Batch file?

[fat controller]

Now, its been a hell of a long time since I even thought about a batch file, let alone considered using one....... (If I said DOS5 that might give an indication of how rusty I am!)

I would like to be able to have a series of PDF documents displayed on a screen, and for those documents to show repeatedly in a cycle.

The documents are liable to change on a daily basis (although it is not beyond the realms of possibility that they could be given the same filename on a daily basis, as in "1.pdf", "2.pdf" and so on.

Is this possible? And if so, how would I go about making the relevant batch file, as I really have not got a clue?

 

[Minty]

Opening the file is easy assuming you have pdf files associated with a program on the machine this will be run on. (Just type the name of the file into the first line of a batch file and run it!)
The problem will be closing the open pdf viewer.
Is this only going to be run on one known machine?
Is it logged onto a domain ?

 

[fat controller]

It will run on either one or two networked PC's that I (or whoever is changing the PDF's every day) will access via LogMeIn (or similar) or directly at the PC

Would the PDF viewer need to continually open and close, or is there a way to get it to carry on to the next file without closing?

Alternatively, is there a better way of achieving this (I was thinking powerpoint, but reckon it would be a laborious pain getting the docs into the powerpoint daily?

 

[Minty]

I'm not aware of a way of sequentially opening different files in acrobat (Or any other reader).
It may well be easier to simply open a power point slideshow, as you are easily able to control viewing times etc and can set it to loop endlessly. (Which would also be a possible problem with a pdf viewer being continually looped round via a batch ...)
All you need to do is dump the PDF's into the slideshow if you already have them?

Is this for a wall board or visitor message board ?

 

[fat controller]

Its for a staff display screen for supervisors, to give them up to date performance and budget information to help them in their decision making process (as in, what to prioritise and when); this data will be updated daily, with PDF's coming from a few sources, one of which being an Access database.

Ultimately, the plan is that this will go on to be shown on another screen in another department - however these departments are so physically far apart that I won't be able to use a simple RGB splitter and an extension cable - so, its going to have to be a PC for each department (I think)? Anyway, I was trying to be a lazy wee tyke and see if I could get round having to update and copy a Powerpoint file each day

 

[Minty]

We created a web page on our intranet for this type of thing and fed it with live data, would that be a possible alternative for you?

 

[gemma-the-husky]

I would use whatever you are more used to. This being an access forum, you could easily adapt an access app to do this.

 

[fat controller]

As most of the documents I want to show are Access reports, one of these apps might be just the ticket - can you give me a nudge in the right direction?