We have a web server that we have developed in-house, and also have
our own scripting language that this web server parses. We are trying
to develop functionality that allows use to convert html pages into
PDF documents that our clients can then give to their printers. For
this reason we need to make sure that the PDF document contains as
much Font and vector information as possible.

I am looking for a product or component that we can compile into the
web server itself, which is written in Borland Delphi. This product
should not be in the form of a printer driver, and should not be a COM
interface, and must support converting from HTML 3.2 or higher with
CSS.

ps. I have checked pdfzone.com already

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Request for Question Clarification by duncan2-ga on 12 Dec 2002 17:40 PST

Just to be clear, you have a custom webserver hosted on...NT?  Linux? 
(If it's NT, have you considered Kylix to port your Delphi code?)

Are you looking for source code?  Or will a pre-compiled commercial
product suffice?

PHP already has PDF creation functions built in; would sending the
files to a separate server for processing be an option (instead of
having to reinvent this particular wheel)?  Instead of compiling into
the the webserver code, what about converting on the fly using
something like pdf-o-matic?
http://www.easysw.com/htmldoc/pdf-o-matic.php
(Again, since you're not using PHP, this would probably entail another
server.)

Is GPL'ed software ok, or must this be incorporated into a commercial
product?  (The engine behind pdf-o-matic is htmldoc,
http://www.easysw.com/htmldoc/ )  HtmlDoc does HTML 3.2 and parts of
4; I'm not sure about the Cascading Style Sheet Support.

Font embedding is reasonably straight-forward.  Vector information
from webpage bitmapped graphics is less likely (i.e. fuzzy, low-res
web photographs aren't going to look any better in print.)

Anyway, can you tell us more about what solutions would be acceptable?
Thanks,
Duncan2-ga

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Clarification of Question by warrick-ga on 12 Dec 2002 21:52 PST

Just to be clear, you have a custom webserver hosted on...NT?  Linux?
(If it's NT, have you considered Kylix to port your Delphi code?)

>> We are running Windows 2000, the code does not need to be cross
platform capable, but it would be nice, as we do have plans to move to
Linux.
 
Are you looking for source code?  Or will a pre-compiled commercial
product suffice?

>> Source Code is preferable, but if there is a precompiled product in
the form of a DLL etc, that will work to.
 
PHP already has PDF creation functions built in; would sending the
files to a separate server for processing be an option (instead of
having to reinvent this particular wheel)?  Instead of compiling into
the the webserver code, what about converting on the fly using
something like pdf-o-matic?
http://www.easysw.com/htmldoc/pdf-o-matic.php
(Again, since you're not using PHP, this would probably entail another
server.)

>> I don't really want to go the additional server route. But if there
is a really good product out there I may consider it. pdf-o-matic.php
does not seem to do a very good job of a lot of sites a tried it with
(Including Yahoo.com which is pretty simple)
 
Is GPL'ed software ok, or must this be incorporated into a commercial
product?  (The engine behind pdf-o-matic is htmldoc,
http://www.easysw.com/htmldoc/ )  HtmlDoc does HTML 3.2 and parts of
4; I'm not sure about the Cascading Style Sheet Support.

>> I guess it could be GPL, but I don't really understand the
Licensing implecations. So if I am able to link the GPL's product into
my backend and it is a good tool, there is a good chance I would go
with it.
 
Font embedding is reasonably straight-forward.  Vector information
from webpage bitmapped graphics is less likely (i.e. fuzzy, low-res
web photographs aren't going to look any better in print.)

>> Understood.
 
Anyway, can you tell us more about what solutions would be acceptable?
Thanks, 
Duncan2-ga

What I really need is a power library of PDF functions that is
packaged as a dll or something like that ... we HATE COM .. as all our
tech is very high performance ... which is why we dont want to go the
printer driver route.

So some kind of development package that has the HTML parser +
conversion pre-packaged.

Thanks again for the help
Warrick

Check this product out - this may be one of the solutions that you
test out before you finalize:
http://www.activepdf.com/AdTracking/google/camp2-ag1.asp
Activepdf can also be downloaded for evaluation free of charge - they
only request registration, which seems fair.
I am also interested in "on the fly" pdf conversion especially htnl
docs - let me know what is the end result of your evaluation.

Best Regards

Thanks, I have looked at this product and it does not suite my needs.
Once again this only offers a COM interface.

Thanks
Warrick