When you use an imbeded font in a PDF generated with WebFOCUS then try to edit it using the full version of Acrobat (Not Acrobat Reader) you are not allowed.

The PDF's generated using WebFOCUS do not allow this.

I have spoken to IBI about this and they are looking at fixing this problem.

The question I have is, do your users edit PDF files you have greated using WebFOCUS?

Would it be helpfull for you if IBI fixes this problem?

I believe that any font you use in a PDF other than the default ones supplied by IBI are imbeded into the PDF. We use fonts such as Tahoma and Galliard that aren't provided with WebFOCUS.

I've always felt that the more customers that felt a fix was needed the more apt IBI would be to making the change.

Please respond to this if you output using PDF.

Thanks,

Lenny Ward

say, Lenny, i'm sorry i can't help you with the PDF, but may i ask you how you're doing with v7 on win2k? and are you usng cgi in a self-serve site (if so, can you tell me why you chose cgi over isapi ), or if its an mre site, why did you chose cgi over servlet. Hope you don't mind the questions. thanks.

Susannah,

Version 7 is running fine.

We have started using SVG graphics and have also used the 'COMPOUND LAYOUT' feature to lay out PDF reports that contain up to 5 separate reports on a page. I created the first one using DevStudio to see what the report syntax is.

We have a self-service application that uses cgi. We don't use mre at all.

We started out using cgi 5 years ago and it has run fine.

I keep thinking about using servlet but we havn't done so yet.

Lenny

I believe you can modify the Webfocus font map files to add aditional fonts. I think by default there are three of the most common in the map, but you can add more. Of course the the actual files that contain the font defintions need to be both on your server running webfocus and your workstation where you edit the report output file.

Lenny,

Check out the instructions contained here on how to add font files to your installation. You will require a techsupport userid and password to access the link.

T

Hi Tony,

We have gotten quite a few fonts that we use with our PDF output. The problem we are having is that when you use an imbedded font in a PDF then you can't edit that PDF with the Acrobat 6.0 Professional tools. We have users that want to use the "Select Text" tool to modify some of the data in the PDF that gets created.

I've spoken to Brian Carter at IBI about fixing this. He said that IBI wants to. I just thought that if other users needed to do this that it would speed up IBI in fixing the problem.

Lenny

Lenny,

I appreciate your point. For my money I'd question a process that produces a report that then requires Users to amend the output. Your need is obviously valid, but for most of my clients requirements I would review the business decision to permit it.

I agree that only specific applications would have a need for users to edit PDFs and in the majority of cases one would think that outputting to PDF prevents editing of the document. However, that's not exactly true. PDF is no different than Word or Excel, it's just that not everybody has Acrobat Professional sitting on their desktops like they do Word or Excel. PDF can be "locked" just like Word/Excel can, but our PDF is not secure. What we need is to get an idea of the demand for editing PDF documents. We know that there is a large demand for secure PDF (no editing allowed), but what we don't know is how many would like to be able to edit PDF - like in a workflow type scenario.

One reason our users edit a PDF is to add a comment or footnote to a report.

WebFOCUS does not handle footnotes in all cases.
You need to add a footnote number that stands out using a different font and font size and have it appear offset vertically a line.

I know in our case their is a need for it.

Lenny