FoxTalk 2.0 has just published a free article with downloadable source code
by Lisa Slater Nicholls about generating PDFs from VFP output (and also from
pre-VFP versions of Fox). Lisa shows how to reliably and transparently
handle installation of GhostScript on the fly in your application without
any user intervention, and also provides some VFP9-specific code in her
PDFListener (although much of that code can also be extracted and used in
other versions of VFP).
This article with download is a major free resource for the Fox community,
and you'll learn a lot from reading (and re-reading) the article and
studying Lisa's code. I encourage you to check it out at:
Enjoy!
David Stevenson
Editor, FoxTalk 2.0
www.foxtalknewsletter.com <http://www.foxtalknewsletter.com/>
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Author: Malcolm Greene
Posted: 2005-06-01 12:06:01 Link
David,
Just sent you a similar message on the UT. Great article with lots of
worthwhile tips regardless of whether or not you have an existing PDF
solution.
Lurkers: Highly recommended!
Thanks David!
Malcolm
PS: I appreciate the tinyurl - makes a big difference when bookmarking a
FoxTalk URL to a text file. Might be a nice convention for all your
online FoxTalk articles to use?
Author: David Stevenson
Posted: 2005-06-01 12:15:14 Link
Malcolm,
I agree that the article has lots of valuable info even for those
comfortable with another PDF solution already. Lisa's code for installing
files stored in memo fields in pretty generic and adaptable for other
purposes, and there are lots of learning opportunities in seeing how she
uses some of the lesser-known properties and methods of the report listener.
Yes, TinyURL certainly does make it easier to post the links, and I'll be
using it in the future for free FoxTalk 2.0 links.
David Stevenson
Editor, FoxTalk 2.0
www.foxtalknewsletter.com
-----Original Message-----
From: profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On
Behalf Of Malcolm Greene
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 1:06 PM
To: profoxtech@leafe.com
Subject: Re: Major PDF article by Lisa Slater Nicholls
David,
Just sent you a similar message on the UT. Great article with lots of
worthwhile tips regardless of whether or not you have an existing PDF
solution.
Lurkers: Highly recommended!
Thanks David!
Malcolm
PS: I appreciate the tinyurl - makes a big difference when bookmarking a
FoxTalk URL to a text file. Might be a nice convention for all your
online FoxTalk articles to use?
[excessive quoting removed by server]
David,
Excellent article link. Thanks for posting it. That reminds me, I need to
renew my subs after 6 months absence.
Dave Crozier
-----Original Message-----
From: profox-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profox-bounces@leafe.com] On Behalf
Of David Stevenson
Sent: 01 June 2005 17:38
To: profox@leafe.com
Subject: Major PDF article by Lisa Slater Nicholls
FoxTalk 2.0 has just published a free article with downloadable source code
by Lisa Slater Nicholls about generating PDFs from VFP output (and also from
pre-VFP versions of Fox). Lisa shows how to reliably and transparently
handle installation of GhostScript on the fly in your application without
any user intervention, and also provides some VFP9-specific code in her
PDFListener (although much of that code can also be extracted and used in
other versions of VFP).
This article with download is a major free resource for the Fox community,
and you'll learn a lot from reading (and re-reading) the article and
studying Lisa's code. I encourage you to check it out at:
Enjoy!
David Stevenson
Editor, FoxTalk 2.0
www.foxtalknewsletter.com <http://www.foxtalknewsletter.com/>
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[excessive quoting removed by server]
A colleague of mine in Australia had given me and my partner a heads up
on this article. He ran into Lisa and Colin last year and casually
mentioned to her we were having some issues generating PDFs from our VFP
reports. Lisa apparently expressed herself to him in her usual forceful
way about VFP developers using 3rd party tools to accomplish something
that could be done for free using Ghostscript,etc. Then she decided to
write an article about it for Foxtalk. Does that mean we can get an
inspiration fee? <vbg>
David Stevenson wrote:
>FoxTalk 2.0 has just published a free article with downloadable source code
>by Lisa Slater Nicholls about generating PDFs from VFP output (and also from
>pre-VFP versions of Fox). Lisa shows how to reliably and transparently
>handle installation of GhostScript on the fly in your application without
>any user intervention, and also provides some VFP9-specific code in her
>PDFListener (although much of that code can also be extracted and used in
>other versions of VFP).
>
>
>
>This article with download is a major free resource for the Fox community,
>and you'll learn a lot from reading (and re-reading) the article and
>studying Lisa's code. I encourage you to check it out at:
>
>
>
--
Richard Kaye
RFC Systems
Voice: 973.761.0868
Fax: 973.761.4329
For the fastest response time, please send your tech support
queries to techsupport@rfcsystems.com
---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
Author: David Stevenson
Posted: 2005-06-01 13:57:04 Link
No inspiration fees. Sorry. Just enjoy the article and code!
Apparently, the reasons many VFP developers do not use GhostScript have to
do with either confusion about licensing requirements or difficulties in
getting it easily and reliably installed without user intervention.
Lisa solved both of these problems and wanted to make it available to all,
in the spirit of the Free Software roots of GhostScript.
