Filemaker 7 & PDF Files

[Jarvis]

I am building a database for shop work orders

I would like to be able to attach shop drawings in PDF format to these work orders.

I imagine I should be able to do this by inserting them into a Container Field.

The problem I am having is that when I do this all I can see is a faint rendering of the original PDF document. Printing also produces just a fairly faint facsimile of the PDF.

This topic has been raised on the Container Field part of this site but does not seem to get answered there. Can anybody direct me toward a discussion of this topic?

Thanks,

Jarvis

[Fenton]

I've been wondering the same thing for a while now. I have not seen an answer anywhere. PDF's do not print properly, to inkjet printers anyway, from FileMaker. So, the discussions you've seen are probably as good as you're going to find.

I wish FileMaker would break their "wall of silence" just once to say, "Yeah, we're going to enable that," or "No, it ain't gonna happen." One can't really move ahead with document AND form management without the answer. It really does little good to show PDF's in FileMaker if they don't print properly, since that is what people expect to do with PDF's. I'm hopeful that they will enable this, and soon; but that could be just wishful thinking.

I'm on Mac 10.3.4, FileMaker 6 or 7. Is anyone printing PDF's on Windows? I sort of doubt it. Could be part of the problem, that FileMaker has to make this work cross-platform. Right now you can easily add PDF's on Mac, but can't print worth crap.

[spankalee]

Could you use AppleScript to open the PDF in Preview and then print?

[Mark Thiessen]

I've been working on viewing PDF's in Filemaker, and also printing them. I think I have it figured out a workaround you may find helpful.

First, viewing a PDF full size in Filemaker.

I'm using the supplied Filemaker 7 example called Document Library. I'm using a Mac OSX so Windows may not work.

1. Select the container field

2. Under the Insert menu select Quicktime

3. Select the desired PDF from the dialog box

The PDF will import with a Quicktime movie control bar below it.

4. Click the play icon (or spacebar) and it will display each page in the PDF

The problem now is its the size of a postage stamp.

5. Make another layout with the same container field at 8.5 x 11 inches in size.

Now when you switch to this layout you should be able to read the PDF from within Filemaker.

For printing, its best to import the file as a reference.

Preconfigure the Import options to import the path name into a text field. For example, after import a field called "filepath" contains "file://Macintosh HD1/Users/mthiesse/PDFS/manual.pdf".

Open the PDF in Acrobat or Preview in 2 ways:

1. Select the text of field "filepath", then hold down the control key and select open from the pop-up menu.

2. Build a button containing the Open URL script step and point it to the "filepath" field.

This will open the PDF and you can print from there.

Although I haven't done it, I suppose you could combine both methods into one script. Then you would have the entire PDF imported in Filemaker and also as a reference if you wanted to launch the PDF in Acrobat for better viewing and printing.

Does anyone know how to control the quicktime bar under the container field via applescript or appleevent? I want to build butts that will move the page one forward and one back.

cheers,

Mark

[Fenton]

It is not so much a question of printing the PDF as just a PDF. The problem is printing a PDF that has been inserted into a container field, which is the background of a layout, with other fields on top of it. This would allow easy forms within FileMaker, from existing PDF forms, which are so common in government, etc.. Right now you can do it so it "looks" good in FileMaker, but when you try to print it the PDF part is unacceptably washed out and jagged.

Perhaps you could use AppleScript and a graphics application to assemble a composite of the original PDF file and a "printed to PDF" file from the FileMaker layout (or copy/paste a FileMaker Preview mode graphic). But that's kind of a lot of hassle, and not cross-platform. But, if anyone has an AppleScript for it, I'd love to see it.

The top "FileMaker" graphic would have to be overlaid as transparent, on top of a PDF, after being copied in Preview mode, or printed as a PDF file, then (converted) copied or inserted. It's not so much the AppleScript, but the graphics aspect that is daunting. Any Mac graphics experts want to try it? I sure don't know how. I've never quite understood transparency and how it related to all the different graphic formats.

[Fenton]

Oops, I seem to have wandered away from the original poster's problem, who was just wanting to print a PDF, not a FileMaker Form on top of a PDF.

Big question: Are you doing this just for yourself, on your machine, or is it part of a networked solution?

If on your own, print from a referenced file, like Mark says. The file can be referenced with only a calculation of the "relative" file path; then you don't need to Insert or Import it.

If you're on a networked solution, there are a couple problems (all of which would be solved if you could just print the darn embedded container properly from FileMaker, which you can't).

If you "reference" the file, then you have problems if you are on client machine on a network, unless the file is NOT on the server machine (which should NEVER be shared via the operating system), but is on another machine on the network which is shared. If this other volume is mounted on each desktop, then everyone can see the reference files. In v.7 they can be referenced via a calculation field, so you don't even have to Insert or Import (but you need the volume/relative path). Pretty cool.

Another solution, which does not require a separate "graphics" machine, is to insert the PDF file, as a file, into a container field, as a file. Insert the PDF (as an image or movie, multi-page) into a container field also, so you can see it on the screen.

When you want to Print the PDF from a client, you script (or right-click) an Export Field Contents of the file. It asks you where to save it, you say your desktop. Then you open it and print it. Then throw it away.

It's a little clunky, 'cause I don't know how you can avoid the "Save" dialog. But otherwise it works pretty well.

[Jarvis]

Thanks for your help guys!

I've tried the following formats:

PNG

BMP

JPG

PDF

I've tried inserting them as pictures and inserting them as quicktimes.

I've tried inserting the image as a file.

None of the images are worth retrieving.

My goal is to have some simple way to allude to the work order.

The work order will either be a form or a drawing.

This has to be done without a whole lot of acrobatics.

It's something that needs to done, so I will come back to the topic after I learn more about applescript.

Thanks for your help,

Jarvis

[Jhonny Cool]

I posted a message about those trouble ten minutes ago... to "break" the pdf can't be the only solution... i must use file maker to print a automatically a lot of pdf...