Creating PDFs in LabVIEW Using PDFCreator

Versions Used: PDFCreator v1.1.0; Note: PDFCreator is a separate download/install LabVIEW 2010 Windows 7 Step 1: Open PDFCreator ActiveX_lv10.llb

Step 2: : Open Print PDF Using PDFCreator ActiveX.vi Step 3: : Browse for refnum.ctl if LabVIEW does not find it and Ignore the Load Summary Warning which is just notifying that you pointed to a refnum.ctl that was not at the location that it expected and it will be updating dependencies with new p path. Step 4: : The run arrow in LabVIEW may be broken, , as it may not be able to connect/find the PDFCreator ActiveX Class. If this is the case continue on to the next step otherwise if the run arrow arr is not broken jump to Step 14. To update the link we need ed to browse to the ActiveX class again to create a reference for LabVIEW and then update the refnum control to point to this new class. Step 5: : Go to the block diagram of Print PDF Using PDFCreator ActiveX.vi by navigating to Window >> Show Block Diagr Diagram or entering the shortcut CTRL+E

Step 6: : Double click on the PDFCreator Open.vi and open its block diagram by entering CTRL+E Last updated: January 2011

Creating PDFs in LabVIEW Using PDFCreator

Step 7: : Delete the current ActiveX class reference by clicking on the wire holding SHIFT and clicking the PDFCreator._clsPDF PDFCreator._clsPDFCreator constant. Then click delete.

Step 8: : Roll over the Automation Refnum input for the Automation Open VI and right-click right when the spool appears. On the right right-click menu navigate to Select Select ActiveX Class >> Browse Browse

Step 9: : From the Select Objec Object t from Type Library navigate the Type Library drop-down drop to PDFCreator Version 7.1 and select the clsPDFCreator clsPDFCreator (PDFCreator.clsPDFCreator) (PDFCreator.clsPDFCreator) object as pictured below. Click OK on the dialog box.

Step 10: : Back on the block diagram for PDFCreator Open.vi, delete the wire between the Open Automation vi and the Automation Refnum. Then right right-click click on the Automation Refnum output of the Open Automation VI and select Create >> Constant

Last updated: January 2011

Creating PDFs in LabVIEW Using PDFCreator

Step 11: Next right-click click on the Automation Refnum indicator and select O Open pen Type Def

Step 12: : Delete the Automation Refnum in the refnum.ctl and drag the Automation Refnum that you created in Step 10 from the block diagram onto the refnum.ctl to replace the old one. Save the ctl file and close it.

ation Refnum constant on the block diagram and wire the Step 13: Delete the Automation Automation Open VI back up to the Automation Refnum indicator. Save PDFCreator Open.vi

Last updated: January 2011

Creating PDFs in LabVIEW Using PDFCreator

Step 14: Back in Print PDF Using PDFCreator ActiveX.vi the run button should now be solid . Create a test.txt at a known location on your hard drive and navigate to the path in the Original Doc Path by clicking on the folder icon.

Step 15: Enter path information for where you want it created and the name of the PDF. Step 16: Click the run button. Note: : On your first run of PDFCreator a dialog will ask you if it is OK to temporarily set it as the default printer. Click in the Dont ont ask me again again box and click OK. From this point on when you run it there should not be any dialog boxes that appear during the process.

Step 17: Enjoy!

Last updated: January 2011