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We are currently taking .txt files and using Report Caster to archive the files and give users access to the reports using the Report Library. These reports are displaying fine using html.
We would like to display these reports using .pdf format.
I have tried using a pdf converter and also using the pdf option when scheduling the jobs. When I open the reports I get one of two things. An Adobe Reader (v8.1) message saying the file is damanged and can not be repaired, or it opens but displays the following instead of the report(this is just a sample of the first few lines):
Prarie is right, can you just output in PDf instead of TXT.
The other option is to PDFafy the TXT document.
This makes several assumptions, but if the report is a fixed width and layout, you should be able to read the TXT file with WF and output a PDF version of the report.
I have done this with COBOL produced TXT reports.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Waz,
These reports (there are at least 50 of them) are created on the mainframe using Nomad and ftp'd to the WF Server as a .txt file. We do not have a way of creating the output in .pdf on the mainframe. It is after I ran them through a .txt to .pdf converter on the server that I received the errors when running them using RC.
Putting the .txt file into Report Caster has not been a problem. They work fine, but we would like the options to search and print using .pdf instead.
I am really new at all of this so any help or details you have are very much appreciated. Thanks!
I would do what Waz said. You need to create a generic master with one field in it and make the format the length of a print line which I assume would be 133 for the mainframe.
You would then need a FILEDEF or APP FI to relate the text file to the generic master. Then TABLE FILE generic, PRINT *, ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT PDF, END for example.
You might have to scan lines for headings and/or carriage control and do something fancier if you want styling, etc. But for now, start simple and see if you are happy with the results.
I use 7, 8 and 9 and do not have any problems, But that is WebFocus server dependant. What version of the WebFocus server and caster are you using and more specifically where is it. Extra configuration settings are required if you are on UNIX.
As for converter, which one? ABC TEXT Converter works extremely well and is very cheap. free 30 day trial give it a go.
Here is a very quick example of converting a Text report to PDF
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT COUNTRY CAR MODEL
ON TABLE HOLD AS TXT_RPT FORMAT WP
END
-RUN
FILEDEF TXT_RPT DISK txt_rpt.wp
EX -LINES 5 EDAPUT MASTER,txt_rpt,CV,FILE
FILENAME=TXT_RPT, SUFFIX=FIX,$
SEGNAME=TXT_RPT, $
FIELD=PRT_CTL,ALIAS= ,A2 ,A2 ,$
FIELD=LINE ,ALIAS= ,A130 ,A130 ,$
-RUN
TABLE FILE TXT_RPT
PRINT LINE AS ''
ON TABLE SET PAGE NOLEAD
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT PDF
END
Raising this thread from the dead, from 10 years ago because I'm now in the situation of the OP and the solution that Waz posted does not work.
We have a situation where we are unable to use a varbinary(max) / BLOB field to write out to a PDF and must find a way to use the text equivalent of the PDF which looks something like this:
%PDF-1.4 %âãÏÓ 34 0 obj <> endobj xref 34 40 0000000016 00000 n 0000001408 00000 n 0
I have already tried all of the steps in this post and simply printing out the field and doing a PCHOLD FORMAT PDF for example, will give a PDF version of the garbled text above, not the actual PDF output.