Introduction

A number of web services return PDF documents in their output, such as labels from courier companies. This article describes how to use the Run External Program The Run External Program tool runs self-terminating shell executable programs including .exe or .bat for example, or any file type that is associated with such a shell executable program. Programs can either be existing programs that exhibit the right attributes or programs specially created to provide integration with proprietary protocols, systems or applications. tool to output PDF documents. For the scenario, we recommend using SumatraPDF.

Why Use SumatraPDF?

SumatraPDF can be run from the command line. It also can be run in "silent" mode meaning no interface is required. This is perfect for the Run External Program tool.

Adding the Run External Program Task Step

The following procedure assumes you have downloaded and installed SumatraPDF.

1. From the General tab, choose the relevant document as the Document Source.
2. Go to the Main tab.
3. To print the computer's default printer, use the -print-to-default and -silent commands:

   

   To print to a specific printer determined by a task variable Variables are created and used extensively throughout and can either have fixed values or values that are dynamically populated when a task is run. Task variables are only available for the specific task they are created for. Users with Task Administrator rights can create task variables., use the -print-to and -silent commands:

   

For a list of arguments to use when launching SumatraPDF from the command line, refer to SumatraPDFReader.org.