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directly to this object with the DrawString method for text, or
add images with the DrawImage method. It also shares meth-
ods for drawings graphics with the regular .NET Graphics
class. Not everything here maps quite so directly to existing
.NET functionality, because ComponentOne does make
allowance for some unique PDF functionality. For example,
there are methods for adding bookmarks, links, and file
attachments to PDF files. In theory, you can create any PDF
document with this product, because there's a low-level .Write
method that lets you emit PDF code directly into the output
file. Most developers, though, probably won't want to deal
with the PDF specification at that level of detail.
In addition to working directly with the C1PdfDocument
object, you may choose to use any tool that can render con-
tent to a metafile or an RTF file, because ComponentOne PDF
can use those two types of content directly to create PDF
pages. The software supports multiple page sizes within a sin-
gle PDF file, as well as setting PDF security properties. A set
of samples in C# show the basics of using the component,
and there are both standalone and integrated help files avail-
able. ComponentOne offers a variety of support options from
newsgroup support through purchased incident support. The
product can be purchased as a standalone component or as
part of the more comprehensive ComponentOne Studio
Enterprise suite of components.
F
yT
ek
'
s PDF F
orms
Version 3.1 Windows EXE, DLL, .NET Version, $99.95
www.fytek.com/cgi-bin/getdemo.pl?prod=FRM
Licensing: Proprietary, per-user or per server
FyTek's PDF Forms product, despite the name, has nothing to
do with PDF form fields. Rather, it provides a novel way to cre-
ate PDF documents by merging an image file with a text file.
You start with a JPG or TIF image and a text file laid out so
that the information lines up with where you want it on the
finished page in a fixed width font. Then you feed them both
into FyTek's PDF Forms, and a PDF file comes out the other
end. Think of it as an all-electronic analog to running an old
paper form through a dot-matrix printer and you'll get the
idea. The product includes three versions of the software: an
executable controlled by command-line options, a standard
Windows DLL, and a .NET library. The latter two work by let-
ting you create a single object, setting lots of properties, and
calling a single method to create the output.
Documentation in the form of a PDF file includes all the
parameters and some sample code, and there is some addi-
tional sample code available for download along with a trial
version of the program. Support is by e-mail, with 90 days
free and extended support contracts available for purchase.
F
yT
ek
'
s PDF Meld
Version 5.2 Windows EXE, DLL, .NET Version, $29.95
www.fytek.com/cgi-bin/getdemo.pl?prod=MLD
Licensing: Proprietary, per-user or per server
PDF Meld is a batch-oriented application for manipulating PDF
files. It lets you perform a variety of operations, including
merging files, extracting pages, resizing and rotating page
contents, adding annotations or bookmarks to a PDF file,
adding page numbers, highlights, and graphics, adding or sav-
ing form data, and embedding or extracting files. PDF Meld
comes as an executable driven by switches and command
files, as a Win32 DLL, and as a .NET library. The latter is basi-
cally a single object with a whole mess of methods that match
the switches for the command-line version.
Documentation in the form of a PDF file includes all the
parameters and some sample code, and there is some addi-
tional sample code available for download along with a trial
version of the program. Support is by e-mail, with 90 days
free and extended support contracts available for purchase.
F
yT
ek
'
s PDF R
epor
t W
rit
er
Version 3.2 .NET Version, $299.95
www.fytek.com/cgi-bin/getdemo.pl?prod=RWN
Licensing: Proprietary, per-user or per server
PDF Report Writer is not, despite the name, a databound
reporting tool. Rather, it lets you create PDF files by supplying
their definition in plain-text files using an HTML-like markup
language. These markup files are read by the .NET library,
which spits out the resulting PDF when you call its
buildReport method. This method of building PDF files has the
advantage that designing the file is not itself a coding activity;
you need to learn a proprietary markup language, but PDF
development under this system is more akin to Web design
than writing .NET code.
The markup language supported by PDF Report Writer is
quite comprehensive. It includes support for running headers
and footers, nested tables, imported images with transparen-
cy, graphics including a sophisticated charting language, and
PDF form fields. You can create annotations and bookmarks
and include embedded files in the generated PDFs. Generated
PDFs can be output to files or to Web pages on the fly.
Documentation in the form of a PDF file includes all the
parameters and some sample code and report definitions. You
Still have questions, want more details, need advice, or have suggestions?
Visit h
t
tp://
f
orums
.ho
wt
o
s
elect
guide
s
.
c
om/
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/
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