On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 5:03 AM, Timothy Sipples <sipp...@sg.ibm.com> wrote:
> Al Nims wrote: > >I would also optionally suggest, file #314 from cbttape.org, this > >contains Lionel Dyck's TXT2PDF REXX exec and others that execute > >on the mainframe. > > Al has a great idea here. Try doing this, or something substantially > similar. For example, if you have CICS, CICS SupportPac CA1Y with Apache > FOP (as explained in the documentation accompanying CA1Y) is a > substantially similar approach. > IIRC, Apache FOP is Java based. So it would be a really good idea to have a zAAP (or on modern systems a zIIP) to run it. > > And here's another idea: stop killing trees! Hand the recipient an iPad, > for example, with his/her PDF report. Then the printer could stay broken. > Or at least offer modern choices to your users, in this case "Paper or > Plastic?" If you want to generate the PDFs, store them securely (in DB2 for > example), and make them Web/mobile retrievable, you can do that, too. I've > just described the core functions in IBM Content Manager OnDemand for z/OS, > actually (to pick a notable example). > I like PDFs. I really do. But if we're going to be talking a "mobile platform" such as smartphone or tablet, then I really think that EPUB or MOBI is superior. And, being the weird person that I am, I really think that the display format: PDF, EPUB, MOBI should be dynamically determined by the remote device. Given this weird idea, I think it would be good to design the originating application to create an "intermediate" form (I vote LaTeX) and store that in the database. When a device requests a version, say MOBI, the server would dynamically generate the MOBI content. To be even more advanced, the database could have entries for pre-generated PDF, EPUB, or MOBI version of the LaTeX document. If not pre-generated, then perhaps the server would save the dynamically generated PDF/EPUB/MOBI into the DB when first generated and then fetch them for subsequent requests. Of course, each of these need a way to invalidate the PDF/EPUB/MOBI when the LaTeX version is updated. > > In 2013 the world's consumption of paper products hit its all-time peak, > last I checked, and finally, at long last, the paperless office is > emerging. How about joining that party together with the rest of the world? > Venkat, this could be your shining moment! :-) > So, you want to drive the paper companies out of business? [grin?] > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > -------------------------------------------- > Timothy Sipples > IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA > E-Mail: sipp...@sg.ibm.com > > -- *There’s no obfuscated Perl contest because it’s pointless.* —Jeff Polk Maranatha! <>< John McKown ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
