan Waters Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2004 8:15 PM To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Alternate PDF writing solution Arthur, This may be obvious, but you can do a) and b) just using Snapshot format. For c), you could send a single file in Snapshot format for each report, or create a report that contains all your information. Snapshot reproduces color logos flawlessly. I get a client's logo from their website, save it as a .bmp file, and link it to an image frame in the report. When sent as a Snapshot, it is perfect (or as good as the image on their site). Plus, a report in Snapshot is dramatically smaller in size than an equivalent .pdf, and opens more quickly because Acrobat doesn't need to open. PLUS! Snapshot is completely free for everyone. If you'd like to see the code I use to do this, let me know. Dan Waters ProMation Systems, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2004 10:52 AM To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues Subject: [dba-Tech] Alternate PDF writing solution 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 _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com