TEC-IT 7.0 TFORMer SDK Developer Manual

Below you will find brief information for TFORMer SDK 7.0. TFORMer SDK is a powerful tool for generating arbitrary documents, combining the features of barcode labeling tools with the characteristics of report generators into a unified printing solution. It provides professional layout and output capabilities, an integrated barcode generator, full-featured UNICODE support, output streaming and direct PDF generation. You can use TFORMer SDK with almost any established language and generate output in various formats, such as direct printing, PDF, PostScript, HTML, image formats, ZEBRA, ASCII.

PDF

Document

TFORMer SDK

Reporting and Labeling SDK

V e r s io n 7 . 0

Developer Manual

7 M a r c h 2 0 1 2

T EC - I T D a t e n v e r a r b e it u n g G m b H

H a n s -W a g n e r - St r a s s e 6

A- 4 4 0 0 S t e yr , A u s t r i a t + + 4 3 ( 0 ) 7 2 5 2 7 2 7 2 0 f + + 4 3 ( 0 ) 7 2 5 2 7 2 7 2 0 7 7 o f f ic e @ t e c - i t . c o m w w w . t e c - i t . c o m

T F O R M e r SD K D e v e l o p e r M a n u a l

1 Content

Content

Disclaimer

Introduction

TFORMer

Areas of Application for TFORMer SDK

Highlights of TFORMer SDK

Unified Output Solution

UNICODE Support

Barcode Support

Streaming

Reusable, Smart Form Layouts

Cross Platform

Small Footprint, High Performance

Installation on Microsoft Windows

6 Installation on Linux

or UNIX

Platform Specific Installation Hints

Deb (Debian) Installation

1.1.1.2

Deb (Debian) De-Installation

COM Component

Using the COM Object in Development Environments

Microsoft Visual Basic 6

Microsoft Visual C/C++ 6

Other Development Environments

Site Locking in MS-IE

.NET Component

DLL (Dynamic Link Library)

Introduction

Compiling Your Applications

Outline

More Information

Shared Library

Introduction

Compiling Your Own Applications

Outline

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Java Component

Command Line Application

For Microsoft Windows

12.3.2

For LINUX and UNIX

12.3.2.1

Generate all Templates as PDF

12.4

12.3.2.2

Generate Barcode-Labels (PDF-Output)

More Information

13.1

TFORMer SDK with Microsoft Office

Introduction

13.2

Hints for Different Office-Versions

13.2.1

Microsoft Word/Excel 2007

13.2.2

Microsoft Access 2007

13.2.3

Microsoft Word 2003 / Excel 2003

13.2.4

Microsoft Access 2003

13.2.5

Other Microsoft Office versions

13.3

More Information

14.1

TFORMer in Web Applications

TFORMer SDK with Web-Applications on Windows

14.1.1

Client-side use of TFORMer SDK

14.1.2

TFORMer SDK on a Windows-based Web-Server

14.1.3

Web Based Form Layouts

14.2

14.3

TFORMer SDK on Linux or UNIX Servers

TFORMer SDK on Java Web-Applications

15.1

FAQ

Linux/UNIX

15.1.1

TFORMer does not work

15.1.2

TFORMer SDK does not print texts (32 bit TFORMer on 64-bit systems)

15.1.3

TFORMer SDK does not print Umlauts (e.g. ÄÖÜäöüß)

15.1.4

Fonts are looking strange / Errors in the generated layout

15.1.4.1

Installing True Type fonts

15.1.5

The Library libTFORMer7 cannot be found

15.1.6

TFORMer Include Files are not found

15.1.7

ZLib was not found on HP-UX

15.1.8

The EURO sign (€) does not work on AIX

15.1.9

Mono cannot find TFORMerNet assembly

Contact and Support Information

Free Support

How to Unlock the Demo Version

Your Feedback is Welcome!

Company Contact Information

Appendix A : Terms and Definitions

Appendix B : Passing Data to TFORMer SDK

Internal TFORMer XML-Format

Microsoft Access XML-Format

Valid Column Separators

B.3.1.2

Valid Line Separators

B.3.1.3

Valid Text Qualifiers

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B.4

Important Notes

B.4.1.1

Empty or Missing Datafield Values

B.4.1.2

Additional Datafields in an Import File

B.4.1.3

Use of Escape Sequences (e.g. \n - Newline) in the Datafield Values

Appendix C : Configuration File TFORMer.xml

Location of TFORMer.xml on Microsoft Windows

Location of TFORMer.xml on LINUX or UNIX

Configuration File TFORMer.xml

Appendix D : Distribution and Deployment (Microsoft Windows)

Additional Requirements for PostScript/HTML Output

Distribution of TFORMer Document Layouts

Appendix E : Distribution and Deployment (Linux

or UNIX

Additional Requirements for PostScript/HTML Output

Distribution of TFORMer Document Layouts

1.1 Table of Figures

Figure 1: tfprint command line parameters

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2 Disclaimer

T F O R M e r SD K D e v e l o p e r M a n u a l

The actual version of this product (document) is available as is. TEC-IT declines all warranties which go beyond applicable rights. The licensee (or reader) bears all risks that might take place during the use of the system (the documentation). TEC-IT and its contractual partners cannot be penalized for direct and indirect damages or losses (this includes non-restrictive, damages through loss of revenues, constriction in the exercise of business, loss of business information or any kind of commercial loss), which is caused by use or inability to use the product (documentation), although the possibility of such damage was pointed out by TEC-IT.

We reserve all rights to this document and the information contained therein. Reproduction, use or disclosure to third parties without express authority is strictly forbidden.

Für dieses Dokument und den darin dargestellten Gegenstand behalten wir uns alle Rechte vor. Vervielfältigung, Bekanntgabe an Dritte oder Verwendung außerhalb des vereinbarten

Zweckes sind nicht gestattet.

TEC-IT Datenverarbeitung GmbH

Hans-Wagner-Str. 6

A-4400 Austria t.: +43 (0)7252 72720 f.: +43 (0)7252 72720 77 http://www.tec-it.com

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3 Introduction

T F O R M e r SD K D e v e l o p e r M a n u a l

3.1 TFORMer

The TFORMer product family represents a complete, lean and powerful solution for generating arbitrary documents. It combines the features of barcode labeling tools with the characteristics of report generators into a unified printing-solution. It provides professional layout and output capabilities, an integrated barcode generator, full-featured UNICODE support, output streaming and direct PDF generation.

3.2 Areas of Application for TFORMer SDK

TFORMer SDK provides the core output functionality of the TFORMer product family. It can be used on client and on server side and it is available for all major operating systems. It can be embedded in your own applications easily. Due to the support of multiple output formats TFORMer SDK has a wide field of applications:

►

Reporting Engine

For software developers the combination of TFORMer SDK and TFORMer Designer provides a generic reporting solution which enables end-customers to create, edit and print forms and labels.

►

PDF Library

TFORMer SDK creates high-quality PDF documents based on graphical layouts.

►

Industrial Printing

The built-in barcode support satisfies almost all industry labeling requirements.

►

Client- or Server based Reporting

When it comes to web applications TFORMer SDK reduces round-trips and bandwidth requirements. Direct printing or PDF generation from within Microsoft

Internet Explorer is supported.

►

Pre-Press and Print-Shop Applications

Mass-mailings and serial letters are created and printed within minutes.

3.3 This Document

The target audience of this document are software developers and system administrators. The information in this document provides a high-level introduction regarding the supported operating systems and the available APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) of TFORMer SDK.

For detailed information regarding programming TFORMer SDK we recommend to check out these additional documents:



TFORMer SDK

– DLL Programming Reference

This document describes the DLL API (Windows) as wells as the shared library API (Linux).



TFORMer SDK

– COM Programming Reference

This document describes the COM programming interface.



TFORMer SDK

– .NET Programming Reference

This document describes the .NET programming interface.



TFORMer SDK

– JAVA Programming Reference

This document describes the JAVA programming interface.



TFORMer Designer User Manual

This document provides an in-depth documentation of the graphical layout editor.

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4 Highlights of TFORMer SDK

4.1 Unified Output Solution

TFORMer SDK unifies output tasks. A specific form layout produces identical output across printer models, operating systems and output formats. Supported output formats are:



Direct Printing

Print layouts directly on all printers supported by Microsoft

Windows.



PDF

PDF export with full-featured barcode support, Unicode and font embedding.



PostScript

Used for printing under Linux/UNIX and for pre-press applications.



HTML

The built-in HTML output is ideal for previewing and for web-based applications.



Image Formats

The built-in image output supports BMP, GIF, JPG, PCX, TGA, PNG and TIF formats

(including multipage TIF).



ZEBRA

Print to ZEBRA

printers without any additional driver. ZPL-II output is generated directly.



ASCII

Pure ASCII output without any graphics for special purpose requirements.

4.2 UNICODE Support

The integrated UNICODE support allows you to use TFORMer SDK with almost any established language.

4.3 Barcode Support

TFORMer SDK offers integrated support for all linear, 2D and composite barcodes in common use.

4.4 Streaming

Most of the supported output formats can be created as pure in-memory stream without temporary files on the file-system.

