Hello,

My runtime solution will not send the attached pdf.

When the file is a filemaker file, the button I assigned to create an
attachment in pdf format works properly. But when I create a runtim
solution, the button does nothing. Is there an extension I need in
order to make this work? Thanks.

PDF creation is not supported in the runtime version...unless you
already have an external PDF program you can print to.

Sert Ian wrote:
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg (818) 883-2846
FM Pro Solutions Los Angeles, California

FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance

On 2005-11-04 15:53:20 -0500, Howard Schlossberg
<howard (AT) antispahm (DOT) fmprosolutions.com> said:

Howard,

Thanks.

Page 90 of my FM8 Advanced Developer Guide lists the script steps that
are IGNORED by the runtime application. The list includes "Save records
as PDF" !

As it turns out, this is going to be a nuisance for me as I am currently
working on a layout that uses container fields to create a colour-coded
diagram (actually crash test dummies). I have already successfully
exported a trial result as a PDF. I was intending to have this feature
in a runtime version but Ian's experience suggests this will not be
possible.

This is a serious limitation to runtime applications and makes Advanced
version less attractive for developers.

Michael Paine

Sert Ian wrote:

In article <436bd0e9$0$22880$afc38c87 (AT) news (DOT) optusnet.com.au>,
mpaine (AT) tpgi (DOT) com.au says...
Not really. Beleive it or not most users of Advanced are in it for the
script debugging, custom functions, etc... not for runtimes.

That said, Mac's can create PDFs from any print job, and you can get
free software to do same for windows.

(e.g. http://www.primopdf.com/)

So the addition of pdf support in FM8 is pretty anti-climactic anyway,
and its loss in runtimes even more so. Although, I agree with you that
it *is* annoying.

-regards,
Dave

42 wrote:

Though it's annoying, it seems FMI didn't have much choice on it. They
are likely licensing the technology and it's hard to license on a
per-user basis when you don't know who the runtimes are going to.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg (818) 883-2846
FM Pro Solutions Los Angeles, California

FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance

A runtime solution should be fully self-contained. My clients will not
want to install extra (PDF) printer drivers in Windows and, in any case,
I will not be able to script FM to cover all of the permutations. I
simply want a button that will export a report to PDF.

I have users with Mac and Windows and checked I could create Windows
runtime solutions with FM8 Advanced (running in XP under Virtual PC for
OS X) before I made the move from MS Access to FM8.

I had powerful programming/debugging capabilities in MS Access (and the
unrelated DOS Open Access - circa 1985 - for that matter). They also
both use industry standard SQL relational database management. I waited
for FM to get a minimum of these capabilities before making the move.
For me the main attractions of FM8 are its friendly user interface
(although this takes a considerable amount of background effort to make
bullet-proof), cross-platform capabilities and self-contained runtime
applications. In my circumstances the inability to export a report
layout to PDF is a serious limitation and I hope it is fixed in a future
update.

Michael Paine



42 wrote:

I agree with Michael Paine that the PDF creation ability is a very
disappointing omission from runtimes. FileMaker could well have selected one
of the open source PDF solutions to get around this limitation.

My personal favorite is "PDFCreator" which can be found at

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator

I like it because it usually creates files which are smaller than the actual
Adobe print driver.

Can't agree with this.

Although using this or one of the other PDF printing options available
solves the general problem of creating a PDF from FileMaker, it really does
not solve the issue of creating one under script control. Especially if you
want to immediately embed the output into a field. Or, as the original
poster would like, to send out the report via email. One natural application
of this technology would be to have a transcript of correspondence saved.
Every billing letter or invoice you've sent a customer, for example, could
be recorded. Going through scripting ensures these PDF files are created and
saved properly. Going through a print command is not acceptable because
users can alter the file name or cancel the procedure altogether, even if it
were stored in a predictable place (which it is not).

For all the hoopla and high expectations, FileMaker's built-in PDF creation
is quite poorly implemented in my opinion. The files which result from the
built-in command are often hundreds of K in size, whereas identical reports
sent through Adobe's driver, PDFCreator, or any other PDF tool I've tried
they are tens of K in size. That is an order of magnitude of bloat.
Furthermore the FileMaker PDFs are often much poorer quality for some reason
I cannot fathom. Text randomly becomes rasterized and graphics can appear as
if resized in MacPaint. PDF files placed in fields or layouts behave as low
resolution bitmaps, with all the attendant disadvantages in print quality
and file size. In short, it's only slightly better than no PDF support at
all.

FileMaker could have chosen to license this technology from a different
vendor, or negotiated a better deal with Adobe. Evidence FileMaker's "Export
as Excel" function, which does not suffer from the same limitation. I think
people are absolutely justified in complaints regarding PDF support in
FileMaker 8, and I hope they do not let up until it's addressed.

I have one suggestion to contribute to the original poster:

FileMaker has long been able to "Copy" what you see in Preview mode to the
clipboard. If you write a simple script such as:

Enter Preview Mode []
Copy [Select]
Enter Browse Mode []
Paste [Select; YourDB::ContainerField]

The output will be stored in ContainerField as a WMF (or PICT) file that you
can send to people. Of course, the result is limited to a single page at a
time; WMF/PICT are not as nice a format as PDF, and neither is especially
cross-platform. Nevertheless, there are viewers for both on each side of the
fence, and it is a way to get the output of a report into a field within a
runtime solution.

Bill

"Michael Paine" <mpaine (AT) tpgi (DOT) com.au> wrote

In article <436bfbeb$0$30573$afc38c87 (AT) news (DOT) optusnet.com.au>,
mpaine (AT) tpgi (DOT) com.au says...
Yes I get it.

Given how many applications out there support direct PDF output, and
their long history of doing so -- this is a serious problem; users have
come to expect this functionality built into their applications ...
er... wait... um... outside of Adobe products how many mainstream apps
do this?

FWIW, yeah, PDF creation *is* catching on in the mainstream, and yes,
the next version of Office will have it, and so on.

FM8 really is on the front end of the pack on this though, there really
aren't many apps shipping with native pdf support yet. I'm sure we'll
see better PDF support and pdf support in runtimes eventually.

In the meantime, since the free pdf drivers aren't adequate -- you could
always license a PDF plug-in for filemaker -- there are a few of them
around; and have been since at least version 5, long before FM offered
anything looking like pdf support in any of their products.

google: filemaker pdf plugin
click "I'm feeling lucky"

They even license it for runtimes.

You lost me... its not like Access or DOS Open Access have ever included
that feature.

Don't get me wrong, I agree its annoying that its ommited in the
runtimes. I'd like to see it there too, and don't think there is a
satisfactory reason for its absence. I think it will eventually be
available. And I fully support your 'cause'... I want PDF support in
runtimes... I want BETTER PDF support from FileMaker period.

I might point out another PDF plug-in

Productive Computing, Inc
PDF Manipulator

https://www.productive.cc/pci_cart/F...ID_No=29&-Find

Which shows what PDF support in FileMaker *could* mean -- ability to
actually read and write to/from fields specified in a PDF document.

To take it a step further:

Imagine if you could open a PDF doc like you would an Excel file, and
FileMaker would automatically generate all the necessary fields AND
replicate the page layouts! Now *that* would be brilliant.

Bill


"42" <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote