Digital Workshop

I am brand new to Opus.

I am making a "simple" menu windows application to open PDF's selected by the end user from a single page application which has a listbox. I am trying to keep the future maintenance to a minimum since someone else will be doing it. All of the PDF's (i.e and all files are a PDF) are in a single directory and will periodically change (i.e. new PDF files added; some PDF files deleted). What I wanted to do is use a txt file to always populate the listbox items dynamically--the txt file will contain the name of the PDF documents to choose from. When PDF files are added or deleted in the folder, the maintenance will be to update the txt file accordingly.

I was then hoping to be able to have each PDF item in the list box "linked" to its actual PDF file in the directory----but be able to update the links dynamically too. Is there anyway to use a txt file that would have the file name to populate the listbox and also contain additional information not displayed in the listbox that can "link" to the actual pdf file when the listbox item is clicked?

So for example, perhaps my txt file for two items would look like this:

Care; c:\animals\care.pdf
Feeding; c:animals\feeding.pdf


Can I use this txt file to display "care" and "feeding" as listbox items---and have Opus use the file path after the ";" to open the pdf file? This way, the maintenance would be to limited to updating the txt file with new listbox items and their associated path going forward or deleting a lisbox item and its path. The end user would never need to update the program in Opus, etc.

I thought that this application would be a good first project and was off to a decent start until the end user asked about how the menu/listbox would handle the addition and deletion of PDFs. If my "idea" won't work is there a solution to achieve the objective?

Waldo,

I'll have a look at this problem this evening. It should be reasonable easy problem to solve. It would be helpful if you could update your profile saying:

What version of Opus you are using?
What operating system you are developing your program on?
What hardware you are using?

Many thanks
Paul

Paul,
Thank you for your kindness to help me...very appreciated. I also updated my profile as requested--sorry about that.
Jim

Jim

I've managed to solve the pdf listbox problem. Attached is a .zip file that should be extracted into one directory. You can then take it into Opus and see how it works. Here is a summary:

- There is a Master Page and four pages.
- The Master Page simply contains a title and exit button.
- The 'pgLogOn' page is a simple logon to direct the user to 'pgAdmin' or 'pgListBox'.
- 'pgAdmin' has a single button that has two actions attached: 1. a 'Delete File' action that removes the previous list of pdf files. 2. a 'Launch docsList.bat' action that launches a batch file. You will need to alter the file location to point to the directory containing the 'docsList.bat' file.
- 'docsList.bat' has two lines of code: '@echo OFF' stops the file listing to the screen, 'dir /B *.pdf > docsList.txt' simply creates a list of the pdf files in the directory, i.e. the filename and .pdf extention. The 'docsList.bat' file must be in the same directory as the Opus program. If the pdfs are in a different directory then you need to specify the directory name in front of the *.pdf statement.
- The 'pgListBox' page contains a list box that automatically reads the 'docsList.txt' file created by the 'docsList.bat' file. Clicking on a list item displays the document in the 'pgDocDisplay' page.
- On the 'pgDocDisplay' there is a 'DocView' and a button to return the user to the 'pgListBox' page.

The pdf files are in French. I'm learning French! You will notice that the third item on the list will not display, at least on my computer, because of the way Windows displays character sets in plain .txt files.

Hope this helps and you can make sense of what I've produced.

Paul

PS: You'll have to send me an email address as the server keeps timing out when I try to upload the file.

Tried again to upload file, but get this error from the server:

FastCGI Error

The FastCGI Handler was unable to process the request.
Error Details:

The FastCGI process exceeded configured request timeout
Error Number: 995 (0x800703e3).
Error Description: The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request.
HTTP Error 500 - Server Error.
Internet Information Services (IIS)

Paul--thank you. My e-mail address is (i.e. I put the dashes in to keep the bots from harvesting it): Jim

Edit: deleted e-mail address.

Jim,

I've sent you a link to OneDrive to download the file. You can delete your email address now. Nice touch with the dashes!

Paul

Hi Guys
I have been following this post with alot of enthusiasm.
The reason is I tried to do something similiar a couple of months back.
As a newbie I did not succeed and I finally gave up.

It would really really be helpful if I could get the example you guys have been working on
...Pretty please
Yours
Pakapaka

Hi

No problem in helping, but please fill in your profile so that we can see what hardware, operating system and version of Opus that you are using. I am away until Wednesday, so I will send a link to the files I gave to Jim. Also, read the explanation above and if you have any questions you can post them here.

Paul

Thanks Paul
Updated my profile....dont use social media but I entered Opus version and OS details.
I will go thru the instructions when you send the link on Wednesday
Cheers
Pakapaka

Hi

To receive the files I sent to Jim (above) I will need you to send me a personal message with an email address. You will download the files from my OneDrive space as the files are slightly bigger than can be sent by email or posted on the forum. Thank you.

Paul

Hi Paul
Could not find the "Personal Email" button on the forum
Here is my email address mywotnot@.gmail.com
Would appreciate if you could send me your example listbox
Thanks
Pakapaka

OK, I've sent the link to the files you need. Good luck with your Opus development and if you need any further help please leave a question on the forum.

Paul

this is (I Hope) a link to previous discussion on this topic if it's useful?
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5144&hilit=+listbox
and
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5430