November 2, 1999 - Reading time: ~1 minute

FREQUENTIS Nachrichtentechnik GesmbH uses txt2pdf to convert parts lists which are generated out of SAP R/3 from ASCII to PDF.
txt2pdf is controlled by SAP R/3 to convert the ASCII-Files from a definite directory path to our electronic hardware documentation archive.

October 25, 1999 - Reading time: ~1 minute

ATI is using txt2pdf to convert ascii report files from our Accounting/Manufacturing software package into pdf files that can be accessed via our intranet.
The reports are formatted for an HP LaserJet and we have a script that removes the control characters out of each report file, then processes it through txt2pdf.
The resulting files are placed into directories on our intranet. The pdf's can be accessed individually, by looking through the directories or by performing a search using HTdig.
I have set up HTdig to use a pdf parser program to index the pdf files. So far, this process is working great for the initial 9000 reports that were converted.
I plan to do some further work and implement a way for the users to select to "archive" a report at the time that they run it. Currently, I am moving files manually as our Accounting/Manufacturing system is a DOS based system, using btrieve in Netware, and does not have emailing capabilities. Our intranet is running on Redhat Linux.
This project has opened up a great opportunity for us to expand this into everyday use. We have a lot of month-end and year-end reports that are printed thatcould just as effectively be stored "on-line".

September 1, 1999 - Reading time: 2 minutes

Kolberg Informatics used txt2pdf for a client to convert about 70.000 ascii documents into pdf format (batch job running under Windows NT on an Intel 200 MHz machine, elapsed time 72 hours). The conversion is part of a Y2K solution. Analysis reports (ascii) generated by non-Y2K systems in Pharmaceutical Development shall be available in a web/intranet application from the year 2000 on. The ascii docouments were parsed for index/search information that is stored in an Oracle database together with references/hyperlinks to corresponding pdf files, located on a web/intranet server. All processes/software/tools were validated because they are part of a GMP (good manufacturing practices) environment that might be inspected by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, USA). Acrobat's pdf files are the perfect solution for viewing/printing formatted documents in a web application. Txt2pdf was exactly the tool we were looking for to do the job. The support by Sanface during the evaluation of txt2pdf was great.

"I think what I am doing is quite unique.
It would be of interest to those with ibm mainframes running os/390 unix.
I am converting an ibm mainframe reports with machine or asa carriage control to pdf format with txt2pdf. The reports are actually in ebcdic datasets. I wrote a small java program to convert the carriage control to ascii form feeds and newlines prior to using txt2pdf within a small shell script. The shell script runs under a TSO REXX exec in a batch proc step sandwiched between OPUT and OGET tso commands to get the reports in and out of the OS/390 unix file system. What was so surprisingly pleasing to me was that txt2pdf produced ebcdic pdf files under OS/390 unix. I then convert them to ascii pdf datasets in OS/390 MVS with the OGET command. They are then served up with the OS/390 webserver as MVSDS datasets with standard OS/390 security." (Vincent Gazzillo)

July 10, 1999 - Reading time: ~1 minute

Syracuse Research Corporation used txt2pdf to produce a PDF table of contents for a PDF collection (in a given directory tree), which contains the document info and hyperlinks to the documents.

June 18, 1999 - Reading time: 2 minutes

Sawtek has used "txt2pdf" with its Mfg/Pro ERP software system to send any report via email as a PDF attachment. There were minor modifications to the Mfg/Pro system to enable the email capability, however once that was in place there were no other modification required to utilize "txt2pdf". Since Mfg/Pro allows you to define a printer as a "pipe" it was very easy to setup a "printer" that converted the report to PDF, uuencoded it, then mailed it to the user all in one statement. Sawtek chose to use the PDF format rather than an ASCII attachment because it is much easier for the user to view and print the report since the formatting and pagination are retained. This allows any recipient with Acrobat Reader to view and/or print the report. Sawtek will use this feature for both internal employees and to send reports to customers and suppliers. Sawtek plans to switch nearly all of its scheduled automated reports(which had to be sorted and distributed by hand) from paper output to email. This will provide significant cost savings when it becomes fully implemented.

In the Netherlands an academic hospital uses txt2pdf to send printer output via e-mail as PDF-messages in real time. Data sent include results of blood samples, drug orders from the various departments and accounting information. Prior to txt2pdf this information was printed at the central computer department. The project manager states:
"One could say that Txt2pdf results in a fast supply of information with limited resources. For the hospital the fact that in response to information received, actions are taken swiftly is of importancy. With Txt2pdf and the intranet, decision time is reduced by almost a day for certain information. A favourable side effect is a cut back in direct and indirect printing costs. What makes the program really great? Its portability to other OS's and the portability of the format - PDF - it produces. Moreover we did not have to change a single line of code of the data delivering systems."