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arosemaFlag for United States of America

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pdf to PostScript conversion

I am looking for a way to take a pdf file and convert it to postscript in a non user interactive way within VB6.  The program that will use this will be written as a service, so I can not have any user interaction.  I also need to be able to control the output file location and file name.


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ASKER

Unfortunately none of the links really answers the question of converting a pdf file to postscript.  All the links describe using the printer object in vb, this is fine if I were writing a text based report, but I do not see a way to send a pdf file to a postscript output device.

Maybe I should be looking for the API for Adobe Reader, or the API for the print driver to have this work successfully.
You might take a look at Redmon it's a port redirector and might work:

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/redmon/
Avatar of arosema

ASKER

Unfortunately this solution is going to prompt for a filename.  However, I can not guarantee that a session will be open on the machine when the program is running as a service.  Therefore I can not trap the popup screen and enter the information myself.

When the known issues for a solution has unfriendly user interface in it I also try to stay away from it.  In this case, they really meant unfreindly though.
If you follow the GhostScript examples the Redmon it will allow you to create a file with a generic name that could then be renamed for later use or Distilled after renaming which is what I do. Adobe Distiller will also allow you to "watch" a folder for newly created files and Distill on the fly.

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/redmon/en/redmon.htm
Avatar of arosema

ASKER

Due to the time lag on this last posted comment, I had to switch to a different solution to get done with my project in the timeframe required.

While the final comments may have worked, I ran out of time to test them.  I will need to find out what to do with this question.
How did you end up solving your problem?

Lag time?
Avatar of arosema

ASKER

I needed PDF to PS conversion to be able to selectively duplex pages within a print job.  Instead of doing this in a selective fashion I opted to add blank pages and duplex the entirety of the job.  

The reason I was looking to do this selectively in the first place is we pay per click on the printer.  Now I am going to be paying a click charge for the blank pages, not the best solution, but it will work.

As for the lag time, it was a simple matter of timing for me.  On the 16th I had to make a choice of which way to code this solution.  When your last comment arrived on the 18th, it was already too late.  I had to cut over to my backup plan and just run with it.
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modulo

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