[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
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