I'm having issues with my SQL Reporting Services reports. I'm using a custom font for report headers, and when deployed to the server it does not render correctly when I print or export to PDF/TIFF. I have installed the font on the server. Is there anything else I need to do in order to use custom fonts?
When viewing the font in the browser it looks correct - since all client computers have the font installed...
Thanks Ryan, your post to the FAQ solved the problem. Installing the fonts on the server fixes the print problem, as well as problems with charts (which are also rendered on the server). Like you point out (as well as being mentioned in the FAQ) Reporting Services 2005 does not do font embedding in PDF files. I guess that is okay for now - the most important part was being able to hit print and get the correct fonts.
The reason the fonts didn't show up straight away is answered in the FAQ:
Q: I've installed the font on my client/server but I still see ?'s or
black boxes. Why? A: For the client
machine, closing all instances of the
PDF viewer then reopening them should
fix the issue.
For the server, restarting the
services should allow the PDF renderer
to pick up the new font information.
Unfortunately, I have also seen times
where I needed a full machine reboot
to get the client/server to recognize
the newly installed font.
The PDF files served up from SSRS, like many PDF files, have embedded postscript fonts. So, the local fonts used in the report are converted to a best matching postscript font when the conversion takes place so the PDF is totally portable without relying on locally installed fonts.
You can see the official MS guidelines and font requirements for SSRS PDF exports here: SQL Server 2005 Books Online (September 2007) Designing for PDF Output. Also, this post should provide some help as well: Reporting Services: PDF Renderer FAQ
Aspose apparently also has a component that claims to be able to add custom embedded fonts in SQL Report PDFs.
See Aspose.Pdf for Reporting Services
Aspose.Pdf for Reporting Services
makes it possible generating PDF
reports in Microsoft SQL Server 2000
and 2005 Reporting Services. Some
advanced features like XMP metadata,
custom embedded font and rendering
watermark for pages are now supported.
All RDL report features including
sections, images, charts, tables,
matrices, headers and footers are
converted with the highest degree of
precision to PDF.
I've not tried this component, so I can only share what it claims to be able to do.
Note: I have found that when you install the fonts on the Reporting Services server box, you may need to:
= Actually open the font from the Fonts control panel, so you can see the preview
AND
= Reboot the server box.
And yes, I agree you should not need to do this - but I have seen it work.
Running into the same problem - When you export to pdf, it doesn't render the Free 3 of 9 font. The font is installed on my report server, and does appear when you run the report using SSRS 2005.
The user can print directly, which is nice. And the report renders successfully during an Excel export. But that requires extra steps to print from Excel (page setup, etc.).
What I found to be a workaround is to use CutePDF (freeware).
Just click the direct print button on SSRS, and choose the CutePDF printer. It asks you where to save the file. Open the file, and the barcode fonts render successfully.
We had to install NeoDynamic barcode software to render the barcode as an image since we can't include the barcode fonts in PDF exports.
I have used barcode fonts successfully with SSRS and PDF. You must have the font installed on both the server (for rendering and viewing from the browser), as well as from the client.
When using barcode fonts, there's not really a best "match" for postscript so the PDF does not have a valid barcode font embedded with the document, which just yieds a bunch of garbage text. To solve that, just install the font on the client computer that will view the PDF.
Related
I have True Type Font Verlag installed on my Developer machine & SSRS Server. The Font embeddability value = "Preview/Print"
When I render to pdf from inside Visual Studio it renders correctly.
When I deploy the report to the SSRS Server and render to Excel it's correct, but when I render to pdf, the font reverts to default font.
I have read many similar questions but found no solution. It looks as if it should correctly embed the font into the pdf (thus making it unnecessary for the client to have it installed on their machine.) But it's not even displaying it on the
I had a similar problem even though I had installed the font. In the end, it was because I had not installed the font for all users.
I need to create AP check for the invoices. I am using the MICR font at the bottom of a check in the SSRS report. I used the text box size as big as 3 times the font size. When I preview the report, the text shows just like Arial font. When I export to PDF and open the document properties of that PDF file, it shows that MICR font exists. But it is not showing like that MICR font that used in check routing/accounting number.
It does not work for in report viewer, exported PDF or word files.
Could anyone please guide me how to show that font in the text box?
Is it a TrueType font? Microsoft has openly stated that if you're using anything other than TrueType e.g. OpenType that you're likely to run into issues with SSRS and the Report Builder. OpenType is not unsupported but has limited support at best.
If a TrueType font is available for MICR, ensure it is installed on your client and server machines. When you install the font on your server, you will need to restart the Reporting Services service, or preferably the server, to detect changes. I found this article exceedingly helpful when setting up custom fonts for SSRS: Setting up Custom Fonts with SQL Server Reporting Services.
The reason why you're seeing a font similar to Arial in your report is because of a limitation with Windows Forms Applications.
The root cause is that Windows Forms applications support TrueType fonts and have limited support for OpenType fonts. If we attempt to use a font that is not supported in Report Builder or SQL Server Data Tool (SSDT) to design a report, the Microsoft Sans Serif font will be substituted.
Found at this source.
I have a Crystal Report 8.5 file, that I need to export to PDF.
That report contains a field that I need to represent as Bar Code. To achieve that I use a TrueType font.
If I open the generated PDF file on that machine I see the bar code.
But if I open it from another machine that doesn't have the font installed, I see only numbers.
How can I assure that the codebar is visible on the PDF even if the computer doesn't have the font installed?
