Creating MANY PDF's with ASP.Net

[szlamany]

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

[gep13]

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

[szlamany]

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??

[gep13]

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

[szlamany]

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...

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));

[gep13]

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

[szlamany]

"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).