File does not begin with '%PDF-'. error when opening PDFs from Labview Help

[kehander]

I have Labview 7.1 and Adobe Reader 7.0.1 installed on my computer. Whenever I click a link to a PDF file in Labview's Help files, I get a "File does not begin with '%PDF-'." message and the PDF will not open. Adobe Reader works perfectly otherwise.

It seems that all the links in the documentation are of the form
javascript:AcrobatLink('../manuals/lvuser.pdf');
I'm guessing that Adobe Reader 7.0 is interpreting this as a file with a "pdf');" extension instead of a "pdf".

I find it odd that I cannot find any other reports of this problem (except at http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=106901&view=by_threading&page=2). Is there an obvious way to fix this difficulty, or is this a matter for Adobe?

[waldemar.hersacher]

I have Acrobat Reader 5.1 at home and 6 at work and both work fine with the LV 7.1.1 bookshelf and help file. The PDF-files itself have the %PDF-1.x signature at the beginning. I haven't tried Acrobat Reader 7 so it could be an Adobe problem or a new interaction problem.

You can reach the PDF-Files also by using Help>>Search the LabVIEW Bookshelf. Does this link work for you?

javascript:AcrobatLink('../manuals/lvuser.pdf');
This is a call to a java script function located in pdf.js.

Other reasons:
The Active-X control of Reader 7 has a bug.
Your Internet security settings will not allow this operation. The Active-X will be loaded but will have no access to the file and yo get a wrong error message.

[kehander]

Thanks a lot for replying.

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@waldemar.hersacher wrote:
I have Acrobat Reader 5.1 at home and 6 at work and both work fine with the LV 7.1.1 bookshelf and help file.

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Yep, I just uninstalled Adobe Reader 7.0 and installed version 6.0.1. The links now work perfectly, so evidently this is a problem with Adobe Reader 7.0. I'd still like to solve the problem, though, as I really like version 7.0. (Something has finally been done about the program's lengthy start-up time!)

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You can reach the PDF-Files also by using Help>>Search the LabVIEW Bookshelf. Does this link work for you?

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It works perfectly.

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javascript:AcrobatLink('../manuals/lvuser.pdf');
This is a call to a java script function located in pdf.js.

Other reasons:
The Active-X control of Reader 7 has a bug.
Your Internet security settings will not allow this operation. The Active-X will be loaded but will have no access to the file and yo get a wrong error message.

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Fair enough. If that is indeed the case, which Internet security setting should I try changing? I haven't done anything unusual to any of those settings. And where is pdf.js located? I tried searching for it but could not find it.

Your advice is greatly apreciated.

[Philip_Courtois]

Hi kehander,

I tried to reproduce the behavior that you are describing, but my combination of LabVIEW 7.1 and Adobe Reader 7.0.1 works perfectly. Nomatter if I launched the PDF-file from Windows Explorer or through the "Help >> Search the LabVIEW Bookshelf..." link, the document would open without any issues.

If you are able to reproduce the error when reinstalling Adobe Reader 7.0.1, please submit a detailed description on how you get the error - exactly where you are clicking the link etc.

Thanks!

[kehander]

This is the simplest way for me to produce the error:

Go to Start -> Programs -> National Instruments -> Labview 7.1 -> VI, Function, & How-To Help
Click the "LabVIEW User Manual" link

The error occurs regardless of whether I am logged in as an Administrator or not.

I just did some poking around with Filemon and have determined that Adobe Reader is successfully accessing C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 7.1\manuals\lvuser.pdf (which also opens flawlessly if I open it normally); it is not a problem with incorrect filenames as I first surmised.

Filemon also indicates that the major difference between when lvuser.pdf is accessed normally (such as through Start -> Run, or with Internet Explorer) and when it is accessed through Labview Help is that with Labview Help, Adobe Reader writes to a file named C:\Documents and Settings\[User]\locals~1\temp\acrXXX.tmp, where XXX is some combination of alphanumerics. This file does begin with %PDF- and can be opened with Adobe Reader if copied and renamed.

If none of this sounds remotely familiar to anyone, I suppose I ought to take this problem elsewhere, as I seem to be digressing from Labview. 😉

[kehander]

Problem solved!

Adobe released a 7.0.2 update last Tuesday. After installing it, the error has been eliminated. How about that? 🙂

[mlloyd]

I've had the same problem... I'm downloading 7.0.2 right now!

Thanks for the help,
mlloyd