Creating MANY PDF's with ASP.Net

I am going to have many users running requests for an ASP.Net web service to create reports in PDF format.

I need to make sure that each user is getting a specifically named PDF file - to handle the obvious problems of concurrency...

I've played with settings in CutePDF, DocuCom(ScanSoft) and Adobe PDF drivers - none of them seem to have the type of low-level control I need. I've even fooled with mapped drives to different folders...

Basically when the web service request comes into ASP.Net I want to somehow assign a "name" or "folder" for the production of that PDF file. The PDF will be created by an old VB6 app running in a BAT file (started with PROCESS.START).

Process.Start DOES start a process that won't hang IIS - right???

I've asked a related question in the .Net forum - under this thread

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=671573

Hello,

Have you looked at iTextSharp?

http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp/

As far as I am aware, you shouldn't hang up IIS with the approach that you are using, but that is solely based on an assumption, I have never went to the length of testing that assumption :(

Gary

I did look at iTextSharp - but that did not appear to be a printer driver - but more a PDF creation tool that you integrate with your application.

Is that not the case??

That is correct.

You can use it to create PDF's, which is what I thought you wanted to do. Having re-read your posts though, it would appear that this is not the case :) You want to be able to take "something" that already prints a document and create it as a PDF, hence the printer driver. I typically miss this step out, and simply print directly to PDF using iTextSharp.

Gary

Given more time - and hopefully in the future I will have that time - I'm going to take the VB6 print logic and port it to VB.Net and at that time look at using the iTextSharp-type approach of creating the .PDF directly.

The old VB6 code used the PRINTER object - code looks like this - looping through the rows of an ADO RECORDSET. Porting it to .Net seems like a week long project and iTextSharp would add another week - argh...

Code:

