PDF Formatting Issues: Margins look too big. Type in subreport is wrong size. Poor image quality.

PDF Formatting Issues: Margins look too big. Type in subreport is wrong size. Poor image quality.

Issue 1
A margin of ½ inch is specified in the Crystal Designer but appears to have been increased to ¾ inch in the resulting PDF file. This can also result in images being cut off.

Solution
Upon an initial investigation of the resulting PDF, it does appear to have increased the margins. However after closer examination it is apparent that the entire image is being reduced.

In acrobat reader there is a check box in the print dialogue that says "shrink oversized pages to paper size" This check box needs to be *unchecked*. When the box is checked it reduces the entire report about 3% making it appear as if the margins have been increased.

Issue 2
A report that is created in the Crystal Designer that has a main report and several subreports is not printing the fonts out at the right size in some of the subreports. The resulting PDF shows smaller type than what is expected.

Solution
In the Crystal Designer preview the main report, right click on the placeholder for the first subreport and click change font. Note what point size assigned. Then, preview the subreports. Click on the field that is appearing to print smaller (or larger) than expected. If the main report is set to 10pt and the subreport is set to 8pt the PDF will output the 8pt specified in the subreport.

In order to get them to be the same each subreport must be opened into the designer and the font size must be changed to match the size desired in the main report.

Note: When printing to a Postscript printer you must ensure that the proper PostScript Printer Description file (PPD) for you printer is properly installed. PPD files contain information about the available memory and features (such as maximum imageable area, paper size and resident fonts) of the printer in use. Printer manufactures develop and distribute PPD files for their printers and normally include the appropriate PPD file on a disk with the printer.

Solution
It is possible to increase the resolution of an image in the PDF output. This can be done by creating an instance of a PCREPDFOutputOptions object and using one of its setImage options to increase the resolution. In this example the image is a BLOBimage object hence by using the setBlobFieldBitmapImage method provided by the PCREPDFOutputOptions, it is possible to obtain the desired output.

PCREPDFOutputOptions imageOptions = new PCREPDFOutputOptions();

imageOptions.setOLEImage

(PCREPDFOutputOptions.PDF_24BitDIB,8,

PCREPDFOutputOptions.PDF_UNDEFINED,

PCREPDFOutputOptions.PDF_UNDEFINED);

job.OutputToPDF("output.pdf",imageOptions);

setBlobFieldBitmapImage

public void setBlobFieldBitmapImage(int type,
                                                                        int resolution,
                                                                        int encode8,
                                                                        int encode24)
Set the blob-field bitmap-image from the the given image-attributes.
Parameters:
type - The type of image.
resolution - The image resolution.
encode8 - 8-bit encoding flags.
encode24 - 24-bit encoding flags.

If you performed a default installation of PCRE v2.4 on the C drive the Java API reference for PCREPDFOutputOptions can be found at:
<PATHTOMOBILEAPPS>\PCRE\Docs\JavaAPIQuickReference\com.mobileapps.pcre.PCREPDFOutputOptions.html

If you performed a default installation of PCRE v2.5 on the C drive the Java API reference for PCREPDFOutputOptions can be found at:
<PATH TO DYNALIVERY>\PCRE\Docs\JavaAPIQuickReference\index.html

Issue 4
When a report template is moved to a new report server and output to PDF the margins change in an unfavorable manner. It may appear to have shifted the whole page making the margins uneven or possibly cutting image area off.

Solution
When designing a report it is very important that the report designer choose the PCRE Printer in the Print Setup dialog box. It is of equal importance that the report designer make a conscience choice of report margins and that they do not use the default margins of the printer. This is because all printers do not have the same default margins.