I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are able
to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your payment
details in.

Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.

Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension of
..cfm

Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the prog is
very expensive.

Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that is
relatively cheap or free.

An email of complaint has been sent to Council but I bet they do now't as
per usual

--
the_constructor

the_constructor wrote:

I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are
able to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment details in.

Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.

Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension of
.cfm

Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the prog
is very expensive.

Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that is
relatively cheap or free.

An email of complaint has been sent to Council but I bet they do now't as
per usual


I bet it still contains (X)HTML. Coldfusion is a server side system - if the
server dumped code on you, it would be a possible breach of security on
their part and generally a bad show all round. You wouldn't be able to run
it anyway even with a copy of Coldfusion as it will undoubtedly need a know
infrastructure around it (database server and so on).

Try renaming it to .html and then open it. Fiver says it will be fine

Cheers

Tim

"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are able
to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your payment
details in.

Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.

Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension of
.cfm

Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the prog
is very expensive.

Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that is
relatively cheap or free.


--
the_constructor

What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment means you
have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is there VAT
on council tax?

You only ever need a receipt for someone else's benefit - so if the need
ever arises, just send them your CFfile.... they'll soon decode it if
they're really interested....

An email of complaint has been sent to Council but I bet they do now't as
per usual

Good job too - I don't want them wasting my money on receipts for fully
traceable transactions.

HTH

--
Martin

On Tue, 8 May 2007 21:43:25 +0100, "the_constructor"
wrote:

|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your payment
|!details in.
|!
|!Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.

When paying on line, I *always* print the important things while they are
on screen (usually too many). The print then contains the identification
of the web page printed.
--
Dave Fawthrop sf hyphenologist.co.uk 165 *Free* SF ebooks.
165 Sci Fi books on CDROM, from Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Completely Free to any
address in the UK. Contact me on the *above* email address.

On Tue, 08 May 2007 21:45:20 GMT, "Martin"
wrote:

|!
|!"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your payment
|!details in.
|!
|! Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.
|!
|! Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension of
|! .cfm
|!
|! Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the prog
|! is very expensive.
|!
|! Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that is
|! relatively cheap or free.

|!
|!What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment means you
|!have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is there VAT
|!on council tax?

And your bank does not make mistakes on your bank statement?
Mine does.


--
Dave Fawthrop sf hyphenologist.co.uk 165 *Free* SF ebooks.
165 Sci Fi books on CDROM, from Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Completely Free to any
address in the UK. Contact me on the *above* email address.

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 May 2007 21:45:20 GMT, "Martin"
wrote:

|!
|!"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are
able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment
|!details in.
|!
|! Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.
|!
|! Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension
of
|! .cfm
|!
|! Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the
prog
|! is very expensive.
|!
|! Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that
is
|! relatively cheap or free.

|!
|!What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment means
you
|!have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is there
VAT
|!on council tax?

And your bank does not make mistakes on your bank statement?
Mine does.

Never, in more years than I care to admit - though I accept my experience
may be unusual. But even if they (or their computer) gets it wrong, the
money has either gone from the OPs account, or it hasn't. If it hasn't, I
suggest the receipt would be of little value - except in contesting a "late
payment" penalty. I also assume that the OP's bank statement is viewable on
line, showing the payment, and the OP could always print that off before the
bank's computer changes its mind...

Apologies that my previous post was unnecessarily aggressive - but I do
believe, in this day and age, that we can dispense with a lot of traditional
paperwork.

--
Martin

[Remove barrier to reply]

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Tue, 8 May 2007 21:43:25 +0100, "the_constructor"
wrote:

|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your payment
|!details in.
|!
|!Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.

When paying on line, I *always* print the important things while they are
on screen (usually too many). The print then contains the identification
of the web page printed.

I just hit the print screen key and keep it as an image.

I particularly don't trust government sites to function properly. The
congestion charge procedure was a bit clunky last time I used it.

On 9 May, 08:01, Dave Fawthrop
wrote:
On Tue, 08 May 2007 21:45:20 GMT, "Martin"

wrote:

|!|!"the_constructor" wrote in message

...
|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your payment
|!details in.
|!
|! Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.
|!
|! Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension of
|! .cfm
|!
|! Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the prog
|! is very expensive.
|!
|! Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that is
|! relatively cheap or free.

|!
|!What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment means you
|!have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is there VAT
|!on council tax?

And your bank does not make mistakes on your bank statement?
Mine does.

