PDFCreator

[Tom Wall]

Hi,

Is anyone using this opensource kit?

I have been trying to implement it in Delphi5 so I automate it via its COM
interface to print doc to pdf and send the output PDF to a file and folder
of my choice. I got it working once or twice, but then I assume I changed
one of the key paramaters and whilst it was adding the printjob it was no
longer putting it in the directory I chose (not sure where it was putting
it).

Also, I have noted that the print job sits in the pending print jobs for an
age before anything happens (2 minutes or more even though quite a small
file).

Has anyone managed to get this working successfully? If so, would they be
prepared to share their code.

I am more than happy to post my code to date to see if we can get the thing
working.

Regards

[Jason Penny]

I've used Delphi2006 to output MSWord Docs to PDF using PDFCreator 0.9.5

See code below.

Also, it is sometimes helpful to start PDFCreator before attempting to
connect to the COM interfaces.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

unit Unit1;

interface

uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, ActiveX, ComObj;

type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
Edit1: TEdit;
Button1: TButton;
procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
private
{ Private declarations }
PDFCreator, MSWord: OleVariant;

optUseAutosave, optUseAutoSaveDirectory, optAutosaveFormat,
optPDFColorsColorModel: Integer;
optAutosaveDirectory, optAutosaveFilename: String;

// Security Options
optPDFUseSecurity, optPDFHighEncryption, optPDFOwnerPass: Integer;
optPDFDisallowCopy, optPDFDisallowModifyAnnotations,
optPDFDisallowModifyContents, optPDFDisallowPrinting: Integer;
optPDFAllowAssembly, optPDFAllowDegradedPrinting, optPDFAllowFillIn,
optPDFAllowScreenReaders: Integer;
optPDFOwnerPasswordString: String;

procedure StorePDFOptions;
procedure SetPDFOptions(const filename, ownerpass: String);
procedure RestorePDFOptions;
public
{ Public declarations }
end;

var
Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
const
output_filename: String = 'D:\tmp\test.pdf';
owner_password: String = 'ownerpass';
var
c, printJobCount: Integer;
optPrintBackground: Boolean;
begin
PDFCreator := CreateOLEObject('PDFCreator.clsPDFCreator');

PDFCreator.cStart('/NoProcessingAtStartup');

StorePDFOptions;
SetPDFOptions(output_filename, owner_password);

MSWord := CreateOleObject('Word.Application');
try
MSWord.DisplayAlerts := 0;

MSword.Documents.Open(Edit1.Text);

MSWord.ActiveDocument.TrackRevisions := false;
optPrintBackground := MSWord.Options.PrintBackground;
if not optPrintBackground then
MSWord.Options.PrintBackground := True;
MSWord.ActiveWindow.View.ShowRevisionsAndComments := False;
MSWord.Options.WarnBeforeSavingPrintingSendingMarkup := false;

printJobCount := PDFCreator.cCountOfPrintJobs;
/// ------------------------------------------
/// Have PDFCreator wait for pages
PDFCreator.cPrinterStop := true;

MSWord.ActiveDocument.PrintoutOld;

/// we don't want to continue on right after telling word to print,
because it can cause problems
while MSWord.BackgroundPrintingStatus <> 0 do
begin
Sleep(10);
Application.ProcessMessages;
end;

/// Tell PDFCreator we're done printing pages.
PDFCreator.cPrinterStop := false;
/// ------------------------------------------

/// now wait for PDFCreator to finish
c := PDFCreator.cCountOfPrintJobs;
while c > printJobCount do
begin
Sleep(10);
Application.ProcessMessages;
c := PDFCreator.cCountOfPrintJobs;
end;

MSword.ActiveDocument.Close(SaveChanges := 0);
finally
VarClear(MSWord);
end;

RestorePDFOptions;
VarClear(PDFCreator);
end;

procedure TForm1.StorePDFOptions;
begin
// save the current options to put back when we're finished.
optUseAutosave := PDFCreator.cOption['UseAutosave'];
optUseAutosaveDirectory := PDFCreator.cOption['UseAutosaveDirectory'];
optAutosaveDirectory := PDFCreator.cOption['AutosaveDirectory'];
optAutosaveFilename := PDFCreator.cOption['AutosaveFilename'];
optAutosaveFormat := PDFCreator.cOption['AutosaveFormat'];
optPDFColorsColorModel := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFColorsColorModel'];

