Hello,

I am working on a project which requires me to develop a PDF report which is most part a static document of about 4 pages.

I have to match my report to a pdf sample provided by the client which has a border around and matter written in blocks forming a tabular format pdf page. Also, couple of pages requires me to show a table of data fields from a master file I will create for this.

How do I go about creating a pdf report which has a tabular look and has both static and dynamic information being displayed?

I am quite new to WF and we are currently using WF Dev Studio 7.7.03.

Thanks in advance!

I might be misunderstanding your requirement, but are you trying to create a document that has some generic text with values embedded into the text? Sorta like a mail merge where a paragraph of text has some numbers and Dear Nova27: and so on?

If that's what you're trying to do, you can use HEADING, FOOTING, SUBHEAD, et cetra and insert any value you want using the

 <FIELDNAME 

syntax in your report.

No, it's a little more complicated than that.. I think I didn't do a good job explaining my problem...

I can attach a sample to show you what exactly do I mean, but I can't find an attach button here - how do I attach something?

many years ago I had to merge a WebFOCUS PDF report with pre-existing PDF files. We had to use a third party product called PDCAT to concatenate the PDF files. The situation hasn't changed. I don't think there's a way to concatenate a WebFOCUS PDF report with a pre-existing PDF file. I don't think you can do it with "Creating Compound Reports With Document Composer".

You could try to mimic the static PDF report using WebFOCUS and then create a COMPOUND PDF report.

If the design of the static report is very precise, one workaround might be to create a jpeg or png image of the static PDF file, then create a COMPOUND PDF report, with the image added in one of the COMPOUND report sections.

How can I mimic the PDF report using WebFocus and then create a compound report? Can you please explain?
Will using Precision Report tool available in Dev Studio help?

Thanks!

To share a PDF file with us, unfortunately you have to stick it somewhere on the web, then provide us a URL. You could put the pdf file in a folder in DropBox or one of the other file hosting services.

When I say mimic, I mean use TABLE FILE to try and create a report that looks like the static PDF file - this usually isn't easy.

I don't know anything about Precision Reports.

I don't know if the "Document Composer" is available in v7.7.03 (perhaps it's called "Precision Reports"???).

A simple hand-coded compound PDF report:

TABLE FILE CAR
SUM
SALES
BY COUNTRY
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT PDF OPEN
END
-RUN

TABLE FILE CAR
SUM
WIDTH
LENGTH
HEIGHT
BY COUNTRY
BY CAR
BY MODEL
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT PDF CLOSE
END
-RUN

To provide an embed image into your post - go to the Focal Point main page and click on - FAQ's
Scroll to find - ** Post an image

For information related to the suggestions made above please visit the IBI Technical Support Center.

Under "Get Answers Now":
You will find links to the IBI documentation - Technical Content - select your WebFOCUS version

As well as - Technical Videos


There are also links for "Search Technical Content" and "Search Knowledge Base" - both can be used to search for 'Compound Document'

Finally, being a newbie it might be wise to review the offerings on Education - Your Key to Success

Focal Point itself can be "searched" for answers to most of your questions. Especially, questions as you have posted that might be 'out of the ordinary'.

I hope the above information will provide you with further assistance.

Thank your for participating in the Focal Point Forum,
Tamra Colangelo
Focal Point Moderator
Information Builders

Tamra, may I make a bet that there's nothing on the Technical Support Center site that will show you how to concatenate a WebFOCUS PDF report with an existing static PDF file?

Francis - not taking the bet

Nova27 - Depending on the static layout you might be able to recreate the static look within the use of Heading/subhead/subfoot/footings - and create a WebFOCUS version of the existing PDF.

Then using Document Composer merge the 2 PDFs together.

Just an idea !

Thank you for participating in the Focal Point Forum!
Tamra Colangelo
Focal Point Moderator
Information Builders