4.5 Reusable, Smart Form Layouts

TFORMer SDK separates form layouts from the data. It does not bind form layouts to certain printer models or databases. The output is dynamically controlled by means of layout properties, conditional printing, tray control and individual computations.

4.6 Cross Platform

TFORMer SDK was designed to cover all operating systems in common use. It is available for

Microsoft

Windows and for major Mac

OS/Linux

/UNIX

variants.

Due to the nature of HTML some output features may be limited or not available.

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4.7 Small Footprint, High Performance

TFORMer SDK provides high performance PDF and printer output in combination with very low system requirements (only 20 MB hard-disc space required on Microsoft

Windows).

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5 Installation on Microsoft Windows

5.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the installation of TFORMer SDK on Microsoft

Windows. The setup application comes as MSI file (Microsoft

Windows Installer). MSI setups can be installed without any additional tool on Windows XP, Windows Vista

, Windows 7

, Windows Server 2003, Windows

Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 or higher.

The TFORMer SDK core components do not rely on .NET 2.0 but TFORMer SDK ships with some .NET based components like a .NET assembly, .NET sample applications and the printing tool TFORMer QuickPrint. If you are interested in these features install the .NET 2.0 runtime before installing TFORMer SDK.

TFORMer SDK is available for 32 bit and 64 bit Windows. Please make sure that you install the 64 bit version if you are using a 64 bit Windows operating system. The 64 bit version includes all 32 bit components in addition (e.g. 32 bit TFORMer COM API).

5.2 General

The installation of TFORMer SDK is straight-forward, the MSI setup application will install the

TFORMer SDK components, sample applications and documentation.

The default installation path is:

C:\Program Files\TEC-IT\TFORMer7 SDK

►

Please note that even the 64 bit DLLs will be installed into the x86 folder on 64 bit Microsoft

Windows platforms (which is usually C:\Program Files (x86)).

5.3 Sample Applications

Depending on your Windows version the sample applications and layout templates are installed in one of the following directories (please note that Windows Explorer does not display the folder

ProgramData by default, you need to enable Show hidden files and folders in the Folder and Search

options):

C:\ProgramData\TEC-IT\TFORMer\7.0 or:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\TEC-IT\TFORMer\7.0

5.4 Supported APIs

After installation the functionality of TFORMer SDK is available via the following APIs:

►

COM Component

This API is available via the file TFORMerCOM70.dll. The COM component is registered automatically by the setup application.

►

.NET Component

The file TECIT.TFORMer.dll provides the .NET functionality. .NET 2.0 or higher is required.

The .NET assembly is automatically installed in the GAC as well as in the Bin directory.

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►

DLL

TFormer70.dll is a 32-bit Windows DLL, TFormer70x64.dll is the 64 bit variant of it (this naming scheme applies to all DLLs as well). The corresponding library and include files are

named TFormer70.lib and TFormer7.h. For Linux and UNIX please refer to chapter 6.

►

Command Line Application

The command-line based executable is named

tfprint.exe.

The command line application is

also available for Linux and UNIX. For details, please refer to chapter 6.

►

JAVA

The JAVA API can be integrated in J2EE architectures (web applications or web services) and GUI applications (e.g. Swing, AWT). JAVA version 1.5 or higher is required.

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6 Installation on Linux

or UNIX

6.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the installation of TFORMer SDK on Linux

and UNIX

® based operating systems. Depending on the operating system TFORMer SDK is available as rpm or tarball. For

details, please refer to section 6.5.

For a list of Linux or UNIX distributions which are supported with ready-to-run binaries please check out http://www.tec-it.com. If you need binaries for your specific platform please let us know.

Whenever possible, we provide them on request. In some cases we perform remote builds after signing a NDA.

►

Please note that the report and label designer TFORMer Designer is only available for

Microsoft Windows.

6.2 General

The default installation path of TFORMer SDK is

/usr/local/

The TFORMer SDK Command Line Application

tfprint

is installed into

/usr/local/bin/tfprint

All configuration files, the license file tfprint.ini and sample applications are located in the following directory:

/usr/local/share/TFORMer/

This directory contains the following subdirectories:



Templates: contains ready-to-use layout templates designed with TFORMer Designer.



Examples: contains folders with sample source code (see section 6.3)



Demos: contains sample shell scripts which demonstrate the use of

tfprint

(see chapter 12).



Credits: this folder holds license information for used 3 rd

party software.



APIDocs: C/C++ API reference



Java: JAVA API reference and JAR file

The include files needed for software development are stored in:

/usr/local/include/

/usr/local/include/TECITSTd/

The developer documentation is available by opening index.html with your browser in:

/usr/local/share/TFORMer/APIDocs

/usr/local/share/TFORMer/java/APIDocs

Additional documentation is available through a man page.

$ man tfprint

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6.3 Sample Applications

The directory

/usr/local/share/TFORMer/Examples contains a sample repository in the directory



Demo Repository the forms contained in this repository are used by sample applications

Sample applications with source code are also included:



SampleCode

This sample is written in C (TFORMerSimpleX.c). It generates barcode labels as a PDF document.



SampleCodeCGI

This web-based PHP CGI sample creates PDF files from user supplied data using

tfprint



SampleCodeNet, SampleCodeNetDataSource

This sample demonstrates the use of the C# DLL with Mono. It generates barcode labels as a PDF-Document. Please note: This sample requires the TECIT.TFORMer.dll.



SampleCodeJava, SampleCodeJavaDataSource

These samples demonstrates the use of the JAVA API.

6.4 Supported APIs

After installation the functionality of TFORMer SDK is available via the following APIs:

►

Shared Library

named libTFORMer7.so or libTFORMer7.a. The interface of the shared library is 100% compatible with the DLL API on Microsoft

Windows.

►

JAVA API

the JAVA interface is available in the file JTFORMer70.jar.

►

MONO (.NET) API

the .NET interface is available in the file TECIT.TFORMer.dll.

►

Command Line Application

The command-line based executable is named

tfprint

6.5 Platform Specific Installation Hints

6.5.1 Linux

(deb- or rpm-based)

6.5.1.1 Dependencies

Before installing TFORMer SDK make sure to check if the following packages are available: fontconfig-2.2.9 freetype2-2.1.7 libxml2-2.6.7 libxslt-1.1.14 cups-1.1.20 (or later) unixODBC-2.2.11 (optional; only required if SQL is used) libart_lgpl_2-2.3.19 (optional; only required for image, HTML and ZPL-II output)

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6.5.1.2 Rpm Installation

Install the executables for TFORMer SDK (which also include some sample applications) with the following command (as root-user) within the shell:

$ su

$ sh TFORMer-7.0.2-1.i586.rpm.bin

After confirming the license agreement with

yes

this script installs the rpm. After the installation you will be asked if you want to generate a demo-report.

1.1.1.1 Rpm De-Installation

TFORMer SDK can be de-installed using the commands below:

$ su

$ rpm -e TFORMer

6.5.1.3 Deb (Debian) Installation

Install the executables for TFORMer SDK including some sample applications with the following command (as root-user) within the shell:

$ sudo su

$ sh TFORMer-7.0.2-1-i386.deb.bin

After confirming the license agreement with

yes

this script installs the rpm. After the installation you will be asked if you want to generate a demo-report.

1.1.1.2 Deb (Debian) De-Installation

TFORMer SDK can be de-installed using the commands below:

$ sudo su

$ dpkg -r TFORMer

6.5.2 HP-UX

(tarball)

6.5.2.1 Dependencies

Before installing TFORMer SDK make sure to check if the following packages are available: freetype-2.1.10-ia64-11.23.depot libxml2-2.6.23-ia64-11.23.depot gettext-0.14.5-ia64-11.23.depot libxslt-1.1.15-ia64-11.23.depot expat-1.95.8-ia64-11.23.depot lcms-1.15-ia64-11.23.depot.gz zlib-1.2.3-ia64-11.23.depot fontconfig-2.3.2-ia64-11.23.depot libiconv-1.10-ia64-11.23.depot libart_lgpl-2.3.21-ia64-11.31.depot (only required for image, HTML and ZPL-II output)

A good place for downloading precompiled packages is: http://hpux.connect.org.uk/

6.5.2.2 Installation

TFORMer SDK installation is straight forward. TFORMer is distributed as tarball which includes an install script.

$ gunzip SetupTFORMer-7.0.2-HPUX11.23-IA64.tar.gz

$ tar xf SetupTFORMer-7.0.2-HPUX11.23-IA64.tar

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$ cd SetupTFORMer

$ sh install.sh

After confirming the license agreement with

yes

this script installs TFORMer. After the installation you will be asked if you want to generate a demo-report.

6.5.3 AIX

(tarball)

6.5.3.1 Dependencies

Before installing TFORMer SDK make sure to check if the following packages are available:

►

Installation of the RPM package manager is a must!

