[BUG] NovaPDF 7 randomly drops license on win7 64-bit

[LICIEL Environnement]

For several days, several of our customers calls us to a concern. About one in three documents they generate are marked footer as unlicensed

1) Yes we have read and implemented the 64-bit recommandations shown here: http://www.novapdf.com/kb/distributing- ... 4-337.html

2) This issue has been shown only for approximatively the past two weeks when we were at 7.1 build 336, we have updated to 7.2 build 344 today but the error remains

3) It affects only our customers running a Windows 7 64-bit edition

4) We have read your recommandations for uninstalling novapdf properly and we have built a batch script to automate the uninstall procedure
See below for a copy of our batch script to completely uninstall any past version of Novapdf 5, 6 or 7, we are completely removing novapdf silently, removing registry keys, and the windows files but there is nothing better

5) We have investigated the issue a couple of hours on the computers of our customers and it seems it happens only on Windows 7 64-bit, the issue is random at the generation, we haven't found a way to reproduce the issue each time a pdf is generated

We are forced yet to move them to PDFCreator to lower the support times but unfortunely with the growing expansion of 64-bit systems today here we think this is urgent to correct this growing issue on your side, it also has been already reported just before my thread.

6) If you are looking for our LICIEL Nova Installer is available for our customers here: http://wikiliciel.liciel.com/contenu/ou ... L_Nova.exe

Arnaud D. - Computer support - LICIEL Environnement

nova_uninstaller.bat

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF
REM - NOVAPDF DESINSTALLEUR - (C) 2010 - LICIEL Environnement

SET DIRA="%PROGRAMFILES%\Softland\novaPDF 7\unins000.exe"
SET DIRB="%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Softland\novaPDF 7\unins000.exe"
SET DIRC="%PROGRAMFILES%\Softland\novaPDF v5\unins000.exe"
SET DIRD="%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Softland\novaPDF v5\unins000.exe"
SET DIRE="%PROGRAMFILES%\Softland\novaPDF 6\unins000.exe"
SET DIRF="%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Softland\novaPDF 6\unins000.exe"

SET PROFA=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Softland
SET PROFB="%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Softland"

SET REGA=HKCU\Software\Softland
SET REGB=HKLM\Software\Softland

SET SYSA=%SystemRoot%\system32\
SET SYSB=%SystemRoot%\system32\spool\drivers\

SET DIR3=%SystemRoot%\system32\spool\drivers\W32X86\3
SET DIR4=%SystemRoot%\system32\spool\drivers\x64\3

IF EXIST %DIRA% GOTO NOVA7
IF EXIST %DIRB% GOTO NOVA7x86
IF EXIST %DIRC% GOTO NOVA5
IF EXIST %DIRD% GOTO NOVA5x86
IF EXIST %DIRE% GOTO NOVA6
IF EXIST %DIRF% GOTO NOVA6x86

:RETRY
set INPUT=
set /p INPUT=Pas d'installation NovaPDF trouve, poursuivre l'effacement des fichers et clefs de registres residants ? O/N
if "%INPUT%"=="O" goto REGEDIT
if "%INPUT%"=="o" goto REGEDIT
if "%INPUT%"=="N" goto EXIT
if "%INPUT%"=="n" goto EXIT
GOTO RETRY

:NOVA7
ECHO +++ Desinstallation de NovaPDF 7 +++
%DIRA% /SILENT /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART
ECHO --- Desinstallation de NovaPDF 7 termine ---
GOTO REGEDIT

:NOVA7x86
ECHO +++ Desinstallation de NovaPDF 7 (x86) +++
%DIRB% /SILENT /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART
ECHO --- Desinstallation de NovaPDF 7 (x86) termine ---
GOTO REGEDIT

:NOVA5
ECHO +++ Desinstallation de NovaPDF 5 +++
%DIRC% /SILENT /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART
ECHO --- Desinstallation de NovaPDF 5 termine ---
GOTO REGEDIT

:NOVA5x86
ECHO +++ Desinstallation de NovaPDF 5 (x86) +++
%DIRD% /SILENT /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART
ECHO --- Desinstallation de NovaPDF 5 (x86) termine ---
GOTO REGEDIT

:NOVA6
ECHO +++ Desinstallation de NovaPDF 6 +++
%DIRE% /SILENT /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART
ECHO --- Desinstallation de NovaPDF 6 termine ---
GOTO REGEDIT

:NOVA6x86
ECHO +++ Desinstallation de NovaPDF 6 (x86) +++
%DIRF% /SILENT /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART
ECHO --- Desinstallation de NovaPDF 6 (x86) termine ---
GOTO REGEDIT

:REGEDIT
ECHO +++ Effacement des clefs de registre NovaPDF +++
REG DELETE %REGA% /f
REG DELETE %REGB% /f
IF EXIST %PROFA% RD /S /Q %PROFA%
IF EXIST %PROFB% RD /S /Q %PROFB%
ECHO --- Effacement des clefs de registre NovaPDF termine ---

:FICHIERS
ECHO +++ Effacement des fichiers residants +++
IF NOT EXIST %DIR3% MKDIR %DIR3%
IF NOT EXIST %DIR4% MKDIR %DIR4%
DEL %SYSA%nova*.exe /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nova*.dll /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nvactx*.dll /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nvimg*.dll /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nova*.clg /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nova*.chm /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nova*.ctm /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nova*.lng /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nova*.nvp /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSA%nova*.lic /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSB%nov*.tmp /S /F /Q
DEL %SYSB%nvi*.tmp /S /F /Q
ECHO --- Effacement des fichiers residants termine---

