faq

Q: What is all this?

The blazePDF component is a component for Macromediaİ Flash 8 that enables a developer to create PDF drawings at run-time using both built-in drawing API commands as well as an additional set of drawing functions. The component outputs a PDF to a variable that the developer can choose to save as they see fit.

Q: How does it all work?

The component is built around several ActionScript classes developed by g.wygonik that do two things: 1) enhance Flash's built-in drawing API with several new functions and storage of all drawing commands for later manipulation/retreival, and 2) take a stored drawing command object and output an ASCII PDF. Additional functionality has been added to make the components easy to use and as small as possible.

Q: How much does it cost?

blazePDF Standard (Flash 8 / AS2) - Only $40 (US)

Q: Wasn't there a free version of the blazePDF component?

Yes, there used to be a free version of the component. There no longer is a free version.

Q: What do I need on my server?

Nothing! All work is done on the client side. The only thing you may want on your server is a page to send the PDF data to that pushes a PDF document back to the client for download.

Q: Can I let the user download the PDF without a server?

Sure! The use of a third-party Flash "wrapper" will allow you to save the PDF directly to the user's computer. You can save the output of your PDF document into a variable and let your wrapper write the PDF to the user's machine.

Q: Can I add an existing or on-stage MovieClip to a PDF document?

YES! Version 2 of the blazePDF component allows you to take an on-stage MovieClip and render it to your PDF as a bitmap image.

Q: Can I add a bitmap image to a PDF?

YES! With previous versions of the component, you could use an external application to build a document that the blazePDF component would load and render into your PDF. While this method still works (and is preferred for large, external JPEG images), with version 2 you can capture an on-stage or in-library JPEG (or PNG or GIF) using both internal API method or native Flash BitmapData methods and render them to your PDF.

Q: Can I add a GIF/PNG/TIFF or other non-JPEG image to a PDF?

Yes and No. For large external images, you must convert non-JPEG images to 24-bit color JPEGs for them to work with the blazePDF jpg2bPDF app. Smaller images (JPG, PNG, and GIF) can be loaded dynamically in Flash and captured with either native Flash BitmapData methods, or with blazePDF methods..

Q: I've embedded a 40K JPEG. Why is the PDF over 80K?

The conversion of the JPEG data into an ASCII format usable inside Flash at runtime currently does a 1:2 expansion on the data. This means that your 40K file will be 80K of ASCII data. However, the way the image data is stored in the PDF is such that you can re-use the same image over and over in a single document without additional file size (like a logo that goes at the top of every page). The plan is to use a different ASCII conversion that does a 4:5 expansion, but that will come in a later update.

Q: Can I somehow compress the data?

YES! With version 2 of the blazePDF component, any on-stage or in-library MovieClip you embed can optionally have a run-length encoding pass done during the processing. For images that are mostly solid colors or lots of empty-space this will reduce the size of the ASCII data dramatically. For images that are more photographic in nature (lots of different colors next to each other), this process could actually result in a larger size. The run-length encoding process is slower than the normal embedding process. Please experiment with this process in your app to see what works best.

Q: All the text and lines in my PDF are darker than in my Flash app. What's wrong?

This is a known issue with using transparency in your PDF. When you add transparent content to the document, the display of colors in Reader (and possibly other PDF viewers) appear darker than normal for reasons that the developer understands, but he can't seem to fix. The color specifications are correct, so outputting them to a printer should be accurate to what is expected - it's just a display issue (or so it seems). Therefore, only use the transparency features when they are really needed (that's why you can set the transparency to "none").

Q: Line drawings show up on-screen in my Flash app, but not in my PDF. What gives?

Odds are you forgot to use the stroke() method after drawing some lines. Remember, you don't have to do it after every line segment, just after a complete path of a line is done - from one single line to ten lines drawing a polygon.

Q: Adobe Reader flashes a "Rebuilding" message when I load the PDF. What's up with that?

ASCII PDFs are fragile things. If the data is hand-edited, or saved in such a way that the line-breaks are converted between simple carriage returns to line feeds and carriage returns, the PDF can get messed up. However, Reader is smart enough to "rebuild" the necessary information it needs to correctly display the PDF. Care should be taken when saving the PDFs to make sure no extra processing of the ASCII data takes place.