Very Computer

Running FileMaker 4.0 on a Mac server (OS 8), is there any way to
display search results in pdf format instead of html format?
Obviously this would require additional software running in the
background.  How much programming would be required?  Would there be a
need to switch to some other search engine?

  Mark

Hi Mark,

We're doing this today on a Windows platform. The user does a find over the
web, Filemaker script runs and prints a nice subsummary report to a PDF
writer that saves the PDF file to specific directory on the web server. The
user is then redirected to this page where the PDF is displayed. Just need
to find a PDF writer for the Mac that you can hard code the PDF file name
and location, and have it written without intervention.

I'm sure the Mac gurus hear can point you to a good Mac PDF writer.

Cheers,

David

--
David Hind-Smith
Software Development, Filemaker and IT support
www.hind-smith.com

905-827-8056
2156 Glenfield Road
Oakville, ON L6M 3S6

Quote:> Running FileMaker 4.0 on a Mac server (OS 8), is there any way to
> display search results in pdf format instead of html format?
> Obviously this would require additional software running in the
> background.  How much programming would be required?  Would there be a
> need to switch to some other search engine?

>   Mark

The one I know is called PrintToPDF, but I don't know the extent of its
features. It can be found on versiontracker among other shareware sites.

Well, actually, it might be worth our while to switch over to a
Windows server at this time should the pdf feature be easier to
implement.

However, I understated my needs somewhat in my original post.  Before
creating pdf output, the found data--which happens to be "TeXed" math
problems--must be processed by a TeX engine.  The TeX engine of choice
(Textures) resides on the Mac platform, so this might be an additional
hurdle to overcome should we decide to go to a Windows machine.  (Even
though there are plenty--way more than Mac ones--of Windows TeX
engines, Textures is hard to beat.)

I probably should have cross-posted this to the TeX newsgroup
comp.text.tex, but any preliminary FileMaker info will be good to have
in hand before I head over there.

Lastly, I'll mention that I'd rather not have to upgrade to the server
version of FMP 5 (or higher) if it isn't necessary.

Thanks,

  Mark

Quote:> Well, actually, it might be worth our while to switch over to a
> Windows server at this time should the pdf feature be easier to
> implement.

You can do the same on the Mac by setting FileMaker to print to a
"translator" desktop printer. This will generate a PDF file in a
specified folder. Then, have FileMaker generate a unique name for the
file (eg by increasing a global field value) and ask the Finder to
rename the file and move it somewhere inside FileMaker's web folder.

Patrick
--

I don't think I gave an adequate description of what I need to do in
my recent post "displaying Web search results in pdf format".  Another
application needs to open an exported (tab-delimited) text file and
use it as input to write a pdf file.

(FileMaker is incapable of performing the tasks that this application
performs, so I can't just have FileMaker print my search results to a
"translator" desktop printer.  The search results absolutely _must_ go
through this other application.)

So, how do you get other applications to do stuff automatically--"in
the background"--on a Mac?  I have very little experience in this
area.  The only thing I've ever used for things like this is QuicKeys.
 My ultimate goal is a "create pdf" link on the search results page
that, when clicked, sets in motion all the necessary steps to create
the pdf automatically.

Mark

Quote:> I don't think I gave an adequate description of what I need to do in
> my recent post "displaying Web search results in pdf format".  Another
> application needs to open an exported (tab-delimited) text file and
> use it as input to write a pdf file.

Is the application scriptable ? Will it automatically (ie without user
intervention) generate the pdf file when a text file is dropped onto its
icon ? If one of the answer is yes, than you can probably use
AppleScript to do the job.

Patrick
--

The application is called Textures, made by Blue Sky Research.  I
believe it has some sort of scripting capability...Apple Events are
mentioned in the manual, but I'm not sure about AppleScript (perhaps
the two are intertwined).

I will contact Blue Sky for further instructions.  Thanks for your
replies Patrick--I sense that the information they contain is heading
me in the right direction.

Mark

Quote:> The application is called Textures, made by Blue Sky Research.  I
> believe it has some sort of scripting capability...Apple Events are
> mentioned in the manual, but I'm not sure about AppleScript (perhaps
> the two are intertwined).

Yes, AppleScript is a scripting language that uses AppleEvents to
communicate with applications.

Patrick
--