Linking to the Database

A document created with the PDFCreator can be linked to a database. Information can be retrieved from a table or a view to populate various fields of the document.

The database can be of type Microsoft Access®(.MDB) database, or an ODBC source. The .MDB file name or ODBC source should be specified in the "DataSource" property of the Document object. The main table or view from which to retrieve data should be specified in the "DataTableOrView" property of the Document object.

A field or a cell can contain an expression derived from a database by using the following syntax:

Example

Visual Basic .Net
C#
C++
VBScript

Sub Sample()

' Constants for Activation codes

Const strLicenseTo As String = "Amyuni PDF Creator Evaluation"

Const strActivationCode As String = "07EFCDAB010001004282943F2AF19A88F332D9E781E40460727DF8A42847A1BDE06DB61C71E94E2D90424BF8762385335F9D6884E9FC"

' Initializing PDFCreativeX Object

Dim pdf As ACPDFCREACTIVEX.PDFCreactiveX = New ACPDFCREACTIVEX.PDFCreactiveX()

' Set license key

pdf.SetLicenseKey(strLicenseTo, strActivationCode)

' set the data source to an Access file

pdf.DataSource = "c:\temp\test.mdb"

' set the main table

pdf.DataTableOrView = "DOCUMENTS"

' Create a Field in the first page

pdf.CurrentPage = 1

pdf.CreateObject(ACPDFCREACTIVEX.ObjectTypeConstants.acObjectTypeField, "Field1")

' Define Object

Dim oField As ACPDFCREACTIVEX.IacObject = pdf.GetObjectByName("Field1")

' General Attributes

oField("Left") = 1000

oField("Right") = 3250

oField("Top") = 3000

oField("Bottom") = 3500

' set object value to be the field TITLE from the table DOCUMENTS

oField("Text") = "=DOCUMENTS.TITLE"

' compile the document and switch to Run mode. this will fill

' the "Field 1" object with the first record of the table each

' time this method is called, a new value is fetched from the table

pdf.ReportState = ACPDFCREACTIVEX.ReportStateConstants.acReportStateRun

' Save PDF

pdf.Save("c:\temp\CreatePDFDocument_resulting.pdf", ACPDFCREACTIVEX.FileSaveOptionConstants.acFileSaveView)

' destroy objects

pdf = Nothing

oField = Nothing

End Sub

static void Sample()
{
    // Constants for Activation codes
    const string strLicenseTo = "Amyuni PDF Creator Evaluation";
    const string strActivationCode = "07EFCDAB010001004282943F2AF19A88F332D9E781E40460727DF8A42847A1BDE06DB61C71E94E2D90424BF8762385335F9D6884E9FC";
 
    // Initializing PDFCreativeX Object
    ACPDFCREACTIVEX.PDFCreactiveX pdf = new ACPDFCREACTIVEX.PDFCreactiveX();
 
    // Set license key
    pdf.SetLicenseKey(strLicenseTo, strActivationCode);
 
    // set the data source to an Access file
    pdf.DataSource = @"c:\temp\test.mdb";
 
    // set the main table
    pdf.DataTableOrView = "DOCUMENTS";
 
    // Create a Field in the first page
    pdf.CurrentPage = 1;
    pdf.CreateObject(ACPDFCREACTIVEX.ObjectTypeConstants.acObjectTypeField, "Field1");
    // Define Object
    ACPDFCREACTIVEX.IacObject oField = pdf.GetObjectByName("Field1".ToString());
    // General Attributes
    oField["Left"] = 1000;
    oField["Right"] = 3250;
    oField["Top"] = 3000;
    oField["Bottom"] = 3500;
    // set object value to be the field TITLE from the table DOCUMENTS
    oField["Text"] = "=DOCUMENTS.TITLE";
 
    // compile the document and switch to Run mode. this will fill
    // the "Field 1" object with the first record of the table each
    // time this method is called, a new value is fetched from the table
    pdf.ReportState = ACPDFCREACTIVEX.ReportStateConstants.acReportStateRun;
 
    // Save PDF
    pdf.Save(@"c:\temp\CreatePDFDocument_resulting.pdf", ACPDFCREACTIVEX.FileSaveOptionConstants.acFileSaveView);
 
    // destroy objects
    pdf = null;
    oField = null;
}

#import "c:\users\amyuni\pdfcreactivex.dll" no_namespace
 
using namespace std;
 
int main()
{
    // Constants for Activation codes
    bstr_t strLicenseTo = "Amyuni PDF Creator Evaluation";
    bstr_t strActivationCode = "07EFCDAB010001004282943F2AF19A88F332D9E781E40460727DF8A42847A1BDE06DB61C71E94E2D90424BF8762385335F9D6884E9FC";
 
