Strange behavior in BullZip
Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 1:32 am
I hope I have the correct board (or rather section of the board) for this. This problem occurs with both BullZip and PDF Creator. So I am suspecting a similar engine being used. Here is the problem:
I am generating hundreds of tables for HTML. Basically, I am generating one table per database table that we have. The generated output can be loaded into Opera (but FireFox, IE, and even Chrome will die or produce VERY strange output if you try to use them). This is not something like five or six pages of HTML. It is around 7,000 pages of HTML tables. Each table in the database produces two HTML tables. One for the fields and what they are and one for the notes accompanying the table. So a maximum of two tables are presented each page. Sometimes only one if the table is very long.
Each table consists of a header (ie: white background, 16pt Times Roman font, black lettering) showing the database and table's name, a column header (ie: nine columns, light blue background, 10pt Times Roman font, black lettering) row, and then however many rows of field names there are (ie: nine columns, light yellow background, 10pt Times Roman font, black lettering). The first table contains the field names and how they are set up. The second table contains any notes which are attached to the table.
What happens is that when BullZip is going to convert the HTML to PDF format, everything loads fine and BullZip does create a PDF file. For some reason though, the first page prints perfectly and every page after that has problems. Not in the "It is all garbage" kind of problem though. What happens is that the first table printed loses the light blue background which is behind the column names. Further, if a table wraps to the next page it does the same thing to the top of the table on the wrapped page. Strangely enough - the second table (the one with the notes) always prints perfectly.
BullZip, with smaller files, works perfectly. So I am taking it that because this HTML file is over 40 MB - it has to do with having to work on such a large document. The less than ideal solution is to try to parcel out the document into X number of tables at a time. Since there are around 7,000 pages - this would mean hundreds and hundreds of individual PDF documents on this one database and its tables. Something I am trying to avoid. Further, it isn't that the document is unreadable. Losing the light blue background doesn't, in any other way, destroy the document. It just looks a bit strange. So you can take this as an extreme stress test of BullZip and what it can or can not do. But it is an indicator of a problem with BullZIp because BullZip should not malfunction no matter how large a document is. So if there is a solution or if one is already available - point me to it.
And thanks in advance also!
Here are some other things to think about:
1. FireFox just died after loading in the document. It could not even bring it in so it could be viewed.
2. No version of Internet Explorer would even load the document.
3. Microsoft word took three hours and never completed loading the document.
4. Google's Chrome would load the document and display it - but when it attempted to print using BullZip, the output from BullZip was as if Chrome had chopped various parts of it off of the document.
5. Only Safari and Opera would properly display the document AND print to both BullZip and PDF Creator properly. However, as mentioned, the light blue background disappeared from the output.
6. KompoZer will load and display the entire web page (Yeah KompoZer!) but it won't print it.
I am only guessing the BullZip is not performing correctly. However, Opera will load the HTML and it does send everything to BullZip/PDF Creator. So I am fairly certain that it is BullZip/PDF Creator that is having problems in the generation of the PDF file. I do not own Adobe's Acrobat program. Otherwise I would try it as well.
Other than the above - BullZip is very fast and seems to be able to handle the massive file and not die while doing so. Also - everything else looks great in the PDF file. The second table always has the light blue and light yellow background. So - don't know why the first printed at the top of the page is wrong - but everything else is right.
Last, but not least - please do not ask me to send these files. First, they contain highly sensitive information about how we have things set up at our place of business and second - these are really large files. It would be simpler to just generate your own 40 MB file with some tables following my layout parameters above. I use very little CSS. The tables mainly consist of the HTML commands. The only real CSS commands are the ones to set the font size, background color, and to put a border around each cell. There is also a CSS command "page-break-after: always;" for the second table to ensure there is a page break there. Nothing more.
Thanks for producing such as wonderful program. I brought BullZip to where I work because we don't have any kind of a PDF creator. As soon as I have created all of the PDFs I'm going to remove both BullZip and PDF Creator and then see if I can't get upper management to actually buy BillZip or PDF Creator. We need something like them here at work but I am unsure of whether or not they will have the money to buy them. :-/ Still, I thought you guys should know that there seems to be a problem with the program.
