Caution: excessive windiness ahead
Maybe it is a moot point at this junction, but to anyone else who is
following this, I have just gone through this struggle. This is a summary of
what probably appears on the above links, but hopefully it helps. This uses
visual basic, so hopefully it is not an inappropriate post, but if anyone is
adventurous...
Two ways- PDFWriter, which in some ways was a bit easier for me. When you
print (i.e. DoCmd.OpenReport [defaults to printing unless you specify
acViewPreview) anything with PDFWriter selected as your default printer, it
first looks in the registry to see if there is a key indicating the name of
the next PDFWriter File to be output. So the trick is to write that
information in the registry beforehand (it is automatically deleted later.)
The problem I encountered with PDFWriter is the way it draws graphics
(non-postscript method, can't remember the name) makes it unacceptable if
the report includes tables or graphs.
So we move to PDF Distiller, which has a different methodology. I created a
new PDFDistiller printer so that I could have the files dropped off in a
general temp directory, which I then snatch the file from, rename it and put
it in an appropriate folder. (i.e. Add a new printer, choose as printer port
a PDF port pointing to c:\TempReports, choose any old printer driver, and
name the printer ProjReportsPDFWriter or ProjReportsDistiller. Then go to
the properties, and under the advanced tab go to drivers, and change it to
either the PDFWriter driver or AdobePS Acrobat Distiller depending on which
method you decide on.)
For both methods in access, I chose to specify an printer specific to the
reports I am printing. This way, I did not need to worry about default
printers or anything of that sort. This is accomplished by opening the
report, clicking "Setup" from the toolbar, which makes a "Page Setup"
dialogue box pop up. Click on the "Page" tab, and where it says "Printer for
YourReportNameHere" click "Use Specific Printer", then click the "Printer"
button to choose specifics.
Damn, I'm long winded.
The trick here is that this essentially creates it's own instance of the
printer that exists only for that report, so any changes you want to make to
the Printing preferences after that point need to be approached through this
dialogue, rather than the usual Printers and Faxes Control Panel access.
(Either that, or make the changes in the Printers and Faxes window, change
it the Report to select a different printer, then change it back to the
original so it loads the newest settings). The PDFWriter preferences are
self explanatory, but for distiller to be automated, you must deselect the
following checkboxes in the Printing Preferences\"Adobe PDF Settings" tab:
Do not send fonts to distiller, View Result in Acrobat, Prompt for the PDF
Filename, Ask to Replace existing PDF File (All unchecked!).
My code follows.
Hopefully this helps.
Taylor
P.S. I am using Acrobat 5.0- I installed 6.0 but too much bloat, had me
running back.
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PDFWriter method: I kind of jump into the code (skip the declarations), but
hopefully this helps. This is originally for word, and I tried to adapt it
for Access, but I really did not go nuts testing it. I use the Distiller
method.
****************************************************************************
DocSaveName = "C:\Path\PDFNameStringHere" 'This was declared earlier as
a string
' Create Registry Key that tells acrobat the PDF Save name
Call RegistryValue(DocSaveName) 'This function follows, skip to it to
see what happens
DoCmd.OpenReport "2005 Packets Coversheet"
'Note: registry key is automatically deleted after use
'Quit
End Function
'This creates the registry key, needs a reference to (I think...) Windows
Script Host Object Model
Sub RegistryValue(DocSaveName As String)
Dim WshShell As IWshRuntimeLibrary.WshShell
Dim AcroRegVal As String
Dim AcroName As String
AcroName = DocSaveName & ".pdf"
Set WshShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
AcroRegVal = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat
PDFWriter\PDFFileName"
WshShell.RegWrite AcroRegVal, AcroName
' I used the following functions when I was in my test phase to make sure it
was writing to the reg correctly
'strValue = WshShell.RegRead(AcroRegVal)
'MsgBox strValue
End Sub
****************************************************************************
****PDF Distiller method: Much cleaner looking reports, bit more trouble.
Again, I am jumping in...
****************************************************************************
Sub PrintReports(CoordinatorName As String)
'CoordinatorName is criteria I am passing to the report, so it opens only
the
'reports corresponding to a specific coordinator
Dim ReportFormInfo As String 'Title passed from Report to PDF Distiller -
'not necessarily the name of the Report itself,
'but rather the caption field in report properties. '
'It is automatically passed, I only need it in order to rename the PDF
later...
Dim CurPath As String 'Where the database is located now
Dim OldPath As String 'Temporary path where Distiller dumps the PDF
Dim SavePath As String 'Where I want the renamed PDF to end up
OldPath = "C:\Temp\" 'That is where PDF Distiller dumps all my files after
they are made
ReportFormInfo = "2005 Survey Info For Forms.pdf" 'Default name Distiller
saves the Report as
CurPath = Application.CurrentProject.Path & "\" 'Say the db is located on
"C:\ReportDB\"
SavePath = CurPath & CoordinatorName & "\" 'I will ultimately save the new
PDF
'in "C:\ReportDB\John Smith" (the name of the coordinator)
DoCmd.OpenReport "2005 Envelopes Summary Form", , , "[Coordinator] = " &
CoordinatorName 'pass the criteria
Call CreateFolder(SavePath, OldPath, ReportFormInfo)
End Sub
****************************************************************************
This renames the PDF meaningfully, creates folders for it, etc.
****************************************************************************
Sub CreateFolder(SavePath As String, OldPath As String, ReportFormInfo As
String)
Dim fso As IWshRuntimeLibrary.FileSystemObject
Dim OldFile As String
Dim NewFile As String
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If Not fso.FolderExists(SavePath) Then 'checks to see if
"C:\ReportDB\John Smith" folder exists
fso.CreateFolder (SavePath) 'If not, Creates the folder
"C:\ReportDB\John Smith"
End If
If fso.FileExists(OldPath & ReportFormInfo) Then
'checks for "C:\Temp\2005 Survey Info For Forms.pdf"
fso.CopyFile OldPath & ReportFormInfo, SavePath & ReportFormInfo
'copies it to "C:\ReportDB\John Smith\2005 Survey Info For Forms.pdf"
End If
End Sub
