Description

PowerBuilder can save the DataWindow's data and presentation as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file using two techniques. By default, PowerBuilder saves as PDF using a distiller. Building on the ability to save data as XML, PowerBuilder can also save to PDF or XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) format using the Apache XML Formatting Objects processor and Java printing.

Usage

By default, when you select File>Save Rows As and select PDF as the file type, the data is saved as PostScript and automatically distilled to PDF using GhostScript.

The XSL-FO option provides a platform-independent solution and offers the possibility of customizing the saved PDF file and printing it directly to a printer. Saving as PDF using XSL-FO is particularly useful for printing DataWindow objects in EAServer on a UNIX operating system.

The use of a distiller or the Apache processor is controlled by selections on the Data Export page in the Properties view for a DataWindow or by the Export.PDF.Method DataWindow object property. To display the PDF options on the Data Export page, select PDF from the Format To Configure drop-down list.