UPDATE: There is now a 64-bit compatible version of Quick PDF Library available as part of version 8. Read more here. Native 64-bit support is provided for the DLL, ActiveX and Delphi editions.

OK, here’s something you probably weren’t expecting – over the past few months, we’ve been working on a version of Quick PDF Library that does a few things.

Firstly, it provides you with the ability to work with 64-bit applications in a native 64-bit environment, as well as the flexibility of accessing Quick PDF Library via TCP/IP from any computer within network reach.

This new edition of the library is now being distributed with the current version of Quick PDF Library. You’ll find all of the files necessary for the TCP/IP edition in the default installation directory (C:\Program Files\Quick PDF Library\TCP).

In this short tutorial, we’re going to show you how to get up and running with this exciting new edition.

Step 1. Install the Quick PDF Library TCP/IP service

Copy the files QuickPDFTCP0714.exe and QuickPDFTCP0714.ini to the folder containing your application (example: C:\QuickPDFLibrary\TCP\

Open a command line in administrator mode, run the following command to install the service “C:\QuickPDFLibrary\TCP\QuickPDFTCP0714.exe” /install

Step 2. Start the service

Edit the settings file QuickPDFTCP0714.ini modifying the IP address and port as you wish:

IPAddress=127.0.0.1
Port=10005

This allows you access the local host on your machine – you can also use this to communicate with machines across your network.

Run the following command to start the service:
net start QuickPDFTCPService0714

Step 3. A simple C# example

Create a simple C# application and add the QuickPDFTCP0714.cs to your project.

Add a single button to the default form, double click and add the following action:

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
QuickPDFTCP0714.Client qp = new QuickPDFTCP0714.Client();
if (qp.Connect(“127.0.0.1”, 10005))
{
if (qp.UnlockKey(“YOUR KEY”) == 1)
{
qp.DrawText(100, 500, “Hello from C# via TCP/IP”);
qp.SaveToFile(“C:\\temp\\test.pdf”);
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show(“Could not unlock”);
}
}
}

Start the application, click the button, and then open an Explorer window and check the “c:\temp” folder. You should find a simple file, “test.pdf” with the “Hello from C# via TCP/IP” text in the middle.

How else can you use this?

• Provide your .NET managed code a way of accessing Quick PDF Library.
• Write 64-bit code targeting a 64-bit processor.
• Connect to Quick PDF Library servers across networks.

I’m sure you’ll find lots of interesting uses for this interface, please leave a comment to let me know and we’ll publish some of these stories on the site.

Note: The TCP/IP socket interface provides the “glue” for the 32-bit Quick PDF Library to talk directly with 32-bit and 64-bit builds, managed processes and also remote installations.

Customers often ask: does Quick PDF Library work with PHP? The answer is yes, and what’s more, it works very well with minimal setup required.

What does this mean? It means that you can use Quick PDF with PHP to build PDF web apps that do things like split and merging PDFs, modify security, etc, but also, it means you can add PDF functionality to your existing online apps. Do you want to generate PDF reports from a database on the fly and serve them up to customers through your website? No problem, Quick PDF Library can do that and much more. 

In this example I will show you how to use Quick PDF and PHP with a few simple steps. To demo the library I will be using the ActiveX version of Quick PDF Library and the version of PHP5 and Apache that is bundled with XAMPP. Of course, Quick PDF will also work with PHP and IIS, but I’ll leave that example for another day.

Steps to follow

1. Install XAMPP for Windows (alternatively you could install PHP and Apache separately if you wished).
2. Create a folder for your PHP project in c:\xampp\htdocs.
3. Download and install Quick PDF Library to a directory on your machine.
4. Locate the ActiveX edition (QuickPDFAX0713.dll) of Quick PDF Library and register it (regsvr32 <path>\QuickPDFAX0713.dll).
5. Create a PHP file and add it to your project in the htdocs folder (e.g. c:\xampp\htdocs\qpl\index.php).
6. Open the PHP file and add the following code and then save it.

<?php
$fileName = “DrawText.pdf”;
$qp = new COM(“QuickPDFAX0713.PDFLibrary”);
$validKey = $qp->UnlockKey(“…”);
if ($validKey == 1)
{
    echo “License validation successful!”;
    echo “<br />”;
    echo “Valid license key: “;
    echo $qp->LicenseInfo;
    echo “<br />”;
}
else
{
    echo “License validation failed!”;
    echo “<br /><br />”;
}
$qp->DrawText(100, 500, “Hello World!”);
$result = $qp->SaveToFile($fileName);
if ($result == 1)
{
    echo “File was successfully saved to disk.”;
    echo “<br /><br />”;
}
else
{
    echo “File could not be saved to disk.”;
    echo “<br /><br />”;
}
$qp = null;
?>

7. Execute the PHP file by loading it in your browser (e.g. http://localhost/qpl/index.php) and you’re done!

Some tips

// $qp = new COM(“QuickPDFAX0713.PDFLibrary”);

Call the Quick PDF Library COM object that you have previously registered. It shouldn’t matter where the QuickPDFAX0713.dll file is physically located, however, keeping it in the project folder will ensure that you don’t accidentally delete it. 

// $result = $qp->SaveToFile($fileName);

By default, when saving files to disk using the Apache service that accompanies XAMPP, the files that are created in this example will automatically be placed in the following directory: c:\xampp. Of course, it’s relatively easy to save the file in a different location with a small few adjustments to the PHP code, but I’ll leave that work for you.

The rest of this code should be quite easy to understand. But if you have any questions, leave a comment.

The example that I’ve used in this sample is quite simple, however, there’s no reason why it couldn’t be far more sophisticated. After all, with over 500 functions in the Quick PDF Library, you could build some pretty powerful PDF web apps.

There’s a lot of information about Quick PDF Library online, but it’s spread over a few different websites and at times, can be difficult to locate. Luckily, our good friend Google has the solution. Using Google’s Custom Search tool, we were able to create the Quick PDF Library Search Engine. This custom search engine only displays results from Quick PDF Library related websites, so finding what you’re looking for is now a whole lot easier.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you know of any other sites, or even specific threads on a forum, that you think should be added to the index, let us know by posting a comment.