AIX 4.3

rpm.rte.3.0.5.30 fontconfig-2.2.0-1.aix4.3.ppc.rpm freetype2-2.1.5-1.aix4.3.ppc.rpm libxml2-2.6.20-1.aix4.3.ppc.rpm zlib-1.1.4-3.aix4.3.ppc.rpm

AIX 5.x, AIX 6.1

rpm.rte.3.0.5.30 fontconfig-2.2.2-3.aix5.1.ppc.rpm freetype2-2.1.7-2.aix5.1.ppc.rpm libxml2-2.6.21-4.aix5.2.ppc.rpm zlib-1.2.2-4.aix5.1.ppc.rpm libart_lgpl-2.3.17-4.aix5.1.ppc.rpm libxslt-1.1.5-2.aix5.1.ppc.rpm

It is necessary to extract some libraries from their archives and create symbolic links: cd /opt/freeware/lib

# extract shared library and create a link ar -x libfreetype.a ln -sf libfreetype.so.6 libfreetype.so

# extract shared library and create a link ar -x libart_lgpl_2.a ln -sf libart_lgpl_2.so.2 libart_lgpl_2.so

Good places for downloading precompiled packages are:

 http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/aixos/linux/download.html

 ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/RPMS/ppc

6.5.3.2 Installation

The installation is identical to HP-UX (see section 6.5.2.2).

6.5.4 Solaris

(tarball)

6.5.4.1 Dependencies

Before installing TFORMer SDK make sure to check if the following packages are available: freetype-2.3.1-sol10-x86-local.gz fontconfig-2.4.2-sol10-x86-local.gz

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6.5.4.2 Installation

To install TFORMer SDK for Solaris 10 perform the following steps: gunzip TFORMer-7.0.0-solaris10.x86.tar.gz cp TFORMer-7.0.0-solaris10.x86.tar / cd / tar xvf TFORMer-7.0.0-solaris10.x86.tar

TFORMer is now installed in

/usr/local/bin/



The configuration file and documentation can be found in

/usr/local/share/TFORMer



You should now be able to print a demo PDF by executing:

/usr/local/share/TFORMer/Demos/DemoBarcodeLabels.sh

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7 COM Component

7.1 Introduction

COM components (Component Object Model) are software components which can be integrated seamlessly into other software products or used with development environments like:



Visual

Basic

, Visual C++, Visual Studio .NET, Visual Studio 2008 or higher, Borland C++

Builder, Borland Delphi, …



Microsoft Office product suite (in conjunction with Visual Basic for Applications

– VBA)



HTML pages on client- or server-side (ASP, ASP .NET, VBScript, Internet Explorer,

…)



Command-line based scripting environments (Visual Basic Scripting Host)

►

Please note: COM technology is only available on Microsoft Windows.

7.2 Outline

►

The name of the type library is TFORMer 7.0 SDK Type Library.

►

The GUID is 03234571-9079-45aa-921B-51BAEC081851.

►

The Class ID of the COM Control is 68A42B0A-0C5A-4569-AED5-6026B95A602B.

The general steps for using the COM API of TFORMer SDK are:

1. Embed the TFORMer COM component into your application or document. Usually this is done by establishing a reference to the

“TFORMer 7.0 SDK Type Library”.

2. Create an instance of the “TFORMer70Lib.TFORMer” COM class.

3. Create a job-instance.

4. Create a datasource instance and connect the job with the datasource.

5. Set the properties of the job object (e.g. name of the form layout, output type and printer name).

6. Provide or import the values for data fields via the datasource object.

7. Finally call the Print method.

The general VBA-code for using TFORMer SDK looks as follows:

' This code snippet demonstrates the basic steps for using the TFORMer SDK - COM component from within VBA. Take care to establish a reference to TFORMer 7.0 SDK Type Library beforehand!

Private Sub TFORMer_Output()

' Declare the variables

Dim TFormer

Dim PrintJob

Dim DataSource As TFORMer70Lib.IDataSourceRecordSet

' create a TFORMer SDK instance

Set TFormer = CreateObject("TFORMer70Lib.TFormer")

' create a job object with TFORMer

Set PrintJob = TFormer.CreateJob

' create (and connect) a data source for providing datafields values

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Set DataSource = printjob.NewDataSourceRecordSet

' select the form layout to be printed/generated, select type and name of the output

PrintJob.RepositoryName = "FILENAME_OF_YOUR_FORMLAYOUT.tff"

PrintJob.OutputName = "C:\temp\output.pdf"

PrintJob.PrinterType = TECIT.TFORMer.PrinterType.PdfFile

' provide data for the datafields used in the form layout

DataSource.AddNewRecord

DataSource.SetDataField "NAME_OF_YOUR_DATAFIELD", "This is the value of the datafield"

' Finally print the form layout

printjob.PrintForm

End Sub

7.3 Using the COM Object in Development Environments

7.3.1 Microsoft Visual Basic 6

1. Open or create your Visual Basic Project.

2. Choose

Project

► References

from the menu.

3. Choose TFORMer 7.0 SDK Type Library from the list, select the entry and click

4. Now you can use the COM based API of TFORMer SDK in your program.

7.3.2 Microsoft Visual C/C++ 6

1. Open and create your MFC application (e.g. by using the MFC App Wizard). Make sure that

Enable Automation is adjusted in your project.

2. Choose menu

View

► ClassWizard

to enter the Class Wizard.

3. Choose the button

Add Class

►

From a type library

and select TFORMerCOM70.dll from the installation path of TFORMer (Bin subdirectory).

4. Now the type library is read from this DLL and the implemented classes (IJob,

IDataSourceRecordSet…) are displayed in the Confirm Classes dialog.

5. Proceed with

6. After this step you can see the new TFORMer COM classes in the ClassView.

7. Include the generated header file tformercom70.h into your cpp file.

8. TFORMer SDK may now be used in your MFC application.

7.3.3 Other Development Environments

Please refer to the documentation of your development environment.

7.4 Site Locking in MS-IE

Using the TFORMer SDK COM component within Microsoft

Internet Explorer is restricted by

“Site

Locking”. This prevents potentially harmful websites from damaging your local system, e.g. by overwriting system files on your local hard drive.

Site locking restricts the use of an ActiveX control to a predetermined list of domain names or security zones. As long as a specific domain or protocol is not unlocked in the registry, the

TFORMer COM component cannot be used within Microsoft Internet Explorer.

►

For details please refer to the TFORMer SDK Developer Reference (see section

Introduction: Security).

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7.5 More Information

For more information, please check out the following documents and sample applications:



COM Programming Reference

Start Menu ► All Programs ►TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►

API References

►COM

Programming Reference



Sample Microsoft

Excel Spreadsheet using TFORMer SDK

Start Menu ►All Programs ►TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►Examples ►Microsoft Office

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8 .NET Component

8.1 Introduction

The TFORMer SDK .NET component is perfect suited for application development with any .NET programming language (or Mono on Linux/UNIX).



On Microsoft Windows the setup application installs the TFORMer assembly automatically in the GAC (Global Assembly Cache) and in the Bin subdirectory of the TFORMer SDK default installation path. The .NET classes can be used immediately with development environments like Microsoft Visual Studio.



On Linux the setup scripts are installing the suitable Mono-bindings automatically. Please note, that the .NET developer reference is only available in the Windows installation.

►

On Microsoft

Windows the TFORMer SDK .NET component requires .NET 2.0 or higher.

►

On Linux/UNIX TFORMer SDK for .NET works with Mono 1.2.3 or higher (Mono is the open source equivalent for .NET).

8.2 Outline

►

When establishing a reference the name of the .NET component is TFORMer 7.0 SDK (file

TECIT.TFORMer.dll).

The general steps for using the TFORMer SDK .NET assembly are:

1. Establish a reference to TFORMer 7.0 SDK.

2. Depending on the programming language include the TECIT.TFORMer namespace.

3. Create a job-instance (TECIT.TFORMer.Job).

4. Create a jobdata instance (TECIT.TFORMer.JobData or derived classes).

5. Connect the job with the jobdata.

6. Set the properties of the job to the required values (e.g. name of the form layout, output type and printer name).

7. Provide or import the values for data fields via the jobdata.

8. Finally generate the required output with the Print method.

The general code for using TFORMer SDK in Visual Basic .NET looks as follows:

' This code snippet demonstrates the basic steps for using the TFORMer SDK - from within

' VB .NET. Take care to establish a reference to TFORMer 7.0 SDK from within your

' project!

Private Sub TFORMer_Output ()

' Declare the variables

Dim job As TECIT.TFORMer.Job

Dim jobdata As TECIT.TFORMer.JobDataRecordSet

' create objects for a job and a jobdata

job = New TECIT.TFORMer.Job

jobdata = New TECIT.TFORMer.JobDataRecordSet

' connect the jobdata with the job

job.JobData = jobdata

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' select the form layout to be printed/generated, adjust the type and name of the output

job.RepositoryName = "FILENAME_OF_YOUR_FORMLAYOUT.tff"

job.OutputName = "C:\temp\output.pdf"

job.PrinterType = TECIT.TFORMer.PrinterType.PdfFile

' provide data for the datafields used in the form layout

Dim record As TECIT.TFORMer.Record

record = New TECIT.TFORMer.Record

record.Data.Add "NAME_OF_YOUR_DATAFIELD", "This is the value of the datafield")

jobdata.Records.Add(record)

' finally print it

job.Print()

End Sub

8.3 More Information

For more information, please check out the following documents and sample applications:



NET Programming Reference

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►

API References

► .NET

Programming Reference



Sample Code

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ► Examples ► Programming

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9 DLL (Dynamic Link Library)

9.1 Introduction

Besides the COM and .NET Interface, the TFORMer SDK contains also a Microsoft

Windows DLL

(32 bit/64 bit). A DLL is a library, which offers its functionality via a documented interface. DLLs can be used in



Most programming languages and development environments (e.g.: Visual C/C++,.NET, all versions of

Visual Studio, Visual Basic, Borland C++ Builder, Borland Delphi, …)



Web-based scripting languages like PHP

►

Please note: The DLL is only available on Microsoft

Windows. If you need to use a DLL-like

interface on Linux/UNIX please use the shared library (see chapter 10).

