DCOM timeout

[Chris444]

We have a little tool just to create PDF: It connects to the OLE-Control PXCComLib7.CPXCControlEx which starts pdfsaver.exe. It prints things as PDF and ends itself.
pdfsaver.exe is still running after our tool quits for some time before it finally ends itself (about 30seconds).
We are currently using V9.0.352 and tested V9.5.368.

We encounter a problem with connecting to the OLE-Control sometimes:

The server {AE08E75B-62CE-4950-9CF7-EA76BDA421FD} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

It seems to happen, when our tool is trying to establish the OLE-connection in that moment, when pdfsaver.exe is going to end itself from previous runs.
A direct retry after that will work just as usual.

1. Is there a way we can avoid this error in the first place?
2. It is possible to prevent pdfsaver.exe to end itself? (Autounload-setting through tray-icon seems to have no effect on this behaviour.)
3. Or is a retry after this error the only way to handle this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello Chris444,

I've asked colleagues from the dev team who work on the Drivers API to take a look at this post, and they will share their advise in this topic a bit later!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello again Chris444,

Our devs did take a look and it seems like this is a problem on your side.
When they investigated further - they found this:
https://www.partitionwizard.com/partiti ... -dcom.html

Kind regards,
Stefan

[steven.thresher@axisfirst.co.uk]

Could you please elaborate on how the suggested article fixes the issue as it looks like I have the same problem?

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello steven.thresher@axisfirst.co.uk,

Welcome to our forums.

The article gives 6 suggestions you can try to get that working.
Please make sure to read it carefully and all should be good!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[steven.thresher@axisfirst.co.uk]

I have read it but none of the options seem applicable to the PDF-XChange software. Also, why would the problem only occur occasionally?

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello steven.thresher@axisfirst.co.uk,

The initial problem reported by Chris444 was investigated by our developers and it was determined that it is not an issue with our products but rather with other configurations on that machine, so yes - the advice in that article is not for our products as the issue was elsewhere in the OS.

As for why it is intermittent - I can not tell. Please do try the suggestions from that article and see if they help you as they did Chris444!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[steven.thresher@axisfirst.co.uk]

I can reproduce the problem and it appears to be exactly as the original poster stated. If you try to re-create the virtual printer at the point pdfsaver6.exe is terminating then you get the hang.

If I have a test program that loops creating PDFs then I don't see a problem as pdfsaver6.exe stays resident. Add a 30 second delay to the loop between creating each document and again there's no problem as each PDF is created via a new instance of pdfsaver6.exe. Reduce the delay to 29 seconds and now I frequently hit a 30 second delay creating the factory object. Is there a registry key / INI file setting that would allow me to reduce the amount of time pdfsaver6.exe stays resident?

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello steven.thresher@axisfirst.co.uk,

You mention that you are using V6 of our drivers.
Can you please test with the current latest version as we are unable to fix issues in older builds?

Kind regards,
Stefan

[steven.thresher@axisfirst.co.uk]

We use PDF-XChange Viewer Pro SDK which doesn't seem to exist anymore so I've emailed support asking for the appropriate alternative. I do however note the original poster was using V9.5.368 so has a problem of this kind been fixed in the last 9 months?


While waiting for a response I have searched online documentation and found there is an AutoUnload command line switch for the PDFX7SA_sm.exe installer but the documentation isn't very clear.


Name:

/AutoUnload:nn

Description:

If this option is specified then the PDFSaver4 module of the PDF-XChange Drivers API will unload after the specified timeout (nn, in minutes). This is a useful feature when the application is installed on a Windows Terminal Server/Citrix Metaframe with multiple users. It minimizes the memory in use when PDF creation is idle and automatically reloads as required.

"/Autounload:03"


The document states the command line options are case-sensitive but the example in the description column doesn't match the case in the switch name column. It also refers to minutes but all screenshots showing the setting in the printer properties refer to seconds with the default being either 30 or 120 depending on the product version. Could you please clarify details for the command line switch?

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello, steven.thresher@axisfirst.co.uk

I just wanted to let you know, we have received your email, however my manager who usually handles SDK related items is out of the office on his vacation this week, so I have had to bring this a bit higher up the chain for review. I should hopefully have a reply for you this week, but it may be a bit slower than typical since I need to converse with team members overseas.

Kind regards,