// security options
optPDFUseSecurity := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFUseSecurity'];
optPDFHighEncryption := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFHighEncryption'];
optPDFOwnerPass := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFOwnerPass'];
optPDFOwnerPasswordString :=
PDFCreator.cOption['PDFOwnerPasswordString'];
optPDFDisallowCopy := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFDisallowCopy'];
optPDFDisallowModifyAnnotations :=
PDFCreator.cOption['PDFDisallowModifyAnnotations'];
optPDFDisallowModifyContents :=
PDFCreator.cOption['PDFDisallowModifyContents'];
optPDFDisallowPrinting := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFDisallowPrinting'];
optPDFAllowAssembly := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFAllowAssembly'];
optPDFAllowDegradedPrinting :=
PDFCreator.cOption['PDFAllowDegradedPrinting'];
optPDFAllowFillIn := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFAllowFillIn'];
optPDFAllowScreenReaders := PDFCreator.cOption['PDFAllowScreenReaders'];
end;

procedure TForm1.SetPDFOptions(const filename, ownerpass: String);
begin
// set the options we want, auto-save PDF with specific filename
PDFCreator.cOption('UseAutosave') := 1;
PDFCreator.cOption('UseAutosaveDirectory') := 1;
PDFCreator.cOption('AutosaveDirectory') := ExtractFilePath(filename);
PDFCreator.cOption('AutosaveFilename') := ExtractFileName(filename);
PDFCreator.cOption('AutosaveFormat') := 0; // PDF format
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFColorsColorModel') := 0; // RGB format

if Trim(ownerpass) <> '' then
begin
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFUseSecurity') := 1;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFHighEncryption') := 1;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFOwnerPass') := 1;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFOwnerPasswordString') := ownerpass;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFDisallowCopy') := 0;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFDisallowModifyAnnotations') := 1;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFDisallowModifyContents') := 1;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFDisallowPrinting') := 0;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFAllowAssembly') := 0;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFAllowDegradedPrinting') := 0;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFAllowFillIn') := 0;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFAllowScreenReaders') := 0;
end;
PDFCreator.cSaveOptions;
end;

procedure TForm1.RestorePDFOptions;
begin
// reset user's options
PDFCreator.cOption('UseAutosave') := optUseAutosave;
PDFCreator.cOption('UseAutosaveDirectory') := optUseAutosaveDirectory;
PDFCreator.cOption('AutosaveDirectory') := optAutosaveDirectory;
PDFCreator.cOption('AutosaveFilename') := optAutosaveFilename;
PDFCreator.cOption('AutosaveFormat') := optAutosaveFormat;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFColorsColorModel') := optPDFColorsColorModel;

// security options
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFUseSecurity') := optPDFUseSecurity;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFHighEncryption') := optPDFHighEncryption;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFOwnerPass') := optPDFOwnerPass;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFOwnerPasswordString') :=
optPDFOwnerPasswordString;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFDisallowCopy') := optPDFDisallowCopy;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFDisallowModifyAnnotations') :=
optPDFDisallowModifyAnnotations;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFDisallowModifyContents') :=
optPDFDisallowModifyContents;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFDisallowPrinting') := optPDFDisallowPrinting;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFAllowAssembly') := optPDFAllowAssembly;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFAllowDegradedPrinting') :=
optPDFAllowDegradedPrinting;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFAllowFillIn') := optPDFAllowFillIn;
PDFCreator.cOption('PDFAllowScreenReaders') := optPDFAllowScreenReaders;

PDFCreator.cSaveOptions;

Sleep(100);
end;

end.

"Tom Wall" <tom@{deletethis}skwirel.com> wrote in message
news:4819b273$1...@newsgroups.borland.com...

[Tom Wall]

Hi Jason,

Many thanks for the code. I will have a play around. BTW, do you notice the
delay in printing the document to pdf that I mentioned in my post?

Thanks

[Tom Wall]

Hi Jason,

Have tested your code and it certainly works. Just 2 things:

1 You need to call PDFCreator.cClose prior to clearing the PDFCreator
variant otherwise PDFCreator does not seem to close.
2 I am still having a real issue with a time delay when the print job
enters the printer queue. Seems to sit there for 30 secs or so doing
nothing. Do you experience this problem?

Finally, if and when I get this working satisfactorily re the time delay,
would you have any objections if I post the code to PDFCreator (with due
credit for your work) so they can make it available hopefully in their
samples.

Thanks.

[Jason Penny]

2. It takes only about 5 seconds for me, and most of that seems to be
starting MSWord, loading the file, and telling MSWord to print. Watching
the PDFCreator window, the print job shows up and disappears almost right
away.

I don't mind you posting the code as a sample, the actual code should
restore any options changed in MSWord, though.

"Tom Wall" <tom@{deletethis}skwirel.com> wrote in message

news:481b0181$1...@newsgroups.borland.com...

[matthias muntwiler]

> 2 I am still having a real issue with a time delay when the print job
> enters the printer queue. Seems to sit there for 30 secs or so doing
> nothing. Do you experience this problem?

sounds like a network timeout. did you set up any network printer (even
if totally unrelated to the pdf jobs)?

i noticed that windows explorer completely blocks while waiting for a
network share that is not connected. could be the same for shared printers.

--matthias

[Tom Wall]

Hi Matthias,

That sounds interesting. I will have a look into that and see if it helps at
all.

[Tom Wall]

Hi Jason,

I have put in code to restore word. If the PDFCreator world is interested in
the Delphi side of things I will provide them with a working project.

Regards and thanks again for your help.

Mark.

[Tom Wall]

You're a genius. Now works lightning fast.

However, it's not just printers that are a problem. If there are any
disconnected network drives etc these all have to be removed. Bit of a faff,
but at least got to the bottom of it.

Many thanks.