If you do not want to include a font, you can generate an image and call it via HTTP.
The barcode below is generated using an online barcode generator courtesy of WASP:
http://www.waspbarcode.com/services/waspbarcode/barcodegen.ashx?symbology=Code128&code=font_missing_31301980
Steps for Report:
Create blank JPG using MS Paint. Resize without aspect ratio checked on.
Insert image placer holder such as 50x323 PNG into Crystal Report
Right-click on graphic and select Format Graphic...
Click on Picture tab, click on Formula, Enter Formula
Create a formula where like the URL above. You want to retrieve the barcode data from the database and concatenate the prefix and barcode field together:
"http://www.waspbarcode.com/services/waspbarcode/barcodegen.ashx?symbology=Code128&code=" + {table.barcode_field}
Take care to use your own online barcode generator. WASP service may not work if people starting abusing the service and generate too many barcodes for reports.
You can also generate Code 3 of 9 barcodes using HTML only, but I haven't tried in Crystal Report formula yet.
You have to embed the barcode font into the PDF!
Very likely the following has happened:
The PDF is generated on a machine that (obviously) has the mentioned TrueType barcode font installed locally, but the barcode font isn't embedded into the PDF.
Hence the same machine can still display that barcode correctly (because the font is available from the machine's local installation).
The same barcode font is NOT installed on your $other machine.
Hence $other machine cannot display that barcode correctly because it has to use a substitute font.
To rectify that situation, you have two options:
Install that barcode font onto every single machine which will ever have to process, display or print that PDF. This is the worse alternative.
Make your PDF generating software embed the barcode font into the PDF. Then you do not need to care about any machine that ever opens, displays, processes or prints the PDF. This is the better alternative!
If you use a barcode image library, such as this barcode 3 of 9 image creating library for Crystal Reports, you will need not install font to each computers.
You must have the Bar Code font installed on the machine that is rendering the report if you are exporting to PDF because Crystal Reports does not embed fonts due to licensing issues.
However, you can print to a PDF printer, and select the option to embed the fonts into the file.
There are issues embedding fonts with 8.5 and SAP is not going to be very helpful as it is such an old version.
I had done this, so whenever you want the custom font style in crystal report, you have to install that font in server machine where your application host.
So if font is available, then report will map the font style and display as normal font.
There is one rule when you want other than standard font : as you installed font in your local machine to check pdf, the same process you will done on to the application server where your application are host or simply say the location (means server) / computer of your crystal report's physical files.
To show bar-code value in your crystal report, you just need to choose font in the format text of controls. Reports automatically display that, if it find the font, other wise gives error of font missing or not show properly bar-code section.
Is PDF store the font in binary, or which logic working behind that?
Because, I create PDF from jasper report and used font is installed in my PC only.
When i have checked generated PDF in other machine then it show the correct PDF font
even font not installed in other PC.
Let me know if anything is missing test or verify?
Fonts can be embedded in PDF files. If one font is missing, the text is displayed anyway using another classic font. You can have a great explanation here : http://www.prepressure.com/pdf/basics/fonts
We are using Blackberries to display PDF reports. Here are background details on the problem:
The PDF reports are created using JasperReports.
Report format can be changed.
Different report formats are available (as per the feature set of JasperReports).
The PDF reports are on a website, too, so retaining a single source is ideal.
The page setup is in Landscape.
Here are the issues we have encountered:
Users cannot see a full line of text on the Blackberry.
The size of the PDF and UI makes reading difficult, at best.
The menu option to convert the PDF to text loses too much formatting to be useful.
The text is blurry (and too small).
Here are solutions we have thought about:
Create a second report (not ideal) in text or HTML format.
Simplify the original report format (not really an option, given the amount of data).
What other options are there for making a report available on the Blackberry, given the constraints of JaserReports, such that the report:
Is legible?
Is formatted for readability?
Displays quickly?
Essentially, we'd like to make sure there are no simple solutions we have overlooked for displaying legible PDFs on Blackberries.
We convert TIFFs to PDF for one of our applications, and have had mixed results with BlackBerry PDF viewers. These were our results.
Working
The following PDF readers worked for our purposes:
RepliGo Reader v1.1.1.1 - $19.95
Works fine.
DataViz Documents To Go Premium Edition v1.003.001 - $49.99
Works and includes a word wrap option to get the current zoom level to fit the available screen width, by moving text onto subsequent lines. Might fit your needs.
Non-Working
The following PDF readers did not work for our purposes:
BeamReader v1.0.8 - $17.99
BeamSuite v3.0.2 - $49.99
These couldn't open our PDF files ("Unsupported document format"). In addition they did not register as a PDF content handler, required for our application.
MasterDoc - $19.95
eOffice - $29.95
These also did not register as a PDF content handler. We had a range of problems with these, including installation issues, and not being able to open any PDFs at all.
Try BeamReader http://www.slgmobile.com/beamreader.html
I hear it's the best at reading PDFs for BlackBerry
How about outputting the file to an RTF or an image file (JPG/GIF), and then viewing them in your web browser?
If that doesn't work well on the native browser, I would focus on viewing the file via some other web browser - for example, Opera Mini. I know for images it's easier to navigate "big" images in Opera Mini than the native browser.
If your blackberries are on a BES server, couldn't you display the reports as HTML on your corporate intranet? - Then you could email a link to the blackberry and simply browse the report.
You can convert pdf to image via xpdf and than show image. xpdf is a BEST renderer of pdf.