A few years back, when I ran my own business, I paid in a bunch of
cheques at Hounslow branch. Imagine my surprise when the statement
said "portsmouth". I went in to Hounslow, and complained, and the CS
manager couldn't see the problem. Even when I pointed out that if for
any reason I needed to proved I was in hounslow that day, not
portsmouth, then I'd be stuffed.

In the end, I had to get the manager, and use my patented method to
Get Banks To Do Their Job*

*Start by getting them to acknowledge somthing is not right. Then
start asking what else they might have got wrong. This is particularly
effective in the new "open plan" banks, as you have the pleasure of
watching a manager assuring you that they don't make mistakes, and
that they're sure your balance is right. On occassion I have found it
useful to bring a desktop calculator with me - with the loud
declaration that theirs are clearly faulty.

"Martin" wrote in message
...

"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are
able to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment details in.

Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.

Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension of
.cfm

Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the prog
is very expensive.

Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that is
relatively cheap or free.


--
the_constructor

What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment means
you have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is
there VAT on council tax?

You only ever need a receipt for someone else's benefit - so if the need
ever arises, just send them your CFfile.... they'll soon decode it if
they're really interested....

An email of complaint has been sent to Council but I bet they do now't as
per usual

Good job too - I don't want them wasting my money on receipts for fully
traceable transactions.

HTH

--
Martin

Here's what it says on the receipt Martin

OFFICIAL INTERNET PAYMENT VAT RECEIPT

--
the_constructor

"Martin" wrote in message
...

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 May 2007 21:45:20 GMT, "Martin"
wrote:

|!
|!"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are
able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment
|!details in.
|!
|! Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.
|!
|! Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an
extension of
|! .cfm
|!
|! Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the
prog
|! is very expensive.
|!
|! Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files
that is
|! relatively cheap or free.

|!
|!What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment means
you
|!have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is
there VAT
|!on council tax?

And your bank does not make mistakes on your bank statement?
Mine does.

Never, in more years than I care to admit - though I accept my experience
may be unusual. But even if they (or their computer) gets it wrong, the
money has either gone from the OPs account, or it hasn't. If it hasn't, I
suggest the receipt would be of little value - except in contesting a
"late payment" penalty. I also assume that the OP's bank statement is
viewable on line, showing the payment, and the OP could always print that
off before the bank's computer changes its mind...

Apologies that my previous post was unnecessarily aggressive - but I do
believe, in this day and age, that we can dispense with a lot of
traditional paperwork.

--
Martin


Some of us do like to keep a little bit of tradition

--
the_constructor

"the_constructor" wrote in message
...

"Martin" wrote in message
...

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 May 2007 21:45:20 GMT, "Martin"
wrote:

|!
|!"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you
are able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment
|!details in.
|!
|! Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.
|!
|! Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an
extension of
|! .cfm
|!
|! Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the
prog
|! is very expensive.
|!
|! Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files
that is
|! relatively cheap or free.

|!
|!What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment
means you
|!have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is
there VAT
|!on council tax?

And your bank does not make mistakes on your bank statement?
Mine does.

Never, in more years than I care to admit - though I accept my experience
may be unusual. But even if they (or their computer) gets it wrong, the
money has either gone from the OPs account, or it hasn't. If it hasn't,
I suggest the receipt would be of little value - except in contesting a
"late payment" penalty. I also assume that the OP's bank statement is
viewable on line, showing the payment, and the OP could always print that
off before the bank's computer changes its mind...

Apologies that my previous post was unnecessarily aggressive - but I do
believe, in this day and age, that we can dispense with a lot of
traditional paperwork.

--
Martin


Some of us do like to keep a little bit of tradition


grin Fair point.

There are certainly traditions in other areas of life which I'm sorry to see
are now largely ignored. Starting with tradesman turning up when they say
they will.

OTOH, I think I've also read somewhere that paper consumption in the average
office has grown, now that people print off all their emails etc.

--
Martin

[Remove barrier to reply]

"the_constructor" wrote in message
...

"Martin" wrote in message
...

"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are
able to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment details in.

Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.

Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension
of .cfm

Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the
prog is very expensive.

Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that
is relatively cheap or free.


--
the_constructor

What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment means
you have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is
there VAT on council tax?

You only ever need a receipt for someone else's benefit - so if the need
ever arises, just send them your CFfile.... they'll soon decode it if
they're really interested....

An email of complaint has been sent to Council but I bet they do now't
as per usual

Good job too - I don't want them wasting my money on receipts for fully
traceable transactions.

HTH

--
Martin

Here's what it says on the receipt Martin

OFFICIAL INTERNET PAYMENT VAT RECEIPT


OK. I deduce you can pay for other stuff on the same site, some of which
may be VATable - hence the supplier (council) is including its VAT Reg No.
etc on _all_ receipts, and calling them _all_ VAT receipts. Or maybe they
know something of Gordon's plans which we don't - and are preparing
themselves.... :-((


--
Martin

[Remove barrier to reply]

On 9 May, 16:56, "Martin" wrote:
"the_constructor" wrote in message

...





"Martin" wrote in message
...

"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you are
able to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment details in.

Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.

Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an extension
of .cfm

Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and the
prog is very expensive.

Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files that
is relatively cheap or free.

--
the_constructor

What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment means
you have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is
there VAT on council tax?

You only ever need a receipt for someone else's benefit - so if the need
ever arises, just send them your CFfile.... they'll soon decode it if
they're really interested....

An email of complaint has been sent to Council but I bet they do now't
as per usual

Good job too - I don't want them wasting my money on receipts for fully
traceable transactions.

HTH

--
Martin

Here's what it says on the receipt Martin

OFFICIAL INTERNET PAYMENT VAT RECEIPT

OK. I deduce you can pay for other stuff on the same site, some of which
may be VATable - hence the supplier (council) is including its VAT Reg No.
etc on _all_ receipts, and calling them _all_ VAT receipts. Or maybe they
know something of Gordon's plans which we don't - and are preparing
themselves.... :-((

--
Martin

[Remove barrier to reply]

Everything supplied by an organisation which is VAT registered should
be supplied with a VAT receipt. If the item/service is zero rated for
VAT, the VAT receipt will show that no VAT has been charged, but it is
still a VAT receipt.

It is important that online payment systems give proper receipts. If I
pay council tax on a house which I've bought to let, the council tax
is a business expense, and I need to keep proper records. It's a real
pain when companies or councils assume that because most of their
customers don't need real receipts, they don't have to bother.

A

wrote in message
ups.com...

snip

What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment
means
you have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is
there VAT on council tax?

You only ever need a receipt for someone else's benefit - so if the
need
ever arises, just send them your CFfile.... they'll soon decode it if
they're really interested....

An email of complaint has been sent to Council but I bet they do
now't
as per usual

Good job too - I don't want them wasting my money on receipts for
fully
traceable transactions.

HTH

--
Martin

Here's what it says on the receipt Martin

OFFICIAL INTERNET PAYMENT VAT RECEIPT

OK. I deduce you can pay for other stuff on the same site, some of which
may be VATable - hence the supplier (council) is including its VAT Reg
No.
etc on _all_ receipts, and calling them _all_ VAT receipts. Or maybe
they
know something of Gordon's plans which we don't - and are preparing
themselves.... :-((

--
Martin

[Remove barrier to reply]

Everything supplied by an organisation which is VAT registered should
be supplied with a VAT receipt. If the item/service is zero rated for
VAT, the VAT receipt will show that no VAT has been charged, but it is
still a VAT receipt.

It is important that online payment systems give proper receipts. If I
pay council tax on a house which I've bought to let, the council tax
is a business expense, and I need to keep proper records. It's a real
pain when companies or councils assume that because most of their
customers don't need real receipts, they don't have to bother.


I understand your concern, but it's important to distinguish between
invoices and receipts. Council Tax (like most things) is not paid until
you've rec'd the bill (aka invoice). Your own records (bank
statements-cum-cash book) are sufficient for you to know payment has been
made. HMRC (for both income tax and VAT purposes) do not expect to see, and
don't ask for, receipts. For VAT purposes, I wouldn't dream of paying
anyone until I had a VAT invoice in my hand, Otherwise, the supplier's
failure to supply a "VAT receipt" would debar me from recovering input VAT -
even if I was cash accounting for VAT.

Obviously, there are times when supply and payment coincide - eg fuel at the
petrol station. If you look at the "VAT receipt" they give you (when
requested!) you'll see it is effectively an itemised VAT invoice, a receipt
and a Statement of Account all in one.

HTH

--
Martin

[Remove barrier to reply]

"Martin" wrote in message
...

"the_constructor" wrote in message
...

"Martin" wrote in message
...

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 May 2007 21:45:20 GMT, "Martin"
wrote:

|!
|!"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you
are able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment
|!details in.
|!
|! Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.
|!
|! Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an
extension of
|! .cfm
|!
|! Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and
the prog
|! is very expensive.
|!
|! Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files
that is
|! relatively cheap or free.

|!
|!What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment
means you
|!have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is
there VAT
|!on council tax?

And your bank does not make mistakes on your bank statement?
Mine does.

Never, in more years than I care to admit - though I accept my
experience may be unusual. But even if they (or their computer) gets it
wrong, the money has either gone from the OPs account, or it hasn't. If
it hasn't, I suggest the receipt would be of little value - except in
contesting a "late payment" penalty. I also assume that the OP's bank
statement is viewable on line, showing the payment, and the OP could
always print that off before the bank's computer changes its mind...

Apologies that my previous post was unnecessarily aggressive - but I do
believe, in this day and age, that we can dispense with a lot of
traditional paperwork.

--
Martin


Some of us do like to keep a little bit of tradition


grin Fair point.

There are certainly traditions in other areas of life which I'm sorry to
see are now largely ignored. Starting with tradesman turning up when they
say they will.

OTOH, I think I've also read somewhere that paper consumption in the
average office has grown, now that people print off all their emails etc.

--
Martin

You are right of course Martin, the paper industry has never had it so good.
It was said when computer were first introduced to the commercial sector
that eventually their would be a paperless office. How wrong they were.

Personally with regards to tradesmen, the majority of them are just a bunch
of greedy crooks. Only interested in screwing what they can out of you and
doing a crap job at the same time.
--
the_constructor

Dave Fawthrop wrote:

When paying on line, I *always* print the important things while they are
on screen (usually too many). The print then contains the identification
of the web page printed.

either save the page as HTML, or print to a _file_: create a dummy
postscript printer and click "print to file" checkbox. then you will be
prompted for a filename. the postscript file will contain the exact
printable copy. you can convert this format to PDF, which is best for
printing and archiving. search for "ps2pdf" utility online.

saving as images is a pain with long pages. this also leaves you with
low resolution and raster files are larger than text ones. you also get
decoration around the actual text you need. saving HTML won't work every
time (always check what you have just saved) and may look different when
printed later.

PS/PDF is as close to the hard copy as you can get. it is essentially a
hard copy without paper. 8)

/max

On Thu, 10 May 2007 09:25:36 +0100, maxim naumov
mused:

Dave Fawthrop wrote:

When paying on line, I *always* print the important things while they are
on screen (usually too many). The print then contains the identification
of the web page printed.

either save the page as HTML, or print to a _file_: create a dummy
postscript printer and click "print to file" checkbox. then you will be
prompted for a filename. the postscript file will contain the exact
printable copy. you can convert this format to PDF, which is best for
printing and archiving. search for "ps2pdf" utility online.

saving as images is a pain with long pages. this also leaves you with
low resolution and raster files are larger than text ones. you also get
decoration around the actual text you need. saving HTML won't work every
time (always check what you have just saved) and may look different when
printed later.

PS/PDF is as close to the hard copy as you can get. it is essentially a
hard copy without paper. 8)

Why not just print to PDF rather than going through all the rigmarol
of adding dummy printers, converting files etc..?
--
Regards,
Stuart.

Lurch wrote:

Why not just print to PDF rather than going through all the rigmarol
of adding dummy printers, converting files etc..?

And for the benefit of any Windows users who don't already have this
facility installed I can recommend the free PDF "printer driver" pdfcreator
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/.

--
Mike Clarke

Lurch wrote:

Why not just print to PDF rather than going through all the rigmarol
of adding dummy printers, converting files etc..?

perhaps because not all installations have PDF writer installed?

another reason is that PDF exporting tools differ. if all you do is
print, it doesn't matter much (although size can differ). but if you
want to _search_ for text, some PDF export tools will create such PDFs
that you won't be able to search in them. the method above doesn't
mangle text, convert it to raster image or split it into separate
characters as some of the tools do.

/max

maxim naumov wrote:
Lurch wrote:

Why not just print to PDF rather than going through all the rigmarol
of adding dummy printers, converting files etc..?

perhaps because not all installations have PDF writer installed?

another reason is that PDF exporting tools differ. if all you do is
print, it doesn't matter much (although size can differ). but if you
want to _search_ for text, some PDF export tools will create such PDFs
that you won't be able to search in them. the method above doesn't
mangle text, convert it to raster image or split it into separate
characters as some of the tools do.

/max

This one suggested earlier has the search cpability
http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator
except it doesn't allow you to merge pdf files. With web pages you can
end up with several pdfs, which would be better as one.

On Thu, 10 May 2007 22:02:09 +0100, maxim naumov
mused:

Lurch wrote:

Why not just print to