---

Printer.CurrentX = lngOffsetX
Printer.CurrentY = lngOffsetY

Do While rsPrint.State <> 0
    Do While booGotRS ' rsPrint.EOF = False
        DoEvents
        booOnPage = True
        For i = 0 To rsPrint.Fields.Count - 1
            strLastRS(i, lngRS) = strRS(i, lngRS)
            strRS(i, lngRS) = rsPrint(i) & ""
        Next i
        rsPrint.MoveNext
        If rsPrint.EOF Then
            booGotRS = False
        End If
        If prtHeader = 0 Then prtLine = 1
        For i = 1 To prtCount ' Loop though report elements
.
.
.
            If booDoPrint Then
                If prtItems(i, 1) <> 25 Then booSuppressNextTotal = False
                gModal = True
                Select Case prtItems(i, 1)
                    Case 1
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  Font="; strItem(prtItems(i, 7))
                        Printer.Font = strItem(prtItems(i, 7))
                    Case 2
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  Fontsize="; prtItems(i, 2)
                        Printer.FontSize = prtItems(i, 2)
                        If lngCurFontSize < Int(prtItems(i, 2) * 1.2) Then
                            lngCurFontSize = Int(prtItems(i, 2) * 1.2)
                        End If
                        lngLastFontSize = Int(prtItems(i, 2) * 1.2)
                    Case 3
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  Fontbold=True"
                        Printer.FontBold = True
                    Case 4
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  Fontbold=False"
                        Printer.FontBold = False
                    Case 5
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  FontItalic=True"
                        Printer.FontItalic = True
                    Case 6
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  FontItalic=False"
                        Printer.FontItalic = False
                    Case 7
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  ForeColor="; prtItems(i, 2)
                        Printer.ForeColor = prtItems(i, 2)
                    Case 8
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  FontUnderline=True"
                        Printer.FontUnderline = True
                    Case 9
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  FontUnderline=False"
                        Printer.FontUnderline = False
                    Case 10
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  Portrait"
                        If lngFPP = 0 Then
                            If booPrt Then
                                Printer.Orientation = vbPRORPortrait
                                If booDidPrintArea = False Or lngPrintAreaOr <> Printer.Orientation Then
                                    Call PrintArea(Printer, lngdpiX, lngdpiY, lngMarginLeft, lngMarginRight, lngMarginTop, lngMarginBottom _
                                        , lngPrintAreaHorz, lngPrintAreaVert, lngPhysHeight, lngPhysWidth)
                                    booDidPrintArea = True
                                    lngPrintAreaOr = Printer.Orientation
                                End If
                                Debug.Print "  PrintReport>TWIPS that cannot be touched on left = "; CLng(lngMarginLeft * Printer.TwipsPerPixelX) _
                                                                                                                    ; "  offset = "; gPrinterOffsetLeft
                                Debug.Print "  PrintReport>TWIPS that cannot be touched on top = "; CLng(lngMarginTop * Printer.TwipsPerPixelY) _
                                                                                                                    ; "  offset = "; gPrinterOffsetTop
                                lngOffsetX = gPrinterOffsetLeft
                                lngOffsetY = gPrinterOffsetTop
                            End If
                            Printer.CurrentX = lngOffsetX
                            Printer.CurrentY = lngOffsetY
                        End If
                    Case 11
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  Landscape"
                        If lngFPP = 0 Then
                            If booPrt Then
                                Printer.Orientation = vbPRORLandscape
                                If booDidPrintArea = False Or lngPrintAreaOr <> Printer.Orientation Then
                                    Call PrintArea(Printer, lngdpiX, lngdpiY, lngMarginLeft, lngMarginRight, lngMarginTop, lngMarginBottom _
                                        , lngPrintAreaHorz, lngPrintAreaVert, lngPhysHeight, lngPhysWidth)
                                    booDidPrintArea = True
                                    lngPrintAreaOr = Printer.Orientation
                                End If
                                Debug.Print "  PrintReport>TWIPS that cannot be touched on left = "; CLng(lngMarginLeft * Printer.TwipsPerPixelX) _
                                                                                                                    ; "  offset = "; gPrinterOffsetLeft
                                Debug.Print "  PrintReport>TWIPS that cannot be touched on top = "; CLng(lngMarginTop * Printer.TwipsPerPixelY) _
                                                                                                                    ; "  offset = "; gPrinterOffsetTop
                                lngOffsetX = gPrinterOffsetLeft
                                lngOffsetY = gPrinterOffsetTop
                            End If
                            Printer.CurrentX = lngOffsetX
                            Printer.CurrentY = lngOffsetY
                        End If
                    Case 12
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  Duplex="; prtItems(i, 2)
                        If Not booNoDuplex Then
                            If booPrt Then
                                lngHoldDuplex = Printer.Duplex
                                Printer.Duplex = IIf(prtItems(i, 2) = 0, vbPRDPHorizontal, vbPRDPVertical)
                                booDidDuplex = True
                            End If
                        End If
.
.
.
                    Case 40
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  tab("; prtItems(i, 2) _
                                                                    ; ") Item w/CR="; strItem(prtItems(i, 7))
                        If prtItems(i, 2) <> -1 Then Printer.CurrentX = lngOffsetX + prtItems(i, 2)
                        If prtCurCol > 1 Then Printer.CurrentX = Printer.CurrentX + (prtCurCol - 1) * prtColTwip
                        Printer.Print strItem(prtItems(i, 7));
                        Printer.CurrentY = ((Printer.CurrentY + (lngCurFontSize * 20)) \ lngTPY) * lngTPY
                        lngCurFontSize = lngLastFontSize
                        Printer.CurrentX = lngOffsetX
                        prtLine = prtLine + 1
                        If prtItems(i, 3) Then
                            For X = 1 To prtItems(i, 3)
                                Printer.CurrentY = ((Printer.CurrentY + (lngCurFontSize * 20)) \ lngTPY) * lngTPY
                                prtLine = prtLine + 1
                            Next X
                        End If
                    Case 41
                        Debug.Print "  PrintReport>"; i; ") x="; Printer.CurrentX; " y="; Printer.CurrentY _
                                                                    ; "  tab("; prtItems(i, 2) _
                                                                    ; ") Item wo/CR="; strItem(prtItems(i, 7))
                        If prtItems(i, 2) <> -1 Then Printer.CurrentX = lngOffsetX + prtItems(i, 2)
                        If prtCurCol > 1 Then Printer.CurrentX = Printer.CurrentX + (prtCurCol - 1) * prtColTwip
                        Printer.Print strItem(prtItems(i, 7));

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Hey,

Yes, a port would probably be the "best" way to do it, but obviously, not the quickest.

But in terms of the main question...

Can you not simply use a GUID to identify the request, save the PDF as a file with the GUID included, and then look for the same GUID in the file name and returning the PDF?

Gary

"Forcing" the filename of the PDF with the various different drivers is all too weak - some make you set a REGISTRY setting (CutePDF) - DocuCom doesn't permit it at all - it's hardwired to a single name from the PRINTER PREFERENCES of the driver. The newest Adobe PDF distiller has a whole api that you mess with - way to complicated.

The problem I believe lies in the "separation" of the PRINT'ing PROGRAM and the DRIVER. There is no direct communication between the PRINT'ing program and the driver - even with the CutePDF registry setting I can't feel comfortable that "the registry setting" is going to be eaten by the correct PRINT'ing program instance.

Thus I have serialized all this so only one report will run at a time on the server - it's not ideal but I am trying to cobble together my old report writer tool and make it run in the new age. The DocuCom PDF driver is only $99 - I can make my clients purchase that. CutePDF is free - that's always scared me (I've seen it fail to render BARCODE fonts!). Adobe professional is expensive (I've always gotten it from my clients - so I am unsure of the cost).