Looking for feedback on the Carya PDF toolkit.

[a_carollo]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with the Carya PDF toolkit. I'm looking to generate a PDF file in LabVIEW and then email it without the user having to manually attach the file to a message. It appears that the Carya toolkit is the only available method for doing this. Has anyone out there purchased the toolkit? If so are you happy with it's performance and the support from the developers? Thanks in advance for any help.

Andrew Carollo

[MikeS81]

Hi Andrew,
i don´t know the tool, but you can also print what ever you need with a pdf printer and send it via email. There are some pdf printer which you can configure, so that they create the pdf file without showing a dialog. Then you can use the SMTP EMail vi´s to send your pdf.

Hope it helps.
Mike


Message Edited by MikeS81 on 07-21-2008 07:44 PM

[smercurio_fc]

I have no experience with that specific toolkit, but I usually try to find if there's an alternative, free solution. What are you trying to make a PDF of? Your code, or something your code generates, like a graph, or data? One thing you can do is install a PDF printer driver, and simply print to this "printer". There are many available, and most are free.

[a_carollo]

Thanks for the replies. Mike, do you have any recommendations for a PDF printer that can be configured to print without dialogs? That would be ideal.

To answer the other question, I am printing logged test data from DAQ stations. I'm trying to keep the stations as "light" as possible, so I want to avoid setting them up with standalone email programs or anything like that. I am currently using the SMTP VI to send the PDF after it has been created and am very happy with how that works.

[MikeS81]

Hi Andrew,
i use the PDFCreator. It works in the described way.
Mike

[Wiebe@CARYA]

Hi Andrew,

(Carya speaking here, thanks for your interrest) You can download a free
(cost free, not royalty free) edition it to try it out.

Some advantages over printing:

You have control over the pages (e.g. specify on which pages things ends
up).
You can create hyperlinks (to the web or internal).
You can embed documents.
All text is still selectable (unlike when you print an image).
Page headers and footers are possible.
If works under Windows and Linux (and LVRT, without compression).
Vector graphics can be much smaller then pictures.

Over all, it will be easier to pdf-print stuff. For example, to print a
table, you'll have to make the table look good in LabVIEW. I admit that this
can be easy in a lot of cases. But when the tables can grow, and the stuff
underneath it needs to be moved, the code can get ugly and complex...

For an example result look at the toolkits reference manual. It is created
with the toolkit from the VI documentation.

If all you want is to put a picture in a PDF format, you are better of with
a PDF printer...

Regards,

Wiebe.

[a_carollo]

Thanks for the reply Wiebe. I have tried the free version of the toolkit and I am pretty impressed with all that it can do. Right now, I am only printing the front panel of a VI so I don't think I will need a lot of the advanced features included in the toolkit. It looks like the PDF printer will work for me. I will definitely keep your toolkit in mind though, as I can see some potential uses for it in projects I am considering taking on in the future.

[LVCoder]

Hi Wiebe,

I am using "Report generation toolkit" to genereate report of my work. But, sometimes my Coustomers want to convert the report(which is in MS Word) to pdf. Does the "PDF toolkit" has any option wherein i give input as LV Report and it converts the report to PDF?

Thanks,

Ritesh

[Wiebe@CARYA]

"ritesh024" <x@no.email> wrote in message
news:1234449610071-851954@exchange.ni.com...
> Hi Wiebe,I am using &quot;Report generation toolkit&quot; to genereate
report of my work. But, sometimes my Coustomers want to convert the
report(which is in MS Word) to pdf. Does the &quot;PDF toolkit&quot; has any
option wherein i give input as LV Report and it converts the report to
PDF?&nbsp;Thanks,Ritesh

Ritesh,

No it has no such function. Implementing it would require us to also know
the entire .doc format, which is completelly different from pdf! We did
consider to implement a report generation extension for PDF, but did not
since the rgt is probably protected by copyrights...

There are options... Google for "Word to PDF command line". There should be
at least a few tools there. It also seems possible to install Save As PDF
for word, and use the ActiveX interface (also used by report generation
toolkit) to perform the actual action.

Regards,

Wiebe.

[wiebe@CARYA]

Hi,

So the attached VI should work if you have "Save as PDF or XPS" plugin installed. This can only be installed on Office 2007, so I can't test it. At the moment the VI saves as HTML. Change the disabled case to save it as PDF. You should be able to use a document reference from the report generation toolkit, instead of the open document method.

Regards,

Wiebe.