HP Officejet TWAIN Alternative

[RAZ]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this area and have a question as part of my quest for a solution to a problem I am having with a HP Officejet product.

This device came bundled with some elaborate software and I am trying to find a Simplified alternative to.

I am using Adobe Acrobat 8.0 Pro, for some extensive scanning of paper documents in order to convert them to electronic files ( *.PDF )

A previous scanner made by Brother worked great and I was able to use TWAIN for a Simple interface, but this is no longer the case with my HP and old faithful has long passed away.

I have tried many ways to limit the HP software from getting involved and find no way around to avoid it.

My question is: Can a Custom TWAIN solution be created and how.

I have done some research and it seems there may be a way to develop an interface, so that I can keep my task simple.

What I would like is Basic Scanner Functionality, such as:

Color, Resolution, Page Size and Start Scan…

I would like this to activate the scan process from within Adobe Acrobat’s
environment and have the output be sent to the Adobe application.

So far I have come close by using a feature within Adobe to select my scanner and ” Hide the Native Interface ” this is very close to what I would like, but the area responsible for Page Size Selection is Grayed Out ???

This leaves me no choice and the need to use the HP interface is too cumbersome and full of features that reduces my productivity.

Note: I have installed the Minimal Drivers and even tried a download from HP designed for IT departments, that is considered minimal, but no matter what, the HP TWAIN solution is too rich for my taste.

Can some one reply if this is possible and what would I need to get started in developing a custom solution.

I have some programming background and have worked lightly in VB, C+ and similar environments, but not too deeply.

Any help is greatly appreciated, Thank you.

[gabe]

@RAZ wrote:

I would like this to activate the scan process from within Adobe Acrobat’s
environment and have the output be sent to the Adobe application.

here is the rub, for this to work you’re talking about a ds (a twain driver) that shows up in Acrobat (or tell me if I’m wrong), then that ds would in turn talk to the device their the regualr native ds and that is among the trickiest or tricks to pull off. If you were just looking for a custom app to talk to one (1) known peice of hardware and to manipulate a known/defined set of capabilities you wouldn’t have a hard time but for it to show up in Acrobat,.. well I hope you find a solution and I truely wish you the best of luck.

Unless|Or if you find some api for activating acrobat’s process from a thirdparty tool. If you find an method for sending the info to adobe (that doesn’t involve twain) I’ll take a look at customizing our of my solution for your hardware. And I’ll even do it as a side project just for fun.

But if the project entails having adobe open a twain source that in turn opens your hardware’s twain source… no – that’s not me.

[RAZ]

Hello,

Just wanted to say Thanks for the information and update you on my progress.

I have taken the plunge and made some progress in my quest to ” Keep thinks Simple “

Since my original message, I have done some research and came across a wealth of information and resources. I have worked with several methods and even learned a few things in the mean time.

I am now somewhat knowledgeable on terms such as: DS, DSM, API, and am slowly picking up on the meaning of TWAIN Wrappers.

Some of the methods I used were from Dosadi EZTwain, another was a Generic DS called GenDS. This was quite helpful to test my application/s as it provided a Virtual Scanner.

I am still trying to decide what is the best way to provide an Easy To Use interface for Basic Scanning and am trying to determine how to keep the Windows Twain32.dll so not to modify my system so much.

I have gotten close with EZTwain, but found it is a mere Wrapper and will eventually require payment, but I like what it can do and being it is in Visual Basic, made it easier for me to make changes.

C++ is still a bit of a struggle for me ( As is VB ) but, what better way to learn something, than to just Jump In.

Final Note:

I like the HP Scanner, it is an Officejet Pro L7580 and is well designed as far as the Mechanical Systems, ADF is Sturdy and Reliable, Duplex WOW and seems to be a keeper.

As Far as the Software, they are as bad as Microsoft !!!

Some people like it Simple, but yet are Forced to have it all.

My biggest complaint and the reason I am forced to do what I am doing is all because of Auto Crop.

There is nothing more frustrating than having full size pages come out as smaller fragments, because the feature misidentified the image and saw the blank space as a void. I am faced with having to check each page and resize it accordingly. This is a big deal on hundreds of pages.

Seems like HP thinks everyone scans pictures of the grandkids, one at a time, even if an ADF is included.

I am certain there is not work around and looked at every possible way to shut this down and force a fixed page size.

Also, there are soooo many other settings that are just overkill.

This is something I have always disliked about HP, but yet they keep on getting carried away with their software.

I tried asking them for an alternative, they responded with something I was already aware of and it was for IT departments as a Basic Driver, but again Overkill.

A Simple interface is all I want.

Thanks again for your response and Happy Holidays.

RAZ

[peterlee]

Hi, RAZ.
As for myself, I have seldom tried to convert them to electronic files ( *.PDF ) using Adobe Acrobat 8.0 Pro . I wonder have you ever worked it out? Do I need another 3rd party manual toolkit? When it comes PDF conversion process, I have another question, I wonder have you ever tried to convert pdf to other image files before? As for myself, I am testing the related PDF to PNG converting, PDF to BMP converting , and PDF to JPG converting programs these days. Do you have experience about it? Any suggestion will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Best regards,
Lee

[Maxsbo]

I am now somewhat knowledgeable on terms such as: DS, DSM, API, and am slowly picking up on the meaning of TWAIN Wrappers.
Maxbet Thnak for info.

[Author]

Posts