FileMaker and PDF Containers
There are sometimes problems with Containers as you see in various FileMaker forums. Well, the problem may be that FileMaker can do only previews on Mac as they don't include a PDF engine for Windows. So if you try and add files and check with Container.GetTypes what items are in the container, you get a table like this:| FileMaker 16 Win | ||
| Any Container | Insert File | FILE, FNAM |
| Any Container | Insert Picture | FNAM, PDF |
| Interactive Container | Insert PDF | FNAM, PDF |
| After using DynaPDF.GeneratePreview | FNAM, JPEG, MAIN, PDF , SIZE | |
| FileMaker 16 Mac | ||
| Any Container | Insert File | FILE, FNAM |
| Any Container | Insert Picture | FNAM, JPEG, MAIN, PDF , PNGf, SIZE |
| Interactive Container | Insert PDF | FNAM, JPEG, MAIN, PDF , PNGf, SIZE |
| After using PDFKit.Combine function | FNAM, JPEG, MAIN, PDF , SIZE | |
We have a couple of common types in the containers:
- "PDF " is the PDF file data.
- FILE is the content of a file.
- JPEG if exists is the JPEG preview data.
- PNGf if exists is a preview as PNG image file.
- FNAM is the file name for the container.
- SIZE is the preview image size.
You can of course always use MBS functions to check if preview is missing and add it on the fly using both PDFKit and DynaPDF functions. This could even be done on a server with a scheduled script or on a helper machine. The MBS Plugin adds a JPEG preview and you can use Plugin.SetPreviewSize function to configure preview size.
