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email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

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    email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

    I don't even know if this is possible.

    Here's what I'm trying to do: I have a grid that has a button to "Print" a report for that Job (actually, the "report" it's printing is a one-page "receipt" for the job). It works perfectly (see below):
    report1.jpg

    I'd prefer to have the customer click the button and have the "receipt" print to the default printer, without displaying (it's just an extra step that they don't need). I don't know how to do that (or if it's possible).

    Similarly, I'd like to add a button which will pop-up a 1-field UX for the user to enter an "on-the-fly" e-mail address to send the receipt for that job by e-mail.

    I've already designed the pop-up UX and written the XBasic to send an e-mail to the address typed into the field (and it has a place for an attachment), but I don't know how to get the receipt for that job as an attachment OR embedded into the message.

    If you have any thoughts on how to accomplish either/both of these tasks, I'd appreciate it.

    Thanks,
    Phil

    #2
    Re: email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

    I'd like to do the same thing.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

      I haven't gotten a response to this request... I am trying to print a report without displaying it first. I can't believe that there isn't a simple way to do it, but I haven't found a way yet. Any help would be appreciated.

      Thanks,
      Phil

      Comment


        #4
        Re: email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

        Hi Phil,
        Here is code I have in an aftervalidate to prepare a report and the code to email a report as an attachment. If you remove the Response.Redirect, the user will not see the report but you can still email the file using the function emailtext4web.
        I hope this is useful,
        Irwin

        Code:
        'prepare the report as a file.  except01rep is the report name
        
        dim filter as c 
        dim order as c 
        Filter = ".T."
        Order = ""
        Dim filename as c = Request.GetRequestTempFileName()
        filename = report.saveas("except01rep@[PathAlias.ADB_Path]\apptsingle.dbf","pdf",filter,order,filename,.f.)
        if file.exists(filename)
            Session.SaveDataAsFile("tempreport.pdf",file.to_blob(filename))
            A5_FILE_REMOVE(Filename)
            Response.Redirect(Session.FormatFileDataURL("tempreport.pdf"))    'remove this line to skip the file download to the user
        end if
        
        
        'now email the report with the attachment of tempreport.pdf.
        'the loginid is the user id and the email address is returned by the call to demoval
        
        function emailtext4web as v (loginid as c, thesubject as c, thetext as c, theattachments as c)
        dim pm as P
        dim ps as P
        dim eflag as l
        eflag = .f.
        if A5_EMAIL_VALID(alltrim(demoval("Prefemail",loginid)))
        	ps.timeout = 10000
        	eflag = email_smtp_open(ps, "email server", port#, "account", "password")
        	if eflag
        		pm.to = alltrim(demoval("Prefemail", loginid))		'get email address from the database
        		pm.from = "my email address"
        		pm.from_alias = "my name"
        		pm.subject = thesubject
        		pm.attachments = theattachments
        		pm.message = thetext
        '		pm.html_message = thetext	'this need <br> not cflf()
        		eflag = email_smtp_send(pm, ps)
        		email_smtp_close(ps)
        	end if
        	if eflag = .f.	'.f.=not sent, .t.=sent and if failed then try again
        		sleep(5)
        		ps.timeout = 10000
        		eflag = email_smtp_open(ps, "email server", port#, "account", "password")
        		if eflag
        			pm.to = alltrim(demoval("Prefemail", loginid))
        			pm.from = "my email address"
        			pm.from_alias = "my name"
        			pm.subject = thesubject
        			pm.attachments = theattachments
        			pm.message = thetext
        '			pm.html_message = thetext	'this need <br> not cflf()
        			eflag = email_smtp_send(pm, ps)
        			email_smtp_close(ps)
        		end if
        	end if
        	if eflag = .f.	'.f.=not sent, .t.=sent  email_log is funtion to write to a log file
        		email_log("eweb", "failed "+alltrim(loginid)+" "+thesubject
        	else
        		email_log("eweb", "sent "+alltrim(loginid)+" "+thesubject)
        	end if
        else
        	email_log("eweb", "bad addr "+alltrim(loginid)+" "+thesubject)
        end if
        end function

        Comment


          #5
          Re: email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

          Hi Irwin-

          THANK YOU for responding... I really appreciate it. That code looks very good. I will adjust it for my program and give it a try tomorrow. I'll let you know how it works for me.

          Phil

          Comment


            #6
            Re: email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

            So far as I know you can't PRINT a report automatically without user intervention (at least not without a special program to help do so.)

            A web browser isn't supposed to be able to take control of your computer like that. If you could auto print things then you could also create a website to automatically do all sorts of things without some sort of user intervention.

            That is my understanding of it anyway.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

              Larry. Thanks for responding. That makes perfect sense and I'm glad you cleared that up. I thought it would be possible to "print a receipt" and tasks like that, without having to display the PFD... but if it can't be done, I'll just have to deal with it as a limitation. I appreciate your help.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: email or Print a PDF report without displaying it.

                I didn't say it CAN'T be done - there are point of sale systems that accomplish this. But they use specialized software to make it happen that Alpha does not have as part of it's product. I use one at work - but it's a custom program built for use with one particular software platform. The specialized software is installed on the server and on each workstation. People working on an authorized computer with the software loaded can make the auto-printing happen. People working from home or from a computer that doesn't have the special software cannot.

                (You will notice, for instance, that your receipt doesn't auto-print when you order online from Amazon.com, right?)

                I am sure there are others and maybe even some you can license to use with your application. I haven't done further research, but you might search and find something.

                Comment

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