I’ve looked through some of the topics regarding xps to pdf conversion before saving or sending email but I couldn’t really get my head around how to make it work.
Is there anything in built to convert report to pdf or do we need to call on third party app? also in reports screen, is it possible when using the save feature on any given report, to fire a send email rule after save is clicked and directory is selected?
I know how to save filtered reports with specific date, but converting to pdf then sending is another thing I’m trying to put together
You need to use a third party app. SambaPOS can only export as XPS format. As you likely found, there are a few topics on the forum already about creating a PDF from XPS. So either you use an app to convert the XPS to PDF after generation, or you just consider can you use XPS instead of PDF. I know one of my clients needed to view the emailed reports on his iPhone (that cannot natively display XPS) - he just found an app to view XPS on the iPhone which worked better than converting to PDF. Note any system Windows 7 and above can open XPS files with built in software.
Unfortunately one of my clients insists on on pdf instead of xps since his other 10 shops all have pdf and they all go straight to his accountant. i tries to convince him otherwise but he wouldn’t take it. So im stuck having to figure this out lol.
I’ve got to work on two things now, 1. To email a filtered report and second to have the report converted before its sent.
In one of the forum posts I saw that you could add a delay before it sends and email and you can specify the file for it to send. But getting the application to auto run, and convert before sending is the issue I’m finding
I know of a few pdf software’s that work really well, but I’d still probably need it to run before produced and sent. Oh man im under pressure now haha. I wonder if @emre could make it support pdf when sending email or giving us a parameter to choose file type
Feel your pain Shivan - for months on months now I always have tried to look within SambaPOS to create tools. It is just my preferred methodology as the more 3rd party tools introduced the more costs and “weak” points we introduce.
Having said all that, email supports attachments. So the only short term solution would be to run the report to XPS to disk. You can then use File Monitor (now becoming the most essential add-on!) to detect when the XPS appears, run a windows script (API) to convert XPS to PDF then the File Monitor rule could send the email.
The key is to use a free PDF creator that can work in the background or will take parameters so there is no user input. Maybe other posters can suggest if they use one with this feature?
I need to do this for our legacy Membership Software and researched Ghost Script - free open source stuff. It is a bit bulk and cumbersome but will do the job. Not entirely happy with it but will use it as a last resource.
(PS: I want @emre looking at my recent API request first, so get in line lol)
.net library does not have native pdf creating feature. It supports xps creating. So to be able to create pdf I should release a third party pdf creating software as a part of SambaPOS package. If anyone knows a free solution that we can trust I can review that.
The good news is Microsoft releases a free PDF printer as a part of Windows 10 so you can choose Microsoft PDF printer as the printer and when you print the report it creates a pdf.
Interesting enough I saw that Microsoft pdf in printer settings. I’m going check that out and see if that can actually work. If it does then this would be exclusive to Windows 10. And would need other way of importing this into win7. But I’ll check some open source software we could possibly use. I did notice in a previous forum post there was this open source pdf maker but wasn’t sure how he implemented it. I’ll link it when I’m on test tablet pc
i intend to upgrade all client systems to Windows 10 but it’s still a little buggy. Waiting for it to be more stable then I’m going mass deploy. Win 7 license are cheap. I can get them for like $10AUD legit license. My test machine has windows 10.
samba isn’t buggy. windows is. I’m waiting for at least sp1 where most bugs are fixed. these bugs relate to security and stability for less powerful non ssd type of systems.
That’s what I meant windows. I have not heard of any significant security bugs or stability. I am not saying your wrong I just don’t believe it They constantly patch any security issues. I would like to know what bugs though so I can read up on it.
EDIT: Sorry we don’t need to debate this its silly.
ok so good news is when choosing Microsoft print to PDF, and clicking print, it makes you input a filename before it saves… now what I want to know is, how can we specify the printer to print in reports? I think by default it prints to the default ticket printer. the one that prints customer receipt. (maybe I’m wrong). if I can know how to print reports to specific printer, then that solves 1 issue.
EDIT:
ok so this happen when printing to PDF . now if we can create a rule or action to auto put the 'WP-(date). Uploading…
dont get me wrong win10 is amazing in its own right. but knowing history of windows, usually the most stable and most compatible updates come after sp1
Microsoft is not doing the typical service packs anymore. They are doing rolling continuous updates for security related things. The big patches are now reserved for new features etc which undoubtedly introduce new bugs or stability issues. So honestly quite the opposite is true now.
lol)
They constantly patch any security issues. I would like to know what bugs though so I can read up on it.