    // Initialize the COM subsystem
    CoInitialize(0);
 
    // IPDFCreactiveXPtr is a smart pointer type defined in pdfcreactivex.tlh,
    // the type library header file generated by the #import instruction above
    IPDFCreactiveXPtr pdf;
 
    // Create the PDFCreactiveX instance
    pdf.CreateInstance(__uuidof(PDFCreactiveX));
 
    // set license key
    pdf->SetLicenseKey(_bstr_t(strLicenseTo), _bstr_t(strActivationCode));
 
    // set the data source to an Access file
    pdf->DataSource = "c:\\temp\\test.mdb";
 
    // set the main table
    pdf->DataTableOrView = "DOCUMENTS";
 
    // Create a Field in the first page
    pdf->CurrentPage = 1;
    pdf->CreateObject(acObjectTypeField, "Field1");
    // Define Object
    IacObjectPtr oField = pdf->GetObjectByName("Field1");
    // General Attributes
    oField->Attribute["Left"] = 1000;
    oField->Attribute["Right"] = 3250;
    oField->Attribute["Top"] = 3000;
    oField->Attribute["Bottom"] = 3500;
    // set object value to be the field TITLE from the table DOCUMENTS
    oField->Attribute["Text"] = "=DOCUMENTS.TITLE";
 
    // Switch to run mode after objects to the document, the attribute Text will evaluate and save it in Value attribute
    pdf->ReportState = acReportStateRun;
 
    // Save PDF
    pdf->Save("c:\\temp\\CreatePDFDocument_resulting.pdf", acFileSaveView);
 
    // destroy objects
    pdf = NULL;
    oField = NULL;
 
    return 0;
}

' ReportStateConstants

Const acReportStateRun = 0

Const acReportStateDesign = 1

Const acReportStateLoading = 2

Const acReportStatePrintPreview = 3

Const acReportStateAnnotate = 4

' ObjectTypeConstants

Const acObjectTypeArrow = 36

Const acObjectTypeBarcode = 45

Const acObjectTypeCell = 33

Const acObjectTypeCheckBox = 21

Const acObjectTypeEllipse = 4

Const acObjectTypeExcel = 17

Const acObjectTypeField = 6

Const acObjectTypeGraph = 19

Const acObjectTypeHighlight = 23

Const acObjectTypeLine = 1

Const acObjectTypePicture = 7

Const acObjectTypePolygon = 8

Const acObjectTypeRoundFrame = 3

Const acObjectTypeRow = 32

Const acObjectTypeSelection = 24

Const acObjectTypeSignature = 39

Const acObjectTypeStickyNote = 22

Const acObjectTypeTable = 16

Const acObjectTypeText = 5

' FileSaveOptionConstants

Const acFileSaveAll = 0

Const acFileSaveDefault = -1

Const acFileSaveView = 1

Const acFileSaveDesign = 2

Const acFileSavePDFA_7 = 3

Const acFileSavePDFA = 4

Const acFileSavePDF14 = 5

' Constants for Activation codes

Const strLicenseTo = "Amyuni PDF Creator Evaluation"

Const strActivationCode = "07EFCDAB010001004282943F2AF19A88F332D9E781E40460727DF8A42847A1BDE06DB61C71E94E2D90424BF8762385335F9D6884E9FC"

' Initializing PDFCreativeX Object

Dim pdf

Set pdf = CreateObject("PDFCreactiveX.PDFCreactiveX.6.5")

' Set license key

pdf.SetLicenseKey strLicenseTo, strActivationCode

' set the data source to an Access file

pdf.DataSource = "c:\temp\test.mdb"

' set the main table

pdf.DataTableOrView = "DOCUMENTS"

' Create a Field in the current Page

pdf.CreateObject acObjectTypeField, "Field1"

' Define Object

Dim oField

Set oField = pdf.GetObjectByName("Field1")

' General Attributes

oField("Left") = 1000

oField("Right") = 3250

oField("Top") = 3000

oField("Bottom") = 3500

' set object value to be the field TITLE from the table DOCUMENTS

oField("Text") = "=DOCUMENTS.TITLE"

' compile the document and switch to Run mode. this will fill

' the "Field 1" object with the first record of the table each

' time this method is called, a new value is fetched from the table

pdf.ReportState = acReportStateRun

' Save PDF

pdf.Save "c:\temp\CreatePDFDocument_resulting.pdf", acFileSaveView

' destroy Objects

Set pdf = Nothing

Set oField = Nothing