Embedding a PDF within an Access form

[clancy76]

Hi all - I recently joined a company that has been storing data in fillable PDFs. We need to keep generating these PDFs going forward, but we would also like to consolidate all of this data into one SQL Server database(they have been manually filling in the data in the SQL Server back end after the PDF has been created, obviously this is not the optimal way to do things).

What I would like to do is:

1. Embed the PDF they are using into an Access form (The form will be connected to the SQL Server database and the data will get entered that way)
2. Click a button that takes that form and generates back into a PDF when all of the data has been entered

Does anyone know if this is possible? The PDF that's generated from Access has to look exactly like the current PDF we are filling in manually.

Thanks!

[ranman256]

don't embed PDF in the db. Instead ,store the link to a folder, and the user can still open it with:
OpenNativeApp txtPdfFld


Paste this code into a module, and it will open ANY file in its native application.
In a form put the field and a button to open it.

if the file is myFile.pdf, will open it in acrobat
if the file is myFile.doc, it will open the doc in Word
if its just a file path, it will open in file explorer.
etc..
usage:
OpenNativeApp txtBox
paste this code into a module

'Attribute VB_Name = "modNativeApp"
'Option Compare Database
Option Explicit

Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpszOp As String, ByVal lpszFile As String, ByVal lpszParams As String, ByVal lpszDir As String, ByVal FsShowCmd As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
Const SE_ERR_FNF = 2&
Const SE_ERR_PNF = 3&
Const SE_ERR_ACCESSDENIED = 5&
Const SE_ERR_OOM = 8&
Const SE_ERR_DLLNOTFOUND = 32&
Const SE_ERR_SHARE = 26&
Const SE_ERR_ASSOCINCOMPLETE = 27&
Const SE_ERR_DDETIMEOUT = 28&
Const SE_ERR_DDEFAIL = 29&
Const SE_ERR_DDEBUSY = 30&
Const SE_ERR_NOASSOC = 31&
Const ERROR_BAD_FORMAT = 11&

Public Sub OpenNativeApp(ByVal psDocName As String)
Dim r As Long, msg As String
r = StartDoc(psDocName)
If r <= 32 Then
    'There was an error
    Select Case r
        Case SE_ERR_FNF
            msg = "File not found"
        Case SE_ERR_PNF
            msg = "Path not found"
        Case SE_ERR_ACCESSDENIED
            msg = "Access denied"
        Case SE_ERR_OOM
            msg = "Out of memory"
        Case SE_ERR_DLLNOTFOUND
            msg = "DLL not found"
        Case SE_ERR_SHARE
            msg = "A sharing violation occurred"
        Case SE_ERR_ASSOCINCOMPLETE
            msg = "Incomplete or invalid file association"
        Case SE_ERR_DDETIMEOUT
            msg = "DDE Time out"
        Case SE_ERR_DDEFAIL
            msg = "DDE transaction failed"
        Case SE_ERR_DDEBUSY
            msg = "DDE busy"
        Case SE_ERR_NOASSOC
            msg = "No association for file extension"
        Case ERROR_BAD_FORMAT
            msg = "Invalid EXE file or error in EXE image"
        Case Else
            msg = "Unknown error"
    End Select
'    MsgBox msg
End If
End Sub

Private Function StartDoc(psDocName As String) As Long
Dim Scr_hDC As Long
Scr_hDC = GetDesktopWindow()
StartDoc = ShellExecute(Scr_hDC, "Open", psDocName, "", "C:\", SW_SHOWNORMAL)
End Function

usage:

sub btnOpenFile_click()
  OpenNativeApp ME.txtBox
end sub

[clancy76]

Ahhh making a call to the Windows API to do this, brilliant, will try it out - thanks so much!!