9.2 Compiling Your Applications

The files TFormer70.lib (library) and TFormer7.h (header file) are required to compile and link your own applications with the TFORMer DLL. These files are usually stored in one of the following folders:

C:\Program Files\TEC-IT\TFORMer7\Bin

C:\Program Files (x86)\TEC-IT\TFORMer7\Bin

Make sure the compiler and the linker are able to locate these files.

9.3 Outline

The general steps for using the TFORMer DLL are:

1. Include TFormer7.h. Make sure to define TECIT_DLLIMPORT before including the header file.

Initialize the TFORMer DLL and save the handle (TFormer_Init).

Select the form layout to be printed (TFormer_SetRepositoryName).

Select the type of the output and the target file or device (TFormer_SetPrinterName).

5. Provide values for datafields (if any) in the form layout.

Generate or print the output (TFormer_Print).

De-initialize TFORMer SDK (TFormer_Exit).

The general C-code for using TFORMer DLL looks as follows:

// This is not a complete application. It is just a sample without any error handling

// to demonstrate the basic steps for using the DLL interface

// define TECIT_DLLIMPORT before including TFormer7.h!

#define TECIT_DLLIMPORT

#include "PATH_TO_TFORMER/TFormer7.h"

#undef TECIT_DLLIMPORT

// Handle for TFORMer SDK

HTFORM hTForm = NULL;

// initialize TFORMer SDK

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hTForm = TFormer_Init (NULL);

/* Select the form to be printed

TFormer_SetRepositoryName (hTForm, "FILENAME_OF_YOUR_FORMLAYOUT.tff");

/* use the default printer of the system */

TFormer_SetPrinterName (hTForm, NULL, NULL);

/* Add a Data record */

TFormer_NewRecord (hTForm);

/* Set a Datafield value */

TFormer_SetVarValue (hTForm, "NAME_OF_YOUR_DATAFIELD", "Value of the datafield");

/* Start printing */

TFormer_Print (hTForm);

/* Exit TFORMer */

TFormer_Exit (hTForm);

9.4 More Information

Check out the following documents and sample applications for more information:



DLL Programming Reference

Start Me nu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►

API References

► DLL

Programming Reference



Sample applications with source code

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ► Examples ► Programming



Appendix B describes how data is provided to TFORMer SDK.



Appendix C describes how to adjust general output options.

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10 Shared Library

10.1 Introduction

A shared library on Linux or UNIX is the counterpart to a DLL on Microsoft

Windows. Such a library offers its functionality via a documented interface to applications. All programming languages on

Linux/UNIX are able to use shared libraries.

►

Please note: The shared library is only available on Linux/UNIX. If you need to use a similar interface on Microsoft

Windows please use the DLL (see chapter 9).

10.2 Compiling Your Own Applications

The following files are required to build your own applications with the shared library:



TFormer7.h: This is the include file for the TFORMer SDK shared library API.



TECITStd.h: An additional include file for Linux/UNIX.



libTFORMer7.so: This is the shared library.



libTFORMer7.a: This is the static library version of TFORMer SDK.

After the shared library of TFORMer SDK has been installed the include files TFormer7.h and

TECITStd.h are stored in:

/usr/local/include/

/usr/local/include/TECITSTd/

Make sure the compiler and the linker are able to locate these files. Compile and link your applications with a command similar to the following (see also the shell script build_sample.sh):

$ gcc TFORMerSimpleX.c -o TFORMerSimpleX -ldl

–lTFORMer7 -L/usr/local/lib -I/usr/local/include

10.3 Outline

The general steps for using the shared or static library are:

1. Make sure to define TECIT_DLLIMPORT and _TEC_UNIX and TEC_UNIX_BUILD.

2. Depending on your platform define TEC_LINUX, TEC_FREEBSD, TEC_AIX, TEC_HPUX,

TEC_SOLARIS, TEC_OS400 or TEC_SCO. Only one platform is allowed!

Include TECITStd.h and TFormer7.h.

Initialize the TFORMer Shared Library and save the handle (TFormer_Init).

Select the form layout to be printed (TFormer_SetRepositoryName).

6. Select the type of the output and the target file or device (TFormer_SetPrinterName).

7. Provide values for datafields (if any) in the form layout.

Generate or print the output (TFormer_Print).

De-initialize the TFORMer Library (TFormer_Exit).

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The general C-code for using TFORMer SDK looks as follows:

// This is not a complete application. It is just a sample without any error handling

// to demonstrate the basic steps for using the DLL interface

// define TECIT_DLLIMPORT before including TFormer7.h!

#define TECIT_DLLIMPORT

/* enable a TFORMer Unix build using the two defines below */

#define _TEC_UNIX

#define TEC_UNIX_BUILD

/* Set the define for the concrete OS you are using */

#define TEC_LINUX

/* #define TEC_FREEBSD */

/* #define TEC_AIX */

/* #define TEC_HPUX */

/* #define TEC_SOLARIS */

/* #define TEC_OS400 */

/* #define TEC_SCO */

/* include the TECITStd header for required defines */

#include <TECITStd/TECITStd.h>

/* include TFORMer7.h */

#include <TFormer7.h>

/* undefine - as they are only required for TFORMer Header files */

#undef TECIT_DLLIMPORT

#undef _TEC_UNIX

#undef TEC_UNIX_BUILD

// Handle for TFORMer SDK

HTFORM hTForm = NULL;

// initialize TFORMer SDK hTForm = TFormer_Init (NULL);

/* Select the form to be printed

TFormer_SetRepositoryName (hTForm, "FILENAME_OF_YOUR_FORMLAYOUT.tff");

/* use the CUPS default printer of the system */

TFormer_SetPrinterName (hTForm, NULL, NULL);

/* Add a Data record */

TFormer_NewRecord (hTForm);

/* Set a Datafield value */

TFormer_SetVarValue (hTForm, "NAME_OF_YOUR_DATAFIELD", "Value of the datafield");

/* Start printing */

TFormer_Print (hTForm);

/* Exit TFORMer */

TFormer_Exit (hTForm);

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10.4 Sample Application

A sample application which uses the shared library is installed in:

/usr/local/share/TFORMer/SampleCode

This C code generates a PDF file with barcode labels. The sample application uses the same docu-

ment layout as the script DemoBarcodeLabels.sh mentioned in section 12.3.2.2. Datafield values

are passed programmatically.

Compile it by executing:

$ gcc TFORMerSimpleX.c -o TFORMerSimpleX -ldl

–lTFORMer7 -L/usr/local/lib -I/usr/local/include

10.5 More Information

For more information, please check out the following documents and sample applications:



DLL Programming Reference

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►

API References

► DLL

Programming Reference



Sample Applications with source code

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ► Examples ► Programming



Appendix B describes how data is provided to TFORMer SDK.



Appendix C describes how to adjust general output options.

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11 Java Component

11.1 Introduction

The Java component of TFORMer SDK is a Java Native Interface (JNI) software layer between the

TFORMer SDK (DLL/Shared Library) and the Java Virtual Machine. The architecture of this wrapper is composed by:



The library TFORMer70 (DLL or shared library), in order to execute the TFORMer SDK;



The JNI library TFORMer70JNI (DLL or shared library), to translate the Java calls to the

TFORMer SDK requests and responses;



The Java library TFormer70.jar, to simplify the access to the TFORMer SDK.

In particular, the Java library is built following the .NET architecture in order to maintain a simply and uniform program interface. It's important that the paths of the TFORMer SDK

– DLL (or shared library on UNIX platform) and the JNI library are included into the java.library.path of the Java

Virtual Machine: so, you must ensure that your system respects one of the following cases: these libraries are

 defined into the environment variable PATH (Windows), LD_LIBRARY_PATH (Linux and

Macintosh), SHLIB (HPUX) or LIBPATH (AIX);

 defined into the parameter -Djava.library.path of the java command;

 defined as system libraries.

Naturally, the Java library (JTFormer70.jar) must be included in the classpath of the javac/java command in order to compile and execute your projects.

11.2 Outline

The general steps for using the Java component of TFORMer SDK are:

1. Include the com.tecit.TFORMer and com.tecit.TFORMer.Printing namespaces.

2. Create a job-instance (com.tecit.TFORMer.Printing.Job).

3. Create a datasource instance (with the derived classes of

com.tecit.TFORMer.Printing.JobDataSource).

4. Connect the job with the datasource.

5. Use the setter methods of the job to define the required values (e.g. name of the form layout, output type and printer name).

