RE: Convert *USRASCII spool file to PDF

Why not just use Mark Magic's PDF creation utilities ?

I thought they had something for this. Might be trying to pound a nail
with a sledgehammer :-)

Regards,
Richard Schoen
RJS Software Systems Inc.
"Get the information you need. Now!"
Email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web Site: http://www.rjssoftware.com
Tel: (952) 898-3038
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Toll Free: (888) RJSSOFT


-----Original Message-----
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message: 1
date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 13:08:47 -0500
from: "Vaidhyanathan, Prakash" <Prakash.VaidhyanAthan@xxxxxxxxxx>
subject: RE: Convert *USRASCII spool file to PDF

Hi Vern,
I was not aware that *USRASCII can be interpreted as anything like PDF,
TXT etc.. Scott Klement explained this well. We have a spool file that
includes BARCODES generated by a 3rd party application called Mark
Magic. This spool file is of type *USRASCII. The users send this file to
a barcode printer. The printed reports are then faxed all over the
company for pricing. Our requirement is now to send the spool file via
PDF or other formats through email to a bunch of users. The reason I
wondered about control characters was because we already use Peter
Clifford's spool to PDF utility that copies spool file using the CPYSPLF
command. The utility parses the spool file, appends PDF specific headers
and sends the resultant file via email. Since I couldn't use CPYSPLF on
a *USRASCII file, I used the spool API QSPGESTP to copy the contents of
the spool to a PF. I then bypassed the CPYSPLF command in the utility to
append PDF header and trailers in the resultant PF. I ran into problems
here because the utility looks for line and page spacing based on the
control characters in the spool (ideally the CPYSPLF command would have
appended the control characters to the PF). I could comment those
specific lines but all I get is a blank PDF.

Thanks,
Prakash