FAQ – Questions about AFP2web® Features
During the last years, our customers and partners have repeatedly asked the following questions.
What is the difference between the trial version and a full version?
What is the SDK Option – a COM component, .Net Resource, Java, etc.?
In which languages may I get support for your product?
What is the customer support timing and turnaround time?
At what speed can the program generate the output?
Does the test version convert AFP format to XML?
Does AFP2web expect the AFP spool generated on the mainframe as input?
Can I download missing AFP resources from somewhere if not present in the spool?
Is it possible to add bookmarks to the PDF file?
Is it possible to add a text or a graphic to the PDF file?
Can I redirect the PDF to SDTOUT or to a pipe?
Is it possible to activate your scripts through simple VB code?
Do you sell and support directly from Germany?
Can AFP2web view, print, and convert the AFP AS400 output?
Can AFP2web convert AFP/IPDS (containing barcodes and something like that)?
Does the AFP Viewer have an interface that I can execute on remote?
- Question: How can indexing be accomplished? Must I use ACIF or is AFP2web capable of indexing during the conversion?
Indexing is part of the conversion. AFP2web can index files relying either on ACIF output or on any rules you define using the AFP2web Scripting Facility Option. Normally, AFP2web first identifies a document, extracts data as well as indexes belonging to that document, then converts the document to PDF (or any other output format) and finally writes the corresponding index file. AFP2web can either create an index file per document or a single index file for all documents.
- Question: What is the difference between the trial version and a full version?
Our trial version is fully functional. The only difference is the limitation of the trial version as follows:- A watermark is printed across each and every page
- Our company name and copyright information is printed at the bottom of every page
- Output is limited to 50 pages per second
- Question: What is the SDK Option – a COM component, .Net Resource, Java, etc.?
We offer 2 SDKs: one for Java and another for C. Both can be used based on your environment to better integrate AFP2web functionality.
- Question: The size of our AFP file is about 60 GB (one single file). Do you believe your produkt can handle a file of this size? OR must we first split the file before we use AFP2web?
AFP2web does not have any problems handling huge AFP spools. The main restrictions are generally due to the server AFP2web runs on (CPU, memory, disk space). However, to speed up processing it would probably be better to split this into multiple jobs.
- Question: In which languages may I get support for your product?
German, English, French
- Question: What is the customer support timing and turnaround time?
In most cases on the same day, but depending on the extent of the problem maximum 2-3 days.
- Question: At what speed can the program generate the output?
To get the best performance, you should make sure that AFP2web runs on a system with a fast CPU (the faster the CPU, the better the performance will be). Input/output is normally not an issue. Still a fast disk may speed up the process. Under these conditions, AFP2web may reach conversion rates from 2000 to 4000 pages per minute or even more.
- Question: Does the test version convert AFP format to XML?
Yes. The trial version can generate XML. Try the afp2xml.pm Scripting Facility sample module.
- Question: Does AFP2web expect the AFP spool generated on the mainframe as input?
AFP2web accepts various formats as input, such as line printer data, Mixed Mode Data MO:DCA-P, among others. The AFP spool does not have to be generated on the mainframe. But if it’s the case, then please make sure to download it as binary. No EBCDIC to ASCII conversion should take place.
- Question: Can I download missing AFP resources from somewhere if not present in the spool?
In most the cases, the resources are part of the AFP spool. We refer to these resources as “inline resources”. If your AFP spool does not contain inline resources, you can configure AFP2web to access the resources as “external resources”.
- Question: Is it possible to add bookmarks to the PDF file?
You can easily add bookmarks to any PDF file by using the Scripting Facility Option. For further details, please have a look at the “addBookmarks.pm: Adding Bookmarks to the PDF output document” section of the “A.2 Tutorial: Using the Scripting Facility Examples” Chapter of the AFP2web User Guide and Reference.
- Question: Is it possible to add a text or a graphic to the PDF file?
You can easily add Text and Graphics to any Output Document by using the Scripting Facility Option.
- Question: I would like to know how to split one large AFP file into many single PDF files and, for each file, how to produce related index files (“idx-files”). Do you use a marker in the document, such as the text string “Insured”? When I use the example “eyecatacher.pm”, no change happens when I modify the text string “Insured” in the search criteria. What else must I know, when I want to split and index AFP files and to assign names or IDs to a data record?
Within the Scripting Facility sample Module “eyecatcher.pm”, we look for an eye catcher to identify, let’s say, the first page of a document and to extract indexes. An eyecatcher is defined by a position and its value/content. For further details please have a look at the “eyecatcher.pm: Find and Extract Text Objects” section of the “A.2 Tutorial: Using the Scripting Facility Examples” Chapter of AFP2web’s User Guide and Reference.
- Question: Can I redirect the PDF to SDTOUT or to a pipe?
You can redirect the output to STDOUT anytime by using the -so option. By the way, you can configure AFP2web to read from STDIN by using the -si option.
- Question: Is it possible to activate your scripts through simple VB code?
There are 2 ways to integrate AFP2web within your VB application- Call AFP2web as a batch process. This is a system call that you set from your VB application.
- Use the AFP2web SDK. The SDK is a static library that you can embed into your VB application.
- Question: Do you sell and support directly from Germany?
We sell and support our products directly from Germany to companies all over the world. Some of our customers are worldwide key players such as AXA in the insurance business or AT&T in the Telecom business.
- Question: What version of PDF format does AFP2web produce – v1.3 (Acrobat Reader 4.x), v1.4 (Acrobat 5.x) or v1.5 (Acrobat 6.x) ?
AFP2web always generates the lowest possible PDF version. But if some features require a higher version of PDF (for ex. PDF/A) the corresponding version will be used. The goal remains to ensure that even older versions of Acrobat Reader will be able to display the generated PDFs.
- Question: Can AFP2web view, print, and convert the AFP AS400 output?
Yes, with AFP2web it is possible to convert any standard AFP spool. Other output formats are also possible, no matter what system they originate from.
- Question: Can AFP2web convert AFP/IPDS (containing barcodes and something like that)?
It’s no problem to convert, print or view AFP/IPDS data using AFP2web. Barcodes (BCOCA) as well vector graphics (GOCA) will be embedded in the PDF.
- Question: Does the AFP Viewer have an interface that I can execute on remote?
We offer an AFP2web client that can be easily integrated into any application. We have already successfully realized such integration. For example, we developed a special AFP Viewer (IWP2web) that supports the IWP protocol used within IBM Image+.