We are using DocStar and have a custom routing set up so that when we print the Sales Order Ack, it also prints all of the DocStar attachments. It works great for PDFs, but when we try the same and there is a .PNG attachment amongst the PDF attachments, we get this:
I don’t believe they are an acceptable doc type. There is no default ‘printing’ app for PNG files, not in a traditional sense even though Windows does open it in an app. I believe that it has to be one of the common doc types that convert to PDF.
So, I’ve been looking around and all I can find is the BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf.dll in the Client folder, and when I go to the help pages it looks like it supports adding images to a PDF doc, but I cannot find a cmd to directly convert and image to a pdf. It might be in the syntax somewhere, but perhaps Epicor didn’t make an allowance for it. I certainly cannot find any file-type info with regards to Report Style Routing setup.
Maybe it’s time for an Epicor Idea to allow for image attachment conversions…
First - great question! Second - we’re outside my knowledge limit, so this is all conjecture unless we can put it to the test.
This would really be a question for the Devs. In my limited knowledge, I assumed the collection of attachments/documents and creation of the PDFs is being handled in the APR code - which may or may not use any of the doc association setup.
To explore this a little further - because my coffee just kicked in - It has to make the calls to retrieve the documents via the appropriate storage options (eg. one may be in Docstar, one in SP, one in the file system). So we know it’s using some of that Doc Mgmt setup data. But how would it know how to create, or if it even could, a PDF from the file? There is no limit to the file type you can store, given that you have some useful way of viewing the document later (Doc Association). But the APR code would have to know/use the equivalent ‘Print to PDF’ command for every one of them - or be able to ‘Print to XXX’ them into something a Convert-To-PDF library could work with. The Doc Association commands are for viewing and printing, but interactively, not invisibly - because there is no spec for ‘output’ documents on the print command. Currently I think the library I mentioned is being used for each attachment, and when the standard ‘convert this to PDF’ command is issued, the PNG file is choking it.
It might be useful/nice if the whole process was converted to a process where we could specify a command for converting a Doc Type to PDF via an EXE and a command line that could be executed by APR for each document, then APR could just combine them all into one PDF. I’m pretty sure this has been addressed here via custom BPM code.
That makes sense and all but it seems more like a bug to me that whatever PDF conversion library it is using can’t print/convert a .PNG to a .PDF. I say that because things like Microsoft Print to PDF printer, PDF995 printer, NitroPDF printer, etc all print any type of image to PDF just fine. Image to PDF printing has been around for what, 20 years now?
I don’t disagree. PNG is common enough that they should all support it. It’s a question for the Devs at this point. Maybe open ticket and see where it goes? If you get something definitive, let us know - I think all of us would benefit from knowing what doc types can flow through APR without a problem.