Chinese characters in PDF files

rbuser

I am evaluating RBuilder for a project using Rad Studio (Delphi) 2010,
and the latest RBuilder trial version, all of which support Unicode.

I've written a simple demo app using just the JitPipeline and the Report
components to create a PDF file. My Delphi code passes back Unicode
strings in English, Chinese, and Hebrew (just for fun) to the
JitPipeline. I am using the Arial Unicode MS font. Regardless of which
character set I use from the font, whether I use font embedding or not,
the Chinese and Hebrew text always appear as ???? in the PDF file.

I'm seeing a lot of people on the board having similar a problem, and
from what I can tell, I'm doing everything right, but it's just not
working. BTW, I've run this app under XP and Vista with no differences.

nicocizik

Hi Steve,

The built-in PDF device does not currently support unicode text. As a
workaround, you can place all unicode text into a TppRichText component and
set the TppPDFSettings.ExportRTFAsBitmap property to True. This will allows
the unicode characters to show up correctly however some of the quality will
be lost.

Full unicode support for PDF is something we are considering adding to a
later version of ReportBuilder.

Another option would be to take a look at a third party export device such
as Gnostice (http://www.gnostice.com).

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hi Nico,
Thanks for the quick reply. Funny you should mention Gnostice, as I
have sent them an email because I'm having problems doing a demo with
their tools, as well!
I'll try out the RichText components as you suggested. Thanks again for
the quick help.

Cheers.

rbuser

Nico,


I would suggest then that the ReportBuilder 11 feature list be updated to at
least put a disclaimer that the PDF export doesn't support unicode. As it
is right now, it says "Full Unicode VCL support" which implies that the PDF
export supports Unicode as well.

--

---------------------------------------
Terry Swiers
Millennium Software, Inc.
http://www.1000years.com
http://www.atrex.com

Atrex Inventory Control/POS -
Big business features without spending big business bucks!

Atrex Electronic Support Options:
Atrex Knowledgebase: http://www.atrex.com/atrexkb.asp
Email: mailto:support@atrex.com

rbuser

Terry, I agree with you. I certainly believed RB would do what I wanted
without problems. By now I have a sneaking suspicion that all these
folks (Nevrona, Gnostice, etc.) are making the same claims but have the
same limitations. I've not gotten any of them to work.

nardmoseley

Thanks for the feedback.

I updated the RB 11 feature list on rbWiki.

http://www.digital-metaphors.com:8080/General/What's_New/RB_11

I updated this line

.Unicode Report Designer, RCL, Report Output (*except PDF export)

The 'Full Unicode VCL support' is accurate. PDF is not part of VCL.

rbuser

Nard,


Thanks for updating it to make it clear that unicode support is not part of
the PDF export. I had simply read "Full Unicode Support" and figured that
since ReportBuilder was a VCL component that it would also produce Unicode
PDFs. Typical user assumption. ;-)

I got lucky that I already have the Gnostics components installed and using
them for other export formats, so the switch to using them instead of the
build in export was rather quick and easy.

--

---------------------------------------
Terry Swiers
Millennium Software, Inc.
http://www.1000years.com
http://www.atrex.com

Atrex Inventory Control/POS -
Big business features without spending big business bucks!

Atrex Electronic Support Options:
Atrex Knowledgebase: http://www.atrex.com/atrexkb.asp
Email: mailto:support@atrex.com

rbuser

Hi Steve,

I just checked our support system and I see that you have a query about
installation of the export interfaces (in your email, Rave), which has been
replied. The same steps for RB export interface will work. The Help file has
the instructions.

And we do support Unicode text writing in our PDF engine, the requirement
being that you are using a Unicode input font and choose to embed the font.
But in the next version we are working on now, we have full Unicode support.
Customers will shortly get the beta version of eDocEngine 3.0. Please email
our support if you are interested in trying out the beta.

Thank you,

--
Girish Patil
Gnostice Information Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------
PDF and document processing tools for VCL, .NET and Java
http://www.gnostice.com

rbuser

Hi Steve,

rbuser

Hi Girish,
Well, I've done all the things you've mentioned and have still not
gotten a simple example (the one I sent you directly) to work. Unicode
font? Yep. Embed the font? Yep. Chinese text? Nope. Anyway, in
answer to your question, yes, I'd be interested in your beta version to
see if it works any better.

Thanks again,
Steve

rbuser

Nard,
I'm reminded of an episode of "Futurama" in which the #1 Bureaucrat
tells Hermes that he is "technically correct... Which is the BEST kind
of correct there is!" :-)
Technical correctness aside, I found it misleading, as well. Thanks for
making the change.

Cheers,
Steve

rbuser

Hi Steve,

We will send you the beta very shortly.

Thank you,

--
Girish Patil
Gnostice Information Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------
PDF and document processing tools for VCL, .NET and Java
http://www.gnostice.com

rbuser

Hi Steve,

As explained in the email. The Unicode support was available when you were
converting through a metafile. We understood that your case was different
when we saw your code. The modified working code to export to PDF with
Unicode support has been sent to your email. The beta of 3.0 will follow
shortly.

Thank you,

--
Girish Patil
Gnostice Information Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------
PDF and document processing tools for VCL, .NET and Java
http://www.gnostice.com