LabVIEW
How to quickly generate PDF file using report generation toolkit
@Martin_Henz wrote:
lets say, that the toolkits are different 🙂
Sure.
What struck me most about the SimplicityAI PDF toolkit is that they use a .NET toolkit that isn't free for commercial use, while their toolkit was. They now have a paid version (for non-commercial use?), I hope that goes towards the people who created the .NET library (ITextSharp?).
Also a long time ago I looked at it...
Search LabVIEW like a graph! 
@Vijey123 wrote:
How long does this operation take to create a pdf file?
You need to be a lot more specific!
- Through which interface?
- How many pages?
- All text only without complex formatting or rather involved page formatting with lots and lots of pictures?
I used the Carya Toolkit in the past when it was still sold, to print calibration reports that contained one graph, some simple text and fairly simple frames and a few lines for fields for the operator to add handwritten notes like a signature.
The creation of the according PDF document containing one or two pages took less than 100 ms, way less than the typical measurement operation. Building the VI to create the page with exactly the layout the customer wanted was a different matter.
I spent after several iterations in various versions of that application definitely more than one or two days for that. The reason being that you use VIs to actually "draw" the PDF file. And you get exactly what you tell it to do, nothing more and nothing less. But runtime speed was definitely not the problem.
Vij@y wrote:
Hello Everyone,
I'm collecting a data and updating it in an excel file (.xlsx) using Report Generation Toolkit. Later I'm saving the same as PDF file using the function Save Report to File.vi to get the data in PDF format.
But this above code is taking approx 8 to 10 seconds to complete the file creation.
Our requirement is to minimize the execution time and complete more boards testing in a day.
Whether this is the efficient way to generate PDF report or is there a better way to do ?
Kindly suggest.
So here is a fun hack that lets you use pure labview to generate reports without having to deal with the report generation toolkit or third party PDF report generators. Bonus, it runs real fast : )
Step 1) Make a VI that has a front panel that represents exactly what you want the report to look like.
Step 2) Run the calibration or whatever test needs to run to populate the data on the front panel.
Step 3) Use the front panel to jpeg method to save the front panel as a jpeg. See this: https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA03q000000YI7SCAW&l=en-US
Step 4 (optional) Batch convert the jpeg files to PDFs if you must have a PDF file for the report.
Since LabVIEW has the WYSIWYG front panel with nice plots and tables I find it easier to create the actual layout of a report in LabVIEW over using MS Word and the report generation toolkit. Bonus, you don't need any libraries beyond the LabVIEW standard library.
@Jay14159265 wrote:
Vij@y wrote:
Hello Everyone,
I'm collecting a data and updating it in an excel file (.xlsx) using Report Generation Toolkit. Later I'm saving the same as PDF file using the function Save Report to File.vi to get the data in PDF format.
But this above code is taking approx 8 to 10 seconds to complete the file creation.
Our requirement is to minimize the execution time and complete more boards testing in a day.
Whether this is the efficient way to generate PDF report or is there a better way to do ?
Kindly suggest.
So here is a fun hack that lets you use pure labview to generate reports without having to deal with the report generation toolkit or third party PDF report generators. Bonus, it runs real fast : )
Step 1) Make a VI that has a front panel that represents exactly what you want the report to look like.
Step 2) Run the calibration or whatever test needs to run to populate the data on the front panel.
Step 3) Use the front panel to jpeg method to save the front panel as a jpeg. See this: https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA03q000000YI7SCAW&l=en-US
Step 4 (optional) Batch convert the jpeg files to PDFs if you must have a PDF file for the report.
Since LabVIEW has the WYSIWYG front panel with nice plots and tables I find it easier to create the actual layout of a report in LabVIEW over using MS Word and the report generation toolkit. Bonus, you don't need any libraries beyond the LabVIEW standard library.
That will result in (PDF) files with raster graphics (e.g. pixels, not vectors).
- Text won't be selectable.
- All objects will become one big image.
- The documents won't scale (dithering if shown small, interpolation if large).
- You won't be able to add links, table of content, etc.
Potentially, the documents could be much larger than needed (although sometimes images are smaller than their data as vectors)
@Jay14159265 wrote:
wiebe@CARYA wrote:
...
That will result in (PDF) files with raster graphics (e.g. pixels, not vectors).
- Text won't be selectable.
- All objects will become one big image.
- The documents won't scale (dithering if shown small, interpolation if large).
- You won't be able to add links, table of content, etc.
Potentially, the documents could be much larger than needed (although sometimes images are smaller than their data as vectors)
Yes, you are of course correct. If it accommodated every design criteria it would not be a hack ; )
Quick hacks that work are great.
