AutoHotkey Community

[BigBen]

Hello everyone,

I'm a FileMaker developer, and I'm trying to automate the generation of PDF's and emailing them afterwards.

Here is what I'm trying to accomplish from FileMaker:

- Verify that the user has a printer with 'PDF' in its name
- In the absence of a PDF printer driver, we quit the script and ask the user to install a PDF printer before continuing
- Else, we get that printer name to a variable
- Take note of the current default printer (another variable)
- Ask the user for a name for the PDF file we are going to create, or use a FileMaker field for this
- Create the PDF on the User's Desktop or in a specific folder that may need to be created
- Change the file name to the one we specified in the FileMaker field above
- Ask the user if they want to send the file by email
- If this is the case, using the default email client, create a new message with the PDF as an attachment, the contents of a FileMaker field or apopup for the email address, and the file name or another field as the subject of the message
- Change the default printer back to what it was before

I have an AppleScript that does all this for my Mac clients under OS X. Would anyone be willing to give me a hand in writing the AutoHotkey script I could integrate in my solutions to acheive this same feat for my Windows clients?

Thanks and eternally grateful in advance,

Ben

[jonny]

Hmmm... IMO, it sounds feasible. I'll have to do more research, but there should be something 'bout the printers in the big bad registry, which AHK can access quite easily. Everything after that looks to be the proverbial walk in the park. I'll get back to you after I do some more searching on Google and in my books. And don't worry, I have plenty of free time and I live for this stuff.

[exhueydriver]

Welcome to the AHK forum. Finally, another FMP'er!
Having said that, there are a couple of problems here.
(You didn't say which version of FMP?)

- Verify that the user has a printer with 'PDF' in its name

Using a third party app, CopyText.exe, you can get a list of the printer
names, then loop thru them (with AHK) to find "PDF". On my comp, I have 2 PDF drivers, which one do you want?

- Take note of the current default printer

Big prob here- the default printer for the OS is NOT the same default printer for FilemakerPro. I'm pretty sure it works the same on a Mac.

;=======

- Ask the user for a name for the PDF file we are going to create, or use a FileMaker field for this
- Create the PDF on the User's Desktop or in a specific folder that may need to be created
- Change the file name to the one we specified in the FileMaker field above
;=======
All of the above are easy with AHK(especially with the help I've gotten here), or you could use a Command prompt, I've got examples, if you want.

The rest of your stuff is easily handled with FMP scripts.

(as BoBo would say)
Thanks
Don

[jonny]

Eheh... with the fact that Huey has FMP and I don't, I'll bow out, especially knowing the default printer is different. Good luck!

[BoBo]

[Guest]

Don,

Nice to see I'm not the only FileMaker developer here (my version is 7.03 by the way).

[exhueydriver]

Hey Ben-(You're not that tower in London, are you, I'd hate to be talking
to a Clock! lol)
I hope you're not on a tight schedule, I just finished moving my office, and
I'm ready for sleepy time.
Look for an email(in your junk folder?), subject line "exhueydriver", let me
know what time zone you're in, I'm in PST (US), I've found that the learning
experience is faster by voice, so let's get together on MSM IM, I can talk with you and send files as necessary.
RE: Your AS offer, i don't have a Mac, and until I win the lottery, I can't afford more than one comp.
Oh Well.

[BoBo]

The times are changin.
MAC Mini ~ 500€.
Worth to think about

[BigBen]

Thanks Don,

I'm in Montreal, Quebec, so that would be EST. I hope we can share your solution with the rest of the community afterwards...

Ben