A software development affiliate of a USA-based
financial group produces software for automating
the title insurance and real estate businesses.
The company is a leader in creating innovative
technological solutions for these two rapidly
changing industries.
Key Problems
Print jobs caused serious administrative and
bandwidth problems in the company's wide area
network (WAN.) The WAN included several Citrix
Servers.
Arcadia, Inc.
Solution
Arcadia, Inc.
used two different approaches, each based
on a particular technology for client-server
communications and downloading the Adobe PDF
files.
Each approach uses the unique feature of
the Adobe PDF files that are sent to print
from a Citrix Server. When an Adobe PDF file
is sent to print from a Citrix Server, it
is about ten times smaller than a usual print
file. Moreover, there is no need to administer
any print drivers to print from a remote machine.
One approach enables the remote client to
communicate with the server via SOAP calls
and to download the resulting PDF files using
HTTP get method. The other approach uses Citrix
ISA Virtual Channel or the Terminal Services
Virtual Channel for both command exchange
and file transfer.
Two main server components have been developed:
RapidPRINT port - the special printer
port that allows a user to create a PDF document
from a file created by any application. RapidPRINT
port is installed on the server as a printer
driver. The user of Citrix ISA (or Terminal
Services) just needs to select the RapidPRINT
printer on the server instead of printing
to a standard printer. A PDF file will be
generated and then transmitted back to the
client machine.
RapidPRINT Service - the NT service
application that manages the PDF files generated
by the RapidPRINT port. It communicates with
the RapidPRINT client application on the PDF
file requests and controls the file transfer
process.
The RapidPRINT Client application
has been developed to allow the user to manage
PDF files: to download PDF files manually
or automatically, to store the received PDF
files in the local database, to view PDF files,
to print them out on a local printer or to
send the files via email.
Employed technologies: MS Visual C++
6.0, MS SOAP SDK, Citrix Virtual Channel SDK.
Duration of the project till now:
5 months or 12 person/months. Location of work: Saint Petersburg,
Russia.