6. Provide or import the values for data fields via the datasource.

7. Generate the required output with the print method.

8. Finally free the resources allocated using the dispose method.

The general Java code for using TFORMer SDK looks as follows:

// This code snippet demonstrates the basic steps for using the TFORMer SDK from within

// Java. Take care to include the TFORMer Java library in your project and to include the

// TFORMer SDK and JNI DLL/shared library into the java.library.path import com.tecit.TFORMer.*; import com.tecit.TFORMer.Enumerations.*; import com.tecit.TFORMer.Printing.JobDataRecordSet; import com.tecit.TFORMer.Printing.Job; import com.tecit.TFORMer.Printing.JobDataRecordSet.Record; private void printWithJTFORMer() throws TFormerException

{

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// create objects for a job and a datasource

// NOTE: the constructor can generate an exception if the TFORMer SDK is not

// accessible (java.library.path doesn't contain the TFORMer DLLs or shared libraries)

Job job = new Job();

JobDataRecordSet datasource = new JobDataRecordSet();

try {

// connect the datasource with the job

job.setJobData(datasource);

// select the form layout to be printed/generated,

// adjust the type and name of the output

job.setRepositoryName("FILENAME_OF_YOUR_FORMLAYOUT.tff");

job.setOutputName("C:\\temp\\output.pdf");

job.setPrinterType(EPrinterType.PSFile);

// provide data for the datafields used in the form layout

Record record = new JobDataRecordSet.Record();

record.setData("NAME_OF_YOUR_DATAFIELD", "This is the value of the datafield");

datasource.add(record);

// finally print it

job.print()

}

catch(TFormerException ex)

{

throw ex;

}

Finally

{

// dispose ALWAYS the resources in order to free the TFORMer SDK resources

job.dispose();

job = null;

}

►

Please note: In order to free the resources allocated by TFORMer SDK, it's important to call the method dispose of the JTFormer classes. A use of the TFORMer Java classes without the invocation of the method dispose can cause memory allocation problems and leaks.

11.3 More Information

For more information, please check out the following documents and sample applications:



Java Programming Reference

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►

API References

► Java

Programming Reference



Sample Code

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ► Examples ► Programming

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12 Command Line Application

12.1 Introduction

The TFORMer SDK command line application is available for Microsoft

Windows, Linux

and

UNIX

. It generates output based on arbitrary form layouts created with TFORMer Designer.

The executable is named

tfprint

(or

tfprint.exe

on Microsoft

Windows) and can be used

 on its own (executed manually)

 as part of batch jobs or shell scripts

 via “shell-execute” as “out-of-process” reporting engine

 as extension for printer filter applications on Linux/UNIX

12.2 Outline

The general steps for using

tfprint

are:

1. Create the required form layouts using TFORMer Designer.

2. Provide data for the form layouts via XML, CSV, TXT or ODBC datasources.

3. Embed

tfprint

into your batch-job, shell script or applications.

►

On Microsoft

Windows the files for the form layouts or file-based datasources (XML, CSV or

TXT) may be provided as a filename (as file stored in the file system) or as http-based URL.

Figure 1: tfprint command line parameters

When using

tfprint

to generate output you need at least 3 parameter groups:

 the form layout (command line parameter

–F

)

 the datasource (command line parameters

–D, –DT, –DO

)

 the type and target of the generated output (command line parameters

–O, –OT, –OO

)

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12.3 Samples

12.3.1 For Microsoft Windows

In the example below

tfprint

is used to generate a form layout (MyLayout.tff) using the datasource

MyValues.txt (a datasource contains values for datafields) as a PDF document named Output.pdf:

tfprint -F MyLayout.tff -D "MyValues.txt" -DT TEXT -DO SC, QC\" -O Output.pdf -OT PDF

Numerous sample applications are installed by the setup application

– check out the following menu entry for details:

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ► Examples ► Command Line Printing

12.3.2 For LINUX and UNIX

12.3.2.1 Generate all Templates as PDF

In order to generate all form layouts stored in the Templates directory as PDF-files execute the following script:

$ sh /usr/local/share/TFORMer/Demos/DemoPDF.sh

The resulting PDF-files are created in your current working directory. The generated PDF files will need about 60 MB of disc space!

12.3.2.2 Generate Barcode-Labels (PDF-Output)

This script generates barcode labels as PDF-file:

$ sh /usr/local/share/TFORMer/Demos/DemoBarcodeLabels.sh

The layout for the label is stored in the demo repository. The result is created in your current working directory.

12.4 More Information

For more information, please check out the following documents:



Check out the TFPrint User Manual.

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►Documentation ► TFPrint

User Manual



Execute

tfprint

–h

to display a detailed description of the command line parameters. On

Linux/UNIX type

man tfprint

to display the man-pages.



Check out the TFORMer Designer User Manual

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 ►Documentation ► TFORMer

Designer Manual



Appendix B describes how data is provided to TFORMer SDK.



Appendix C describes how to adjust general output options.

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13 TFORMer SDK with Microsoft Office

13.1 Introduction

Most applications of the Microsoft

Office Suite are supporting the Component Object Model

(COM). That means that COM-compliant software components like the TFORMer SDK can be embedded and programmed directly as part of documents, spreadsheets, forms or databases.

The integration of COM components into the Microsoft

Office Suite works completely seamlessly.

For example the TFORMer SDK can be embedded into Microsoft

Access

™ for printing barcode labels or generating PDF output.

Within the Microsoft

Office suite VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is used as programming language. Thus, the functionality of the TFORMer SDK is also accessible via VBA.

13.2 Hints for Different Office-Versions

This section concentrates on the first steps for integrating the COM component of TFORMer SDK into a specific Microsoft

Office product.

►

D epending on the application it may be necessary to switch to “design” or “edit” mode in order to create VBA program code.

► Macros must be activated/enabled (Word, Excel…).

►

The security settings of the container application must be adjusted to allow active content or macros. Scripting has to be enabled.

13.2.1 Microsoft Word/Excel 2007

1. Open or create your document.

Enable the developer tab in the ribbon (

Office Button

► Word/Excel Options ► Show

Developer tab in the Ribbon

3. Activate the Developer tab.

4. Click

Visual Basic

to open the Microsoft

Visual Basic editor.

(Alternatively you can also use the shortcut

Alt+F11

5. Click

Tools

► References

and check TFORMer 7.0 SDK Type Library to insert a reference to TFORMer SDK.

6. Click

OK.

7. TFORMer SDK may now be used with VBA.

13.2.2 Microsoft Access 2007

1. Open or create your database.

Edit or create a new form (or report) by clicking

Create

►Form Design

(or

Report Design).

3. Click

View Code

in the “Design” ribbon or use the shortcut

Alt+F11

to open the Microsoft

Visual Basic editor.

4. Click

Tools

► References

and check TFORMer 7.0 SDK Type Library to insert a reference to TFORMer SDK.

Click

OK.

6. TFORMer SDK may now be used with VBA.

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13.2.3 Microsoft Word 2003 / Excel 2003

1. Open or create your document.

2. Activate the

Visual Basic-Editor

. This can be done by pressing the keyboard shortcut

Alt+F11

or by enabling the Visual Basic toolbar and clicking onto the Visual Basic-Editor button.

3. In the Visual Basic editor click

Tools

► References

and check TFORMer 7.0 SDK Type

Library to insert a reference to TFORMer SDK.

4. Click

OK.

5. TFORMer SDK may now be used with VBA.

13.2.4 Microsoft Access 2003

1. Open or create your database.

2. Create a form or report by selecting

Insert

► Form

(

Report

) in the menu.

3. An empty form (or report) is opened.

4. Make sure the Design view is activated. This can be done by selecting

View

► Design

in the menu.

5. Open the Visual Basic-Editor by selecting

View

► Code

in the menu or by clicking the

View

Code

symbol in the Form Design toolbar.

6. In the Visual Basic editor click

Tools

► References

and check TFORMer 7.0 SDK Type

Library to insert a reference to TFORMer SDK.

7. Click

OK.

8. TFORMer SDK may now be used with VBA.

13.2.5 Other Microsoft Office versions

The required steps are similar to the steps outlined for Microsoft

Office 2003.

13.3 More Information

For more information, please check out the following documents and sample applications:



COM Programming Reference

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►

API References

► COM

Programming Reference



Sample Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet using TFORMer SDK

Start Menu ► All Programs ► TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ► Examples ► Microsoft Office

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14 TFORMer in Web Applications

14.1 TFORMer SDK with Web-Applications on Windows

14.1.1 Client-side use of TFORMer SDK

When printing from within a web browser the user usually has to confirm the print job by selecting a target printer (this is due to browser implementation details). You can avoid this limitation by using the COM component of TFORMer SDK. It enables your web-based application to print to arbitrary printers without any user interaction.

These are the steps to use the COM based API of TFORMer SDK within web pages on client-side:

1. The TFORMer SDK COM component has to be installed on each client. Take care that only

Microsoft

Internet Explorer is supported. A CAB file for automatic installation is available from TEC-IT.

2. Use VBScript

or JavaScript

in a web-page which instantiates a TFORMer class (a sample using VBScript is installed by the setup). Check out the following menu entry:

Start

Menu ►All Programs ►TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►Examples ►Programming

3. Provide the form layouts either locally on the client, on a shared network folder, as BASE64 strings embedded directly into the HTML page or via http:// on an arbitrary server (see

14.1.3).