:EXIT
PAUSE

[/size]

[Claudiu (Softland)]

Hello,

Please read this article on the problem you reported:

http://www.novapdf.com/kb/unlicensed-fo ... k-344.html

If none of the above solve the problem, please give us more information on how you integrated novaPDF in your application:

- when do you create / delete NovaPdfOptions object and how do you set the settings
- how do you print to novaPDF printer - do you have your own code or use other components / applications
- if possible, send us the source code regarding novaPDF printing
- also if possible, send us your application and instructions on how we can replicate the problem.

Thank you.

[tonisa]

The same problem was reported from customers working on a 64 bit Server 2008 Enterprise and connected through Cytrix client. The very first print allways works fine, subsequently prints have the license-footnote. The
if IsWow64 then m_novaOptions.LicenseApplication('SPLWOW64.EXE');
is called only the first time my application initializes the printerdriver. Now I will try to recall it before every print. I´ll let you know if this helps when I've feedback from my customers.
best regards
Toni Santa

[tonisa]

Hi, now the customer tested and confirms that the problem seems resolved. Seems the SPLWOW64.EXE must be licensed for every print as stated in http://www.novapdf.com/kb/distributing- ... 4-337.html.
best regards
Toni

[Claudiu (Softland)]

Hello,

We are glad that your issue has been solved.

Thank you.

[LICIEL Environnement]

Sorry but due to the nature of this bug (random) and the large amount of time we invested on client computers we haven't tested some of your last recommandations, we have developped a patch not really official to correct this
We'll probably try tonisa's patch later when we will update the version.

[jtappero]

Like tonisa mentioned, we were also having problems with some clients receiving the "unlicensed" footer when running Win (x64) operating systems, particularly when it was a non-admin who was logged in. They are using our Visual FoxPro application and were were also calling oPDF.LicenseApplication('SPLWOW64.EXE') only on startup after we instantiated the oPDF object. When we changed our code to call LicenseApplication prior to every print job, these clients no longer received the "unlicensed" footer.

However, we have encountered a related problem that we cannot figure out. When our application is closed and then restarted, these same PCs started getting the "unlicensed" footers again, even the first printout. With some testing, we've determined that clients must wait about 2 minutes before restarting our application in order to prevent the "unlicensed" footers. If they restart within about 2 minutes, they get the footer. We can pretty consistently repeat this behavior. Is there anything we can do to prevent this problem when clients immediately restart our apps, or is it something we cannot control in the novaPDF driver?

[Claudiu (Softland)]

Hello, Could you please tell us what version and build number of novaPDF do you use? Also please tell us what type of documents do you print from your application, do you use third party applications, like printing Word documents?

Thank you.

[jtappero]

Our clients, and one of our testers who can reproduce this problem, have installed version 7.4, build 370. Our applications print GDI (not GDI+) based reports that is built-in functionality in Visual FoxPro 9. These are "frx" graphic layout definition files that are merged with data by the VFP runtime engine and is called using a VFP "REPORT FORM" command. This is an basic example of what we are doing:

Code: Select all

oAppObj.oPDF.SetOptionString2('Save Folder', justpath(lcFileName), oAppObj.cPDFActiveProfile, 0)
oAppObj.oPDF.SetOptionString2('Save File',   justfname(lcFileName), oAppObj.cPDFActiveProfile, 0)
oAppObj.oPDF.RegisterNovaEvent2('NOVAPDF_EVENT_FILE_SAVED')  
oAppObj.oPDF.SetDefaultPrinter()
SET PRINTER TO DEFAULT     /*  Print all VFP output the Windows default printer  */
oAppObj.oPDF.LicenseApplication('SPLWOW64.EXE')

REPORT FORM MyReport.frx NOCONSOLE TO PRINTER

lnTimeout = 0
oAppObj.oPDF.WaitForNovaEvent(oAppObj.nPDFRenderTimeout * 1000, @lnTimeout)
oAppObj.oPDF.RestoreDefaultPrinter()

These "frx" definition files are simply predefined report layouts with header, grouping, detail, summary and footer bands for defining how a report will look. The reports are generated by the VFP runtime engine directly to the printer queue. In cases where the "unlicensed" message appears, the VFP runtime engine generates and completes the report in less than a second. There is virtually no delay in gathering the data and printing the report. We also use the NOVAPDF_EVENT_FILE_SAVED event and wait before continuing because we sometimes chain some REPORT FORM calls to print and append to the same PDF file.

As you can see, we added a "LicenseApplication" call just prior to every "REPORT FORM" call. We use some other 3rd party UI ActiveX controls but they are unrelated to printing. We do not print any other types of documents.

[Claudiu (Softland)]

Hello, thank you for the detailed information. We tried to replicate this behavior but our sample applications work fine in this situation. We suspect it might be specific to Visual FoxPro applications but we do not have VFP here so we cannot test this. We will prepare a debug build for you to generate some log files and see what exactly happens. Please write an email to [email protected] or tell us your email address so we can send you an email with information for installing the debug build.

Thank you.