Windows PDF Writers

[QuinTech]

Hi, all. Can anyone recommend a PDF print driver that works well with FM6 on Windows 2K+ (9x would be great but not required)? I have seen several recommendations on the Forum, but they all seem to be geared towards a solution for the developer who wants to install a PDF writer for a small number of clients. I am looking for a PDF writer that:

1. Allows the developer to specify a default file name and requires no user intervention (at which point we will use Troi File to give the PDF a custom name).

2. Can append new documents to existing ones--i.e., print from multiple FM files to one PDF.

3. Has volume licensing or SDK pricing available.

I've checked out many of these, but of the two i've found that meet the above requirements, i'm seeing some errors that cause me grave concern (cancelling a print job slows down the entire system by a factor of about 50 until the user reboots, for example ). With a possible distribution of 2000 or more clients, i don't want our tech support to have to deal with any more issues than they already do (esp. because i'm half of the tech support team!).

TIA,

Jerry

[SteveB]

Jerry: Did you ever find a PDF plugin that meets your requirements. I now need one too. I look at Afeina, but I'm not satisfied. I also need to concatenate multiple PDFs.

Steve

[transpower]

Have you tried Scansoft PDF Create? But I don't know about volume licensing requirements...

[SteveB]

Their pricing is outrageous...its not priced like a plugin, you need to buy volume licences.

Steve

[QuinTech]

Hi, Steve. You know, i was never able to figure out that Open License program ScanSoft has, but i priced it at $50 for my testing purposes. The writer i finally settled on, pdfFactory, is priced the same. It does give you the ability to batch multiple print jobs to the same document, though, which was a must-have for me. AFAIK, ScanSoft does not offer that.

I still have a little matrix i wrote up showing a bunch of different writers, the features they offer, and their prices. I'll send it to you off-list if you want it (M$ Excel or OpenOffice spreadsheet format).

J

[SteveB]

I don't need the matrix, but thanks anyway. I'm going to try and do a piece of it in WinBatch (the concatenation), and also use Cute2PDF which is freely available (even for commercial uses).

Steve

[QuinTech]

do a piece of it in WinBatch (the concatenation)

Can you fill me in on this? Now i'm curious...

[SteveB]

Sure...I have two approaches: 'Cute2PDF' is a free (even for commercial use) device driver that produces PDF files. It installs itself, and then you select it like you would any other printer driver. Unfortunately, it doesn't merge multiple PDFS (not the free version anyway).

There is also a public domain product called 'Ghostscript' which is essentially command driven. It can take Postscript files (I haven't figured out how to produce PS files using a generic printer driver since most users won't have PS printers), create PDFs from them, and can also merge 2 or more together. It's available from SourceForge. There is also a WinBatch program called 'Ghostx' that translates WB into Ghostscript.

I may use Ghostscript to just merge the PDFs together, since using Cute2PDF is no different than selecting a printer in FM.

I looked at Afeina's AfFiler, which creates PDFs from within FM. He uses Ghostscript and WinBatch together (I recognized the WB Dlls). It's reasonably priced, but I'm not crazy about some of the things he does. Besides, free beats anything else.

Steve

[SteveB]

Jerry, maybe you (or another reader) can answer the following question:

Ghostscript works with print files that may only be called *.ps. The driver writes the FM output to a file, but the printer may not be truly postscript. I need this printer driver. I looked on the Adobe site, but the PS drivers there are true PS drivers which I can't use. (see my last reply for more details)

Anyone have a clue?

[QuinTech]

I wish i could, Steve. I am still trying to figure out how you use Ghostscript to merge PDFs (actually, that's not true-- i'm making a mental note to figure it out once i get done with the 7 other languages i am trying to learn ). I am enthused about your suggestion that you can merge PDFs with Ghostscript, though, and i hope you'll report your findings back to the class!

J

[SteveB]

I got Ghoscript to merge multiple files...its only 3 lines to call the ghost exe to merge the files. I also came across ERingers 'PoorMansPDF' freebie that uses Ghost and installs printers, etc. His site is undergoing renewal, but I can send you the exe. However, it doesn't do merges. its more like Cute2PDF.

Steve

[JeffG]

Steve,

Could you please tell me where I can download Cute2PDF from on the web? I did a google search and got nothing.

Thanks,

Jeff

[SteveB]

Sure. Go to web page

Steve

[meast]

WARNING

Be VERY sure Afeina's products are exactly what you need before you purchase a license. We made the mistake of purchasing after integrating the AfFiler and ProPrint plugins and testing them for a couple hours. After purchasing, we ran into MAJOR stability issues with both plugins and gave up.

NO REFUNDS!!

We're now out over $400 and have nothing but a couple useless, unstable, thrown-together glorified batch files. Afeina has a LONG way to go before their products are worth this much money.

If you're looking for PDF generation, emailing and printer switching capabilites, I heartily recommend the schubec PS2PDF plugin (yes, it's an actual FMX plugin, unlike Afeina's crap) available at www.schubec.com.

[MoonShadow]

Steve, that link didn't work correctly. Here's a new one for Cute2PDF