4. The web page provides data to the TFORMer SDK COM object programmatically.

5. You web application prints to local printers without any extra user confirmation.

14.1.2 TFORMer SDK on a Windows-based Web-Server

TFORMer SDK at server-side can be used as part of web applications or web services. Server-side use does not bind your clients to specific browsers or operating systems.

Some .NET based sample applications demonstrate the use of TFORMer SDK with server-based web applications. Check out the following menu entry:

Start Menu ►All Programs ►TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►Examples ►Programming

14.1.3 Web Based Form Layouts

TFORMer SDK is able to access form layouts, repositories or data files via http. When using tfprint this looks like tfprint -F "h

ttp://something.com/OnlineReport_1.tff" …

14.2 TFORMer SDK on Linux or UNIX Servers

The TFORMer SDK can be incorporated easily into server-based applications. Your server-based application (e.g. written in PHP, CGI-

Perl, Java, C/C++, …) invokes tfprint as external process to generate the output data (e.g. a PDF file).

The TFORMer SDK for Linux/UNIX includes a ready-to-use example showing how tfprint can be integrated in a web application. The sample application is written in PHP and is installed in:

/usr/local/share/TFORMer/SampleCodeCGI

This sample requires a configured apache web server which supports PHP5. To deploy the application, all files in the application directory have to be copied into the root directory of the web server.

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The file feedback.php contains the application logic to supply user data using XML to tfprint and to create a PDF file from the user data and a form layout file.

14.3 TFORMer SDK on Java Web-Applications

Through the Java component of TFORMer SDK, it's possible to build J2EE printing applications and deploy them into the J2EE Application Server (i. e. Tomcat and JBoss).

This solution permits to print files on server-side, based on certain user configurations or data.

It's important to remember that the Application Server must read the TFORMer DLLs or shared libraries in order to access to the TFORMer SDK. For details see chapter 11, Java Component.

Check out the following menu entry to find simple examples of JSP/Servlet using the Java component of TFORMer SDK:

Start Menu ►All Programs ►TEC-IT TFORMer 7.0 SDK ►Examples ►Programming

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15 FAQ

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15.1 Linux/UNIX

15.1.1 TFORMer does not work

If there are any problems with the installation of TFORMer SDK we recommend executing the following script:

$ /usr/local/share/TFORMer/support.sh

This script is installed by the setup application and lists all relevant information like installed operating system, library versions and the TFORMer SDK version.

Contact the support of TEC-IT ( [email protected]

) with the output of this script along with a detailed error description.

15.1.2 TFORMer SDK does not print texts (32 bit TFORMer on 64-bit systems)

The output generated by the TFORMer SDK only contains images, lines, rectangles or similar elements. Text elements are not shown.

Most likely this problem occurs if you are using a 32-bit build of TFORMer on a 64 bit system.

Please make sure

iconv/gconv

(character set conversion) is installed correctly. (Re-)Install

glibc-

32bit

using

yast

to solve the problem.

15.1.3 TFORMer SDK does not print Umlauts (e.g. ÄÖÜäöüß)

If you are using a text file for data import (e.g. with

tfprint

) and if this file was generated on Windows, TFORMer is not able to print special characters like Ä or Ü.

To avoid this problem use XML import files (this is the recommended way). Another possibility is to convert the text file with

iconv

to UTF-8 (TFORMer SDK uses UTF-8 internally on Linux/Unix platforms):

$ iconv

–f Windows-1252 –t UTF-8 –o output.csv input.csv

15.1.4 Fonts are looking strange / Errors in the generated layout

When generating output TFORMer tries to match fonts available on your system with fonts used in the form layout.

Most likely the form layout uses Windows-based fonts (like Arial) which are not available on your box. If an exact font matching is not possible the output may look strange. In order to avoid this behavior install the required fonts on your Linux/UNIX machine.

Use the following commands which are part of the fontconfig package to install new fonts:

 fc-list:

list all of the fonts currently available on your box.

 fc-cache:

add additional fonts.

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15.1.4.1 Installing True Type fonts

Simply copy the required fonts (*.ttf) to the directory /usr/share/fonts/local/ or to the

“/.fonts” sub directory of the users home (e.g. /home/user/.fonts).

Then run fc-cache. The fonts are always installed for the user, who runs the fc-cache command.

Make sure this is the same user, which uses the TFORMer SDK.

Check out the man pages of your system for an exact description of the fontconfig commands.

15.1.5 The Library libTFORMer7 cannot be found

Make sure the shared library libTFORMer7.a can be found by the linker. Usually this library is installed in

/usr/local/lib/

Some platforms require that you add this path to your linker options (e.g.

–L/usr/local/lib).

15.1.6 TFORMer Include Files are not found

Make sure the TFORMer include files can be found by the compiler. Usually these files are installed in

/usr/local/include/

Some platforms require that you add this path to your compiler options (e.g.

–I/usr/local/include).

15.1.7 ZLib was not found on HP-UX

When creating PDF files, the following warning is displayed:

Warning: ZLib was not found. Compression support will be disabled.

When you see this warning message an uncompressed PDF file will be created.

On HP-UX make sure that the directory containing libz.so is in your SHLIB_PATH environment variable.

$ export SHLIB_PATH=/usr/local/lib/hpux32

15.1.8

The EURO sign (€) does not work on AIX

This is a known bug of the TFORMer SDK on AIX. Currently there is no solution available.

15.1.9 Mono cannot find TFORMerNet assembly

Mono exits with the following error:

** (Program.exe:3813): WARNING **: The following assembly referenced from Program.exe could not be loaded:

Assembly: TECIT.TFORMer.TFORMerNet (assemblyref_index=1)

Version: 7.0.0.0

Public Key: 1b5f4306b234b83d

The assembly was not found in the Global Assembly Cache, a path listed in the MONO_PATH environment variable, or in the location of the executing assembly.

Solution: Export MONO_PATH to include the directory containing the TFORMerNet bindings:

$ export MONO_PATH=/usr/local/lib

More FAQs and hints can be found on our web site at: http://www.tec-it.com/support/faq/tformer/Default.aspx

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16 Contact and Support Information

16.1 Free Support

If you have questions, need help or simply want to tell us about your application, contact:

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://www.tec-it.com/support/

16.2 How to Unlock the Demo Version

You can unlock the demo version with a license key. License keys can be obtained from TEC-IT by email, online order form or fax.

Email: [email protected]

Online: http://www.tec-it.com/order/

Fax: +43 / (0)7252 / 72 72 0

– 77

16.3 Your Feedback is Welcome!

Don’t hesitate to contact us – let us hear your feedback! If the product does not fulfill your requirements, please tell us why. We are highly interested in meeting the requirements of our customers.

16.4 Company Contact Information

TEC-IT Datenverarbeitung GmbH

Address: Hans-Wagner-Str. 6

AT-4400 Steyr

Austria/Europe

Phone: +43 / (0)7252 / 72 72 0

Fax: +43 / (0)7252 / 72 72 0

– 77

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://www.tec-it.com

AIX is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation.

HTML, DHTML, XML, XHTML are trademarks or registered trademarks of W3C, World Wide Web Consortium, Laboratory for Computer

Science NE43-358, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 545 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139.

JAVA® is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., 901 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA.

JAVASCRIPT® is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., used under license for technology invented and implemented by

Netscape.

Microsoft®, Windows, Microsoft Word®, Microsoft Excel® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Navision is a registered trademark of Microsoft Business Solutions ApS in the United States and/or other countries.

Oracle® is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.

PCL® is a registered trademark of the Hewlett-Packard Company.

PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc.

SAP, SAP Logo, R/2, R/3, ABAP, SAPscript are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany (and in several other countries).

All other products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. If any trademark on our web site or in this document is not marked as trademark (or registered trademark), we ask you to send us a short message (mailto:[email protected])

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Appendix A: Terms and Definitions

A.1 Form Layout

A form layout is a document created with TFORMer Designer. It is basically an XML-file, which stores all layout information with the corresponding parameters like position, fontsize, color …

A form layout usually contains static and dynamic data. Dynamic data is provided by a datasource and used via datafields in the form layout.

A form layout is either stored in a repository (*.tfr) or stored as a stand-alone form layout (*.tff).

A.2 Stand-Alone Form

A stand-alone form is a document, which is stored as single file and which is not contained in a repository. TFORMer Designer normally creates stand-alone forms, but it can be instructed to add forms to a repository. Stand-alone forms are using the file extension *.tff.

All required information of a stand-alone form is contained in the layout

– therefore it can be printed by its own.

Stand-alone form layouts are the most basic type of layout definitions and are very easy to use.

A.3 Repository

A repository is a central location in the file system for storing form layouts. Furthermore the repository contains datasources and datafields, which may be defined once for multiple layouts.

The main file of a repository is using the file extension *.tfr. The subdirectories are named like the projects

– and these subdirectories are holding the single form layouts. Therefore moving or copying a repository must always include the subdirectories!

Using a repository simplifies maintenance of multiple form layouts which share the same datafields.

In addition, a repository is a must with TFORMer Server.

