Customized PDF Output
FileMaker has had the ability to use an internal PDF writer since version 8. It has, however, not always had the ability to merge multiple PDFs into one master and make this work as seamlessly as possible. Being able to do this server side is a really BIG benefit!
In this video, we take a look at a subscriber's question about a particular printed layout issue in conjunction with taking advantage of FileMaker's best possible output options. With the ability to Save Records As PDF we can certainly make the process much more streamlined and as easy as possible.
If you need to generate a complex multipage PDF report then you'll find a lot of value in this video. We discuss what to do about page numbers and how to merge multiple PDF files into one single master. This video and technique file will get you a stronger familiarity with how to generate the type of PDF output you desire.
Comments
Wait!! You said you'd tell us ... but then didn't!!
At minute 5:07 you said you would finish the video addressing briefly how to move beyond what FileMaker can do natively and do "super complex" PDF reports. What was that? integrating with online PDF production libraries, perhaps, but you didn't say a word about that. Give us an idea, please. This subscriber was SO looking forward to that!
Thanks!
Sorry about the omission
There are a number of JavaScript libraries that will convert HTML into PDF. HTML and a web viewer is one of the most flexible ways to present whatever data you want to present. You can then look into using a JavaScript library to convert the HTML into a PDF.
The type of report you want plays a role in this because some JS libraries will just create a PDF of an image and others will create a genuine PDF with text.
I'll do my best to create a video about making more complex reports using web viewers!
-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor
Would love to see a video on this
I would love to see a video on this. We produce a lot of documents, contracts etc. I've already built a dynamic document builder module for our company. It enables creation & versioning of master documents in FileMaker and facility for the user to create document instances and fill in non-static content.
Final presentation is rendered into HTML, and it looks great in Web Viewer but the last hurdle is to be able to translate that content into printable HTML pages (my understanding of what needs to happen) and print to PDF with page numbers, footer etc. I've looked into this a little and there seems to be a few options. One is to pass the content to a web service, but that might not be palatable with sensitive info, and may carry a cost.
Digital Fusion have an article on using PhantomJsCloud for this, with 500 free API calls per day:
https://www.teamdf.com/blogs/print-capture-web-viewers/
MBS plugin is able to print Web Viewer content to PDF on the Mac, but most of our users are on Windows. I also considered printing page by page with a mix of FM & Web Viewer UI, but that has its own issues, so not ideal.
With the Web Viewer on Windows likely moving away from IE soon, the door would be open to a vast array of new possibilities for a wider audience of FileMaker users. A process that starts in FileMaker, renders in HTML (with all the wonderful possibilities of CSS & JS) and ends with a paged PDF output would be a big step forward.
Being able to do this server side is a really BIG benefit!
What about "Being able to do this server side is a really BIG benefit!"?
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Videos about server side scripts. I think if I added it to each video they would end up being 2 hours.
-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor
Including container field content in the report
Suppose you want to include a PDF stored in a container as part of the report ... how would you do that? For example ... save the title page as page 1 of the report, save a container PDF as page 2 through whatever, then save the catalog. In my particulate case, I don't need a page count so the number of pages in the stored PDF doesn't matter, but I do need to insert a PDF from a container into the mix.
Thanks!
Subscription follow-up missing
Hi Matt,
Thank you for all your great videos.
I wanted to temporarily put my subscription on hold due other long projects and lack of time.
As indicated we should do this by a request by email.
Unfortunately nobody seems to follow up this or take action because my Visa card keeps getting billed.
Can you check what's going wrong on your side?
best regards.
We've got you covered
It looks like your issue was addressed.
-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor