Print reports electronically as PDF files

[NathanGriffiths]

If you need to produce reports in an electronic format, PDF is a good option. You normally need to have the full version of Adobe Acrobat in order to obtain the PDF Writer necessary to print reports to PDF files.

However, if you go to the following website and download the FREE software 'GhostScript' (a PostScript language interpreter) and 'Redmon' (a printer port redirection utility) and install and configure them according to the instructions also available on the website (a fairly straightforward process), you have a printer option to print to PDF files completely free of charge!

The software licence means that the resulting reports cannot be used for commercial use (i.e. charged for), but if thats not a problem for you then I recommend this as a handy (and cheap) solution.

Website for instructions on obtaining GhostScript & Redmon:

http://enesbe.com.au/article.php?sid=11

or get them directly from:

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/index.htm

Note: You do not need GSview if you already have a PDF reader e.g. Acrobat Reader

To get the free Acrobat Reader 5.0 :

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

In FoxPro I modified the reporting section of the application we use to include PROMPT:

REPORT FORM <report file name> TO PRINTER PROMPT

which calls the Print Setup dialogue in Windows and allows the user to select a printer or the PDF writer for output.


Let me know if you find this useful, or you need any help configuring the software.

cheers,

Nathan