When printing a repository-based form the user must specify the name and path of the repository, the project within the repository and the name of the form layout.

A.4 Project

A repository is divided into so-called projects. Each project holds definitions for datasources, datafields and one or more form layouts. All form layouts using the same datafields and/or datasources should be grouped in a project.

A.5 Datafield

A form layout may use datafields as place-holders for dynamic data. The content of these placeholders is provided during runtime (= print-time) by external datasources or by the user. At runtime each occurrence of a datafield is replaced with the current data. Datafields may be used as part of expressions.

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In contrast to a stand-alone form which stores all datafield definitions itself, a repository based form may use datafields defined in the project where the document layout is located. That means that all forms belonging to a project can use the same datafields.

In addition to such project-specific datafields TFORMer supports global datafields. These datafields are available for all document layouts in all projects.

A.6 Template

A template is a document layout, which has been stored in the template database of TFORMer

Designer

. If you select “New Form” in TFORMer Designer you can start your actual document layout based on such a template.

TFORMer Designer is shipped with various predefined templates like industry compliant labels. The user can also create his own templates by saving them to the template database.

Templates are stored per default in the following directory:

‘ Windows 2000 and Windows XP

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\TEC-IT\TFORMer\7.0\Templates

‘ Windows VISTA

C:\Program Data\TEC-IT\TFORMer\7.0\Templates

This directory can be changed by modifying the registry (see TFORMer Designer User Manual).

►

Do not edit the files in the template path directly!

A.7 Datasource

Dynamic data is provided by external datasources like in-memory datasources, ODBC databases, text files, XML files or user input. Whenever printing a form, TFORMer Designer imports the data from the datasource and generates the output based on this data. The same data set may be used for the next output session without importing it again (the only exception is an in-memory datasource. In this case data is not stored by TFORMer).

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Appendix B: Passing Data to TFORMer SDK

B.1 General

During runtime your application supplies data to TFORMer SDK in order to provide values for the datafields used in a form layout.

For this purpose three general methods are supported:



Imported data file

Pass data to TFORMer SDK via a flat text file (e.g. CSV) or via XML files. Take care to create the files with current data before printing the required form layouts.



User-defined datasource

The creator of a form layout can also specify a datasource (XML file, TXT/CSV-file, ODBC queries) in the document layout itself. A unique name is assigned to each data source.

When printing a form layout just specify the name of the datasource and TFORmer DSK queries the data for printing automatically.



ODBC

Pass data to TFORMer SDK via an ODBC database. DSN, user, password and the suitable

SQL select statement can be specie as required.



API (Application Programming Interface)

Pass data to TFORMer SDK via method or function calls. This method is not available for the command line interface (tfprint).

B.2 XML Files

Three different XML formats can be imported:



The internal XML-format.



A generic XML-format.



The XML-format used in current versions of Microsoft

Access

™.

B.2.1 Internal TFORMer XML-Format

The XML format used internally by TFORMer must be available exactly as specified below:

<Form>

<V Name="DataFieldName1">Value</V>

<V Name="DataFieldName2">Value</V>

<V Name="DataFieldName3">Value</V>

</Record>

<V Name="DataFieldName1">Value</V>

<V Name="DataFieldName2">Value</V>

<V Name="DataFieldName3">Value</V>

</Record>

</Records>

</Form>

</PSData>

Description:

Name

PSData

Form

Description

This is the root element. It encloses all data within the xml file.

This element encloses all data records for one Form. It must be specified only once in

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Records

Record

DataFieldName

Value

ImportedVariables an XML-file

This element encloses all data records to be printed with the enclosing Form.

Must be specified only once in an XML-file.

This element encloses all datafields for one record.

For each record there is one (optional) attribute named “Copies”. The default value (if the attribute is missing) is 1

– meaning that this record is used once. If you want to use the same data for multiple records you can specify the number of record copies in this attribute.

Data-Element.

This element consists of the datafi eld name (attribute “Name”) and the actual datafield value.

Name of the datafield (must be unique within a record).

The actual value of the datafield.

Used internally by TFORMer.

B.2.2 Generic XML-Format

The generic XML file allows two variants (see below).

B.2.2.1 Variant 1

<Root>

<V Name="DataFieldName1">Value</V>

<V Name="DataFieldName2">Value</V>

<V Name="DataFieldName3">Value</V>

</Record>

<V Name="DataFieldName1">Value</V>

<V Name="DataFieldName2">Value</V>

<V Name="DataFieldName3">Value</V>

</Record>

Further Data Records

</Records>

</Root>

Description:

Name

Root

Records

Record

Description

This is the root element. It encloses all data within the xml file.

The element must not necessarily be named “Root”. You can choose a name freely.

This element encloses all data records.

The element must not necessarily be named “Records”. You can choose a name freely.

This element describes one data record. Within a record one value can be specified for each datafield.

The element must not necessarily be named “Record”. You can choose a name freely.

Data-Element.

This element consists of the datafield name (attribute “Name”) and the actual datafield value.

Name of the datafield (must be unique within a record).

The actual value of the datafield.

DataFieldName

Value

►

The nodes must not necessarily be named

“Root“, “Records“ and “Record“. The names can be chosen arbitrarily. Only the order of the nodes is decisive. TFORMer interprets the lowest level of the XML-format as variable definitions and/or datafields. The superordinate nodes always correspond to data records.

Example:

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<Root>

<V Name="ArticleName">Chair</V>

</Record>

</Record>

Further Data Records

</Records>

</Root>

B.2.2.2 Variant 2

Same as variant

1, but instead of using the syntax “<V Name="DataFieldName">Value</V>” you can specify datafield values using the following syntax:

<Root>

<DataFieldName1>Value</DataFieldName1>

<DataFieldName2>Value</DataFieldName2>

<DataFieldName3>Value</DataFieldName3>

</Record>

<DataFieldName1>Value</DataFieldName1>

<DataFieldName2>Value</DataFieldName2>

<DataFieldName3>Value</DataFieldName3>

</Record>

Further Data Records

</Records>

</Root>

B.2.3 Microsoft Access XML-Format

The XML files which are exported from Microsoft

Access

™ looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<DataFieldName1>Value</DataFieldName1>

<DataFieldName2>Value</DataFieldName2>

<DataFieldName3>Value</DataFieldName3>

</tblTableName>

<DataFieldName1>Value</DataFieldName1>

<DataFieldName2>Value</DataFieldName2>

<DataFieldName3>Value</DataFieldName3>

</tblTableName>

Further Data Records

</dataroot>

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B.3 Text Files

TFORMer can import text files in the CSV format (Comma Separated Values) or modifications of this format. When importing text files you can specify the separator (semicolon, comma, tab, space) and the text qualifier (= the symbol which encloses the actual values like text strings).

B.3.1 File Format

Text files must be structured as follows:



The first line in the text file lists all column names (= names of the datafields).



The following lines contain the datafield values (one record per line).

DataFieldName1;DataFieldName2;..;DataFieldNameN

Value;Value;..;Value

Further Data Records

Example:

ArticleName;ArticleNo;ArticlePrice

Chair;558963;110

Desk;778920;150

Monitor;775116;236

Panel;544593;40

Coffee Machine;549896;30

Printer;458862;100

Fax;445866;115

Phone;458932;50

You have the possibility to use different column separators, line separators and text qualifiers:

B.3.1.1 Valid Column Separators

Char

TAB

;

Space

Other

Description

Tabulator character (\0x09)

Semicolon (\0x3B)

Comma (\0x2C)

Space character (\0x20)

Any other single character.

Example

Value Value Value

Value;Value;Value

Value,Value,Value

Value Value Value

Value#Value#Value

B.3.1.2 Valid Line Separators

Char

CRLF

Description

Line Feed (\0x0A)

Carriage Return + Line Feed (\0x0D\0x0A)

Example

Text files created under UNIX or LINUX.

Text files created under Windows (or

MS DOS).

B.3.1.3 Valid Text Qualifiers

Char

“

‘

Other

Description

Double quote character (\0x22)

Single quote character (\0x27)

Any other single character.

None

Example

“Value”

‘Value’

+ Value+

Value

All characters which are enclosed with a text qualifier are imported as one single value. Thus you can use the column separator character in strings, too!

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If you want to use a line break w ithin a string, please use the escape sequence “\n” (new line).

When importing the data, the “\n” will be replaced with a new line character.

B.4 Important Notes

B.4.1.1 Empty or Missing Datafield Values

TFORMer SDK uses the default value of a datafield if no value is defined in the datasource. This behavior can be adjusted using with tfprint command line parameters (see command line switch

CL[yes|no]

B.4.1.2 Additional Datafields in an Import File

TFORMer SDK ignores datafields which are not defined in the form design.

B.4.1.3 Use of Escape Sequences (e.g. \n - Newline) in the Datafield Values

Since TFORMer Version 6 escape sequences are not translated automatically. This behavior can be adjusted via the tfprint command line (see

ESC[yes|no]

) or via the API.

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Appendix C: Configuration File TFORMer.xml

C.1 General

The TFORMer SDK uses a configuration file which holds basic output settings suitable for most requirements. This configuration file is named TFORMer.xml and is installed automatically. After installation it can be adjusted to meet customized output needs.