David Stevenson
Editor, FoxTalk 2.0
www.foxtalknewsletter.com
-----Original Message-----
From: profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On
Behalf Of Richard Kaye
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 2:17 PM
To: profoxtech@leafe.com
Subject: Re: Major PDF article by Lisa Slater Nicholls
A colleague of mine in Australia had given me and my partner a heads up
on this article. He ran into Lisa and Colin last year and casually
mentioned to her we were having some issues generating PDFs from our VFP
reports. Lisa apparently expressed herself to him in her usual forceful
way about VFP developers using 3rd party tools to accomplish something
that could be done for free using Ghostscript,etc. Then she decided to
write an article about it for Foxtalk. Does that mean we can get an
inspiration fee? <vbg>
David Stevenson wrote:
>FoxTalk 2.0 has just published a free article with downloadable source code
>by Lisa Slater Nicholls about generating PDFs from VFP output (and also
from
>pre-VFP versions of Fox). Lisa shows how to reliably and transparently
>handle installation of GhostScript on the fly in your application without
>any user intervention, and also provides some VFP9-specific code in her
>PDFListener (although much of that code can also be extracted and used in
>other versions of VFP).
>
>
>
>This article with download is a major free resource for the Fox community,
>and you'll learn a lot from reading (and re-reading) the article and
>studying Lisa's code. I encourage you to check it out at:
>
>
>
--
Richard Kaye
RFC Systems
Voice: 973.761.0868
Fax: 973.761.4329
For the fastest response time, please send your tech support
queries to techsupport@rfcsystems.com
---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
[excessive quoting removed by server]
On Jun 1, 2005, at 2:57 PM, David Stevenson wrote:
> Apparently, the reasons many VFP developers do not use GhostScript
> have to
> do with either confusion about licensing requirements or
> difficulties in
> getting it easily and reliably installed without user intervention.
I was not aware of the alternative GPL and/or GNU distributions, and
had reviewed the Aladdin license and then purchased commercial
licenses. I do support a number of clients with PDF output options,
mostly using PDF995 and pdfFactory. For the expense involved, the
added benefits of the installer and printer driver technology were
worth the costs to my clients. However, I'll have to review LSN's
articles - a brief skim shows some brilliant ideas, as usual.
Of course, on my Mac, I can save anything to PDF. It's built in.
Linux, too, of course. It's too bad the Microsoft chooses to distance
itself so far behind the other systems...
Author: Johnson, Fletcher S (N-Superior Technical Resources Inc.)
Posted: 2005-06-01 16:21:20 Link
Ted,
Now now...
>>Of course, on my Mac, I can save anything to PDF. It's built in.
Linux, too, of course. It's too bad the Microsoft chooses to distance
itself so far behind the other systems...<<
We all know that if MS were to make generating a PDF file a native part
of the OS, then everyone who writes these add on tools would complain
that the nasty MS monopoly is destroying their livelihood on a whim.
(Look at the media player developers, etc.)
The fact that MS hasn't done it doesn't mean that they don't want to do
so. It's just a matter of trying to decide which features are important
enough to add when they know that doing so will most likely result in
more (or support existing) litigation.
Gee, either they (MS) are:
evil because they are now giving away the software that someone sells
for a living - that's anti competitive
- or -
evil because they won't give away software for free (who cares about
those whining developers - make my life easier)
Which way do you want it today?
Take care,
Fletcher
-----Original Message-----
From: profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com]
On Behalf Of Ted Roche
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 1:03 PM
To: profoxtech@leafe.com
Subject: Re: Major PDF article by Lisa Slater Nicholls
On Jun 1, 2005, at 2:57 PM, David Stevenson wrote:
> Apparently, the reasons many VFP developers do not use GhostScript
> have to
> do with either confusion about licensing requirements or
> difficulties in
> getting it easily and reliably installed without user intervention.
I was not aware of the alternative GPL and/or GNU distributions, and
had reviewed the Aladdin license and then purchased commercial
licenses. I do support a number of clients with PDF output options,
mostly using PDF995 and pdfFactory. For the expense involved, the
added benefits of the installer and printer driver technology were
worth the costs to my clients. However, I'll have to review LSN's
articles - a brief skim shows some brilliant ideas, as usual.
Of course, on my Mac, I can save anything to PDF. It's built in.
Linux, too, of course. It's too bad the Microsoft chooses to distance
itself so far behind the other systems...
[excessive quoting removed by server]
On Jun 1, 2005, at 5:21 PM, Johnson, Fletcher S (N-Superior Technical
Resources Inc.) wrote:
> We all know that if MS were to make generating a PDF file a native
> part
> of the OS, then everyone who writes these add on tools would complain
> that the nasty MS monopoly is destroying their livelihood on a whim.
> (Look at the media player developers, etc.)
Well, I didnt' claim they wouldn't be damned either way. I'm not sure
that's an option any more.
I'm sure Nico Mak (of WinZIP fame) feels similarly.
And the disk compression software - what was their name?
Author: Stephen the Cook
Posted: 2005-06-01 20:35:57 Link
Johnson, Fletcher S (N-Superior Technical Resources Inc.) <> wrote this on
Wednesday, June 01, 2005 4:21 PM:
> The fact that MS hasn't done it doesn't mean that they don't want to
> do so. It's just a matter of trying to decide which features are
> important enough to add when they know that doing so will most likely
> result in more (or support existing) litigation.
>
> Gee, either they (MS) are:
> evil because they are now giving away the software that someone sells
> for a living - that's anti competitive - or -
> evil because they won't give away software for free (who cares about
> those whining developers - make my life easier)
>
> Which way do you want it today?
Been doing it for years with .NET.
Stephen Russell
S.R. & Associates
Memphis, TN 38115
901.246-0159