> I have a client that wants to sell their proprietary > documents to non-members of their organization. They want to > upload word/pdf documents and if the user is a member they > can login and have access to the document library. If they > are not a member they'll have to purchase a "download" of each doc. > > The first thing that comes to mind is how do you let them see > what's in a document without giving it away? Create an image > of the first page with a watermark? If so is there any way to > do that programmatically from a word doc or would they have > to scan an image? If we convert any word docs to PDF is there > any way to watermark/restrict its use until it's paid for? > > How would you all approach something like this?
First, I would explain to your client that once a document is downloaded, it is controlled by the end-user. There is no difference between a download and the actual document. In a web application, to show something on your screen you have to have a copy of whatever that something is. Web pages, Flash content, etc, it's all sitting on the end-user's computer. The only practical technical solution I can suggest is Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management ES, formerly known as Policy Server, which lets you control PDF usage. Typically, this requires online access to the server whenever the user wants to read a PDF, and prevents the user from reading the PDF unless rights can be verified. To the best of my knowledge, this only works with PDFs, but it actually seems to work pretty well. It requires the use of a relatively new version of Adobe Acrobat, and PDFs secured with Rights Management ES will not open in other PDF readers. http://www.adobe.com/products/livecycle/rightsmanagement/ Unfortunately for your client, this will be an expensive solution. If you have any questions about LiveCycle, please feel free to contact me offline. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location. Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:297375 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