C.2 Location of TFORMer.xml on Microsoft Windows

When using a Windows operating system the default TFORMer.xml resides in the directory:

C:\ProgramData\TEC-IT\TFORMer\7.0

In addition, TFORMer supports user specific files which override the default. TFORMer Designer creates this file automatically in a user specific folder:

C:\Users\**USERNAME**\AppData\Local\TEC-IT\TFORMer\7.0

Via an API call the developer may also specify the filename of a specific configuration file which should be used.

C.3 Location of TFORMer.xml on LINUX or UNIX

When using Linux or UNIX this file is stored in the following directory:

/usr/local/share/TFORMer

C.4 Configuration File TFORMer.xml

The following settings can be configured:



Common options

- Error handling for barcodes, images and text-elements with expressions

- Settings for downloading pictures from an URL for printing



PDF output options

- page setup (size, orientation, compression, margins, embedding of fonts)

- image compression method (and jpeg-quality)

- maximum resolution for images (down-sampling)



PostScript output options

- page setup (size, orientation, color-mode)

- external header/footer file

- character encoding



HTML output options

- page setup (size, resolution)

- barcode output options (optimize for readability, print unreadable barcodes)



ZPL-II (ZEBRA printers) output options



Barcode generator options

- drawing method for windows printers



Paper format names (for trays)

File dump of the default TFORMer.xml configuration file:

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<ErrorHandling barcode-error="print" image-error="print"

expression-error="print" unicode-font-error="print"/>

</COMMON>

<PDF media="A4" orientation="portrait" compression="1" margin-top="0" margin-left="0"

margin-right="0" margin-bottom="0" embed-fonts="1" embed-subset-fonts="0"

embed-type3-fonts="1" colormode="color" simulate-font-styles="1" >

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</Images>

</PDF>

<Images compression-method="auto" jpeg-quality="75" jpeg-enabled="1" flate-enabled="0"

</Images>

</POSTSCRIPT>

<HTML media="A4" orientation="portrait" resolution="96" barcode-opt-resolution="0"

always-print-barcodes="1" />

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<IMAGE media="A4" orientation="portrait" resolution="200" anti-aliasing="1"

jpeg-quality="80" tiff-compression="nocomp" colormode="color" dither-mode="0" />

<ZEBRA media="A4" orientation="portrait" compression="rle" scaling="0"

dont-dither-text="1" dither-mode="0" resolution="203">

</ZEBRA>

</WINGDI>

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</DefinedMedia>

</TFORMer>

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Appendix D: Distribution and Deployment

(Microsoft Windows)

D.1 Core Requirements

If you want to use the TFORMer SDK within your own application (or on the command line) you have to distribute the files listed below. These files must be shipped in order to enable basic

TFORMer features and to offer complete printing support on Microsoft

Windows based printers.

You need to deploy the x64 versions only if required (if you are using the 64 bit SDK).



TFormer70.dll (the main DLL for TFORMer SDK required in each case)



TFormerRep70.dll



TECBaseU.dll



TFTBarCode10.dll



TFPrint.exe (required for command-line printing only)

 freetype238MT.dll

 freetype.LICENSE

 iconv.dll

 iconv.LICENSE

 ibxml2.dll

 libart_lgpl.LICENSE

 libxml2.LICENSE

 libxslt.dll

 zlib1.dll

 zlib.README



TFORMer.xml (contains system-wide output options like page size, PDF compression mode, and more

– see Appendix C)

Additionally the Microsoft VC90 Common Runtime DLLs (Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtime components) are required on the target system.

There are two options to install the MS CRT9.0 DLLs:



You can install the components with the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable

Package (x86) available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A5C84275-3B97-4AB7-A40D-

3802B2AF5FC2

The package installs all required runtime DLLs.



If you use a setup tool and your installer supports merge modules (*.msm files) you can add the required msm packages to your setup:

Microsoft_VC90_CRT_x86.msm

policy_9_0_Microsoft_VC90_CRT_x86.msm

Please note:

TFORMer 7.0.0

Requires Microsoft

Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86).

Please contact TEC-IT Support if you need help.

Depending on the requirements of your application also the following files may be needed as part of your distribution:

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D.2 COM Requirements

If you want to use the COM based interface of TFORMer SDK, the following DLL is required in addition.



TFORMerCOM70.dll

This DLL provides the COM interface; mark TFORMerCOM70.DLL as self registering file

(or use “regsvr32.exe TFORMerCOM70.dll”)

D.3 .NET Requirements

If you want to use the .NET interface of TFORMer SDK, the following DLL is required in addition.



TECIT.TFORMer.dll

This DLL provides the .NET interface; it is installed by default in the GAC as well as in the

Program Files folder.

►

Please note: For executing .NET code the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher is required! A Redistributable Package of the framework is available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-

AAB15C5E04F5

D.4 JAVA Requirements

If you want to use the JAVA interface of TFORMer SDK, the following files are required in addition.



JTFORMer70.jar



TFORMer70JNI.dll

►

Please note: The JAR file is compatible with version 1.5 and higher of the Java Runtime

Edition (JRE)

D.5 Additional Requirements for PostScript/HTML Output

In addition ship the following files whenever native PostScript/HTML output is required. These files support font-handling on non-Windows based output devices.

 header.ps (Required only for native PostScript compatible output)

 footer.ps (Required only for native PostScript compatible output)

 template.html (Required only for native HTML compatible output)

 footer.html (Required only for native HTML compatible output)

D.6 Distribution of TFORMer Document Layouts

Ship your TFORMer Form Layouts as part of your application.



Repository based Form Layouts

Ship the Repository (*.tfr file) and all subdirectories (Forms/*). Make sure to include all files

(*.xmd, *.xml, embedded images) and take care to preserve the directory structure below the *.tfr file!

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

Stand-alone Form Layouts

Ship all the *.tff file(s) and the corresponding *.xml data file(s) as well as embedded image files.



ZIP files containing the files mentioned above

TFORMer SDK is able to handle zip-files directly. When using ZIP-files take care to include all files as mentioned above and preserve the directory structure (relative to the *.tfr or *.tff file) within the ZIP-file.



Instead of shipping files you can also pass Form Layouts in BASE64 encoded strings.

TFORMer SDK is able to handle BASE64 strings which contain a Form Layout or even a complete Repository. The files for the Form Layout or Repository may also be zipped

(including all required image files) before being BASE64 encoded. Pass the BASE64 encoded strings with the prefix “BASE64:” instead of filenames to the TFORMer SDK functions.

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Appendix E: Distribution and Deployment

(Linux

or UNIX

)

E.1 Core Requirements

If you want to use the TFORMer SDK within your own application (or on the command line) you have to distribute the files listed below:

 libTFORMer7.so

(must be accessible through the library search path)



TFORMer.xml

(should be located in “/usr/local/share/TFORMer/”

– otherwise the path to the file must be specified with TFORMer_SetConfigFile())

 tfprint.ini

(should be located in “/usr/local/share/TFORMer”

– alternatively the license information can also be set through the API functions)

Furthermore the following libraries are required on the target system:



LibXml2



LibXslt



FreeType2



FontConfig



ZLib



LibArt_LGPL (optional

– required for image output)



CUPS (optional

– required for direct printing under Linux)



UnixODBC (optional

– required for SQL support)

E.2 C/C++ Requirements

►

Please note: For compiling C/C++ projects under Linux or UNIX you need to install the

FontConfig and FreeType2 development packages!

Try the following command to install them: apt-get install libfontconfig1-dev apt-get install libfreetype6-dev

E.3 .NET Requirements

If you want to use the .NET interface of TFORMer SDK, this DLL is required.



TECIT.TFORMer.dll

►

Please note: For executing .NET code under Linux Mono is required. For more information about Mono see http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page .

E.4 JAVA Requirements

If you want to use the JAVA interface of TFORMer SDK, the following files are required in addition.



JTFORMer70.jar

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T F O R M e r SD K D e v e l o p e r M a n u a l



TFORMer70JNI.dll

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Please note: The JAR file is compatible with version 1.5 and higher of the Java Runtime

Edition (JRE)

E.5 Additional Requirements for PostScript/HTML Output

Ship the following files whenever native PostScript/HTML output is required.

 header.ps (Required for native PostScript compatible output)

 footer.ps (Required for native PostScript compatible output)

 template.html (Required for native HTML compatible output)

 footer.html (Required for native HTML compatible output)

E.6 Distribution of TFORMer Document Layouts

See section D.6!

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Key features

Unified Output Solution
UNICODE Support
Barcode Support
Streaming
Reusable, Smart Form Layouts
Cross Platform
Small Footprint, High Performance

Frequently asked questions

TFORMer SDK is a powerful tool for generating arbitrary documents. It combines the features of barcode labeling tools with the characteristics of report generators into a unified printing solution.

Key features include unified output solution, UNICODE support, barcode support, streaming, reusable smart form layouts, cross-platform compatibility, and a small footprint with high performance.

Supported output formats include direct printing, PDF, PostScript, HTML, image formats, ZEBRA, ASCII.

TFORMer SDK is available for Microsoft Windows and for major Mac OS/Linux/UNIX variants.