Posted by Jon Sacks on May 07, 2004 at 12:53:40:
Comet Suggestions
The number one feature that we would look for is the ability to print Native pdf (Adobe Portable document format) from within Comet. Although we can accomplish this today by printing to the accrobat or distiller output devices, significant operator intervention is requied.
It would be our suggestion that a new device be created that renders the PDF output and deposits the file in a specified directory. We feel that with all the 3rd party tools available, this would eliminate the need for the current spooler. The spooler is an outdated concept that fall short when dealing with graphic output.
The new device would be given a name in the same manner that a printer is specified in the .ini.
The attributes would be:
Device Name-Comet 3 byte printer name
Directory for output-Directory where the output file should be placed
Direct to Disk or Preview-A flag to indicate if this printer launches the acrobat reader or just places the file on disk.
Prompt for File Name Change-A flag to indicate if a windows dialog should be opened for naming the output file or use predefined convention.
We would further suggest that the naming convention for placing the files in the output directory be Program Name + User id (pn=name) + Create Date/Time. This would allow for a unique and easily identified output that could be browsed in windows explorer or any other 3rd party program for easy viewing.
We could also create some powerful extensions to this if Comet was able to return the full file path back to the application on the open or close via a function call or the system buffer. This would allow us to mail or manipulate the file further in the application once rendered.