Open pdf stored in sql server

[[email protected]]

Hi, how do I view a pdf file in a grid or ux when the pdf is stored in a varbinary(max) field?

I can store bmp, jpg etc in this field and view those in the A5 image field without a problem, but pdfs don't appear to be viewable, nor is it a file type available to the image field.

[mixter]

Re: Open pdf stored in sql server

from reading the help file, I would guess it's this:

Response.Headers.Set("Content-type","application/pdf")


because you'll most likely need to add the correct MIME type in the raw http header response

i.e.
Content-type: application/pdf


In PHP you use the "header" function if you want to serve PDF data up as a PDF page

header('Content-type: application/pdf');

or like this if you want to force a download window to appear
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="downloaded.pdf"');


as per here
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.header.php



in ASP it's
Response.ContentType="Content-type: application/pdf"

there's lots of pages in google with ASP and serving BLOB data up as a PDF


in Alpha I'm not exactly sure...

but looking through the Help, I searched for: header

and found a page titled
Replacing Response.Add_Header() in V11

which has code
'send a custom header back to the client
Response.Headers.Set("X-MyCustomHeader","This is a custom header")

so my guess is roughly something like

in your grid of PDF file data,

create a link to a separate .a5w page
which has contents such as this:

<%a5
Response.Headers.Set("Content-type","application/pdf")
'now write some code to stream out your BLOB of PDF
%>

[dantum]

Re: Open pdf stored in sql server

I would be interested in the solution you found for this. I have been trying to do the same. It only seems to work if you store PDF on the WAS server but not directly from SQL.

[mixter]

Re: Open pdf stored in sql server

Looks like Steve Wood just posted the answer (or close to it) right here:

msgboard.alphasoftware.com/alphaforum/showthread.php?110511

This is how I set a MIME prior to opening a PDF on an A5W page:

response.mime_type = "application/pdf"
?file.to_blob(filename)

[dantum]

Re: Open pdf stored in sql server

Thanks, I'll try that out!

[Steve Workings]

Re: Open pdf stored in sql server

We've taken to storing in Filestream. It's a very nice treat. Virtually unlimited space outside the database, yet retrievable through the database, and any filetype. Right now we have jpg, pdf, doc, docx, mov, mp4, swf and other files all in one place. Recommended if you're going to store lots of documents, lots of types of documents, or both.

[mixter]

Re: Open pdf stored in sql server

Very cool Steve, this sounds like an elite technique.

Could you please point me to documentation so I can read up some more on this, because I am in the early stages of scoping out a spec to help better organize a client who has a lot of .DWG files and this might be a good direction to go in.

I looked through Alpha help and didn't really see much about Filestream


So when you say Filestream are you referring to the .NET class System.IO.FileStream and keeping docs outside the database, on a filesystem?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...m(VS.110).aspx


Or are you are talking about SQL Server's FILESTREAM attribute that can be applied to fields with data type VARBINARY(MAX)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...4(VS.110).aspx


Or something else?

[Steve Workings]

Re: Open pdf stored in sql server

The latter. See the hyperlink Getting Started with FILESTREAM Storage.

There are a few step-by-step how-to-get-started guides that are all about the same, and you just need to follow them.

It's not Alpha's job to have documentation about Filestream so I don't know if we ever even looked in the A5 documentation for it.