Initializing PDF Creation Engine Fails and no e-mails are sent

ISSUE:

PDF-eXPLODE has run for a a good few years with no issues. Today we now have a problem where print options appears when running in visible (NON-SILENT) mode, if I click on Explode Now, the process window comes up with "Initializing PDF creation engine..."  and then I get a pop up window saying The specified procedure could not be found . PDF-eXPLODE then shuts itself down.

Log file entry is as follows:

07/07/2021 16:24:17: 2021-07-07 16:24:15 PDFeXPLODE.DLL v5.1
Wed Jul 07 16:24:15 2021 : Entered into DistPdf.

Starting PDF Creation Engine
Using PDF Engine D version
Initializing PDF Creation Engine...
Error in getting progress meter of PDF Creation Engine.
Error in PDF Creation Engine Initialization.
The specified procedure could not be found.
Stopped PDF Creation engine

Wed Jul 07 16:24:17 2021  : Returning from DistPdf.
07/07/2021 16:24:17:  Document 'D:\PDF-eXPLODE\PDFS\PDFeXPLODE.pdf' was not created or created as a blank file!
07/07/2021 16:24:17: Program will now end  

Qs 1: Why am I getting the error "The specified procedure could not be found"?  AND

Qs 2: Is there some other possible issue why the PDF engine creation failed? 

ANSWER:

Q1: PDF-eXPLODE has 2 different PDF engines. If you have an older version 4 (to V4.0.16)  or Version 3 (any one), it shipped with a version of the PDF engine (PeXPDF.dll in the [install_folder]\CONTROLS sub-folder. This version is recognizable by size of 1169 ~1180 KB and a modified date of year 2013. This engine used to be the primary (P) engine. However in the later versions of V4 (v4.1.20/4.1.26++) an Alternate (A) engine was introduced with a size of 5527 KB and a date of year 2009. These 2 PDF engines both have the same filename - PeXPDF.dll, and are designed to use a form of "plug and play" whereby depending on site configuration requirement, either of the two engines can easily be "plugged in" to use as the PDF engine. To correctly use an PDF engine, the file PeXPDF.DLL in the [install_folder]\CONTROLS sub-folder must correspond to the correct configuration parameter "PDFType" in the pdfexplode.ini

If your PeXPDF.dll - size 1169 KB is in use in the CONTROLS folder, then in the pdfexplode.ini, the PDFType must be found as PDFType=P

If your PeXPDF.dll - size 5527 KB  is in use in the CONTROLS folder, then in the pdfexplode.ini, the PDFType must be found as PDFType=A

If your CONTROLS folder PeXPDF.dll does not correspond with the correct INI file parameter, you will get an error just when the engine is about to create a Master PDF of  "The specified procedure could not be found".

To fix this, make sure PDF-eXPLODE.EXE is closed (by checking Task Manager). Then check the file size in the CONTROLS sub-folder and next open pdfexplode.ini and search for "PDFTYpe=" and ensure the character following is (upper case) A or P as appropriate. Click Save to update the pdfexplide.ini file. Then try processing the report again. You will also need to check that the previous failed process run is deleted from the Print Queue in [install_folder]\TEMP\%uSER%\. This file would be of format ~PD999.TMP where '999' is any alphanumeric character

Q2: The PDFeXPLODE Printer has a specially configured Print Driver that generates Adobe postscript language code (Level 2) when you click PRINT inside a report and select the PDFeXPLODE printer. However, if the PDFeXPLODE printer has not been configured post install, the Print Driver will generate code based on the Windows default of Language level 3.  This code is unreadable by the PDF engine (PeXPDF.dll) and consequently no master PDF (a complete copy of the report document) is generated. The log that will be generated by the engine will look something like this: 

Tue Mar 01 13:48:52 2022
: Entered into DistPdf.

Starting PDF Creation Engine
Using PDF Engine D version
Error in PDF creation.
0 - Operation failure

Tue Mar 01 13:48:52 2022
: Returning from DistPdf.

1/03/2022 1:48:52 PM:
Document 'C:\PDF-eXPLODE\PDFs\PDF-eXPLODE_Administrator.pdf' was not created or created as a blank file!
1/03/2022 1:48:52 PM:
Program will now end

If the PDFeXPLODE printer is not EXACTLY configured as per the attached PDF (check the right hand Side Bar =====>>), then the “Master “ PDF (which is a copy of the full /all pages  report) cannot  be created. Once this code is generated, it is passed to the PDF Creation engine PeXPDF.dll in [install folder]\CONTROLS\. If the PDF is not generated, then the exploding  (aka “PDF Splitting”) engine will not start exploding as no Master PDF was generated. If NO exploded PDF documents are generated, then no exploded PDFs are created and no emailing as a consequence. Hence you see no email. So configuring the Printer is critical to the whole PDF-eXPLODE process. Please download the PDF attached to the right sidebar and configure your PDFeXPLODE printer now.

If you have a job stuck in the Print Queue due to incorrect formating of the code (wrong language level) and incorrect font formating,  ALL jobs joining the queue thereafter will not process either. You will need to manually remove all TMP files to clear the Queue. Go to [install_folder]\TEMP\%USER%\. besdes formatting the PDFeXPLODE printer. Then re-run your job processing.

After reconfiguring the PDFeXPLODE printer, please click the PRINT TEST PAGE button and see if that PDF worked.

If you are opening an existing PDF in Adobe or any PDF Reader and then clicking FILE/Print to PDFeXPLODE  printer it will NEVER work as Windows creates postscript code (which our PDF needs) in the wrong Language level 3 and our PDF engine (PeXPDF.dll) cannot read this code and hence the PDF-eXPLODE process starts and then crashes and NO master PDF and no email is created.

You MUST print directly from Crystal Reports/Other Report processing software or from your Accounts software directly  to PDFeXPLODE printer. If you are unable to do that, then consider: 

1. Alternatively, EXPORT from Crystal Reports as a PDF to any folder.
2. Next, Open PDF-eXPLODE from the shortcut and put the Print Queue window to one side on the screen.
3. Now open the Files and Folder explorer to the location of the exploded PDF and click this PDF without releasing the LEFT mouse button.
4. Then drag the PDF towards the white space of the PDF-eXPLODE window and the mouse will become a “+”.
5. Now release the mouse button to “drop” the PDF. It will start processing – exploding/archiving/PDF signing/emailing.  You can drag up to 5 documents in the one action.
6. Alternative use PDF-eMONITOR (https://www.pdf-explode.com/pdf-emonitor.php) and export your PDF directly from Crystal Reports to a network folder on the same server/drive where PDF-eMONITOR resides. Configure Monitor to treat that folder as its INBOX and it will be monitored and when PDFs come in, they will be moved to a “PROCESSING folder and PDF-eXPLODE will be launched by MONITOR  to commence exploding and emailing