# PDF::Writer crashes **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [December 5, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-crashes/52234 "2005-12-05T12:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brutyn_nick)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-crashes/52234/1 "2005-12-05T12:05:41Z")
Hey, I have put my site online and sometimes the site crashes when I want to create a pdf file. But when I reboot the server it works again. It crashes on: margin = PDF::Writer.cm2pts(1) Or pdf = PDF::Writer.prepress(:paper =\> “A4”, :orientation =\> :landscape, :left\_margin =\> margin, :right\_margin =\> margin, :top\_margin =\> 0, :bottom\_margin =\> 0) Most of the time it is after the process: I have a page with a list of users, I display the info from the database (tables users and clients) like for the clientname =\> Clientname: \<%= user.client.name %\> But in the early stages of the site some users didnt have clients, so I got an nil error on the page. After that i wanted to create a pdf (total different section on the site), and get the errors. Anyone has any problem with this also?? And can help me?? Thanks in advance. Nick ---
**Author:** ![brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brutyn_nick)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-crashes/52234/2 "2005-12-05T17:57:55Z")
On 12/5/05, Brutyn N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I have put my site online and sometimes the site crashes when I want to create a > pdf file. But when I reboot the server it works again. Can you post the backtrace that you get? ## -austin Austin Z. \* removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid \* Alternate: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brutyn_nick)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-crashes/52234/3 "2005-12-05T19:24:19Z")
the wierd thing is it works sometimes sometimes not when i got an error NoMethodError in Geotags#print\_tag undefined method `cm2pts’ for PDF::Writer:Class #{RAILS\_ROOT}/app/controllers/geotags\_controller.rb:354:in `print_tag' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action_controller/base.rb:841:in`send’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action\_controller/base.rb:841:in `perform_action_without_filters' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action_controller/filters.rb:332:in`perform\_action\_without\_benchmark’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action\_controller/benchmarking.rb:69:in `perform_action_without_rescue' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action_controller/benchmarking.rb:69:in`measure’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action\_controller/benchmarking.rb:69:in `perform_action_without_rescue' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action_controller/rescue.rb:82:in`perform\_action’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action\_controller/base.rb:365:in `send' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action_controller/base.rb:365:in`process\_without\_session\_management\_support’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack- 1.11.0/lib/action\_controller/session\_management.rb:116:in `process' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-0.14.3/lib/dispatcher.rb:38:in`dispatch’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-0.14.3/lib/fcgi\_handler.rb:141:in `process_request' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-0.14.3/lib/fcgi_handler.rb:53:in`process!’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-0.14.3/lib/fcgi\_handler.rb:52:in `each_cgi' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/fcgi-0.8.6.1/./fcgi.rb:597:in`each’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/fcgi-0.8.6.1/./fcgi.rb:597:in `each_cgi' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-0.14.3/lib/fcgi_handler.rb:52:in`process!’ /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-0.14.3/lib/fcgi\_handler.rb:22:in `process!’ dispatch.fcgi:24 ---
**Author:** ![brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brutyn_nick)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-crashes/52234/4 "2005-12-05T20:29:37Z")
On 12/5/05, Brutyn N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > the wierd thing is it works sometimes sometimes not when i got an error > NoMethodError in Geotags#print\_tag > undefined method `cm2pts’ for PDF::Writer:Class This is quite weird, as it seems that something is not loading PDF::Writer (one of the instances, perhaps?) or is undefining parts of it. ## -austin Austin Z. \* removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid \* Alternate: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@brutyn\_nick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brutyn_nick)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-crashes/52234/5 "2005-12-05T20:54:00Z")
Hi ! 2005/12/5, Austin Z. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > On 12/5/05, Brutyn N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > the wierd thing is it works sometimes sometimes not when i got an error > > > NoMethodError in Geotags#print\_tag > > undefined method `cm2pts’ for PDF::Writer:Class One thing I found is that PDF::Writer and ActiveRecord require different versions of Transaction::Simple. If you’re running on Rails Edge, remove the simple.rb file from active\_record/lib/vendor. Then, get Transaction::Simple 1.3.0, unpack into vendor, move lib/\* to vendor/, and finally, require Transaction::Simple before PDF::Writer and ActiveRecord in config/environment.rb Not a simple workaround, but the best I found. Now, I have everything working. If this is of some help to you, please say so. I’ll write an article for my blog about this. Bye !