I am generating hundreds of tables for HTML. Basically, I am generating one table per database table that we have. The generated output can be loaded into Opera (but FireFox, IE, and even Chrome will die or produce VERY strange output if you try to use them). This is not something like five or six pages of HTML. It is around 7,000 pages of HTML tables. Each table in the database produces two HTML tables. One for the fields and what they are and one for the notes accompanying the table. So a maximum of two tables are presented each page. Sometimes only one if the table is very long.
Each table consists of a header (ie: white background, 16pt Times Roman font, black lettering) showing the database and table's name, a column header (ie: nine columns, light blue background, 10pt Times Roman font, black lettering) row, and then however many rows of field names there are (ie: nine columns, light yellow background, 10pt Times Roman font, black lettering). The first table contains the field names and how they are set up. The second table contains any notes which are attached to the table.
What happens is that when BullZip is going to convert the HTML to PDF format, everything loads fine and BullZip does create a PDF file. For some reason though, the first page prints perfectly and every page after that has problems. Not in the "It is all garbage" kind of problem though. What happens is that the first table printed loses the light blue background which is behind the column names. Further, if a table wraps to the next page it does the same thing to the top of the table on the wrapped page. Strangely enough - the second table (the one with the notes) always prints perfectly.
BullZip, with smaller files, works perfectly. So I am taking it that because this HTML file is over 40 MB - it has to do with having to work on such a large document. The less than ideal solution is to try to parcel out the document into X number of tables at a time. Since there are around 7,000 pages - this would mean hundreds and hundreds of individual PDF documents on this one database and its tables. Something I am trying to avoid. Further, it isn't that the document is unreadable. Losing the light blue background doesn't, in any other way, destroy the document. It just looks a bit strange. So you can take this as an extreme stress test of BullZip and what it can or can not do. But it is an indicator of a problem with BullZIp because BullZip should not malfunction no matter how large a document is. So if there is a solution or if one is already available - point me to it.
And thanks in advance also! Here are some other things to think about:
1. FireFox just died after loading in the document. It could not even bring it in so it could be viewed.
2. No version of Internet Explorer would even load the document.
3. Microsoft word took three hours and never completed loading the document.
4. Google's Chrome would load the document and display it - but when it attempted to print using BullZip, the output from BullZip was as if Chrome had chopped various parts of it off of the document.
5. Only Safari and Opera would properly display the document AND print to both BullZip and PDF Creator properly. However, as mentioned, the light blue background disappeared from the output.
6. KompoZer will load and display the entire web page (Yeah KompoZer!) but it won't print it.
I am only guessing the BullZip is not performing correctly. However, Opera will load the HTML and it does send everything to BullZip/PDF Creator. So I am fairly certain that it is BullZip/PDF Creator that is having problems in the generation of the PDF file. I do not own Adobe's Acrobat program. Otherwise I would try it as well.
Other than the above - BullZip is very fast and seems to be able to handle the massive file and not die while doing so. Also - everything else looks great in the PDF file. The second table always has the light blue and light yellow background. So - don't know why the first printed at the top of the page is wrong - but everything else is right.
Last, but not least - please do not ask me to send these files. First, they contain highly sensitive information about how we have things set up at our place of business and second - these are really large files. It would be simpler to just generate your own 40 MB file with some tables following my layout parameters above. I use very little CSS. The tables mainly consist of the HTML commands. The only real CSS commands are the ones to set the font size, background color, and to put a border around each cell. There is also a CSS command "page-break-after: always;" for the second table to ensure there is a page break there. Nothing more.
Thanks for producing such as wonderful program. I brought BullZip to where I work because we don't have any kind of a PDF creator. As soon as I have created all of the PDFs I'm going to remove both BullZip and PDF Creator and then see if I can't get upper management to actually buy BillZip or PDF Creator. We need something like them here at work but I am unsure of whether or not they will have the money to buy them. :-/ Still, I thought you guys should know that there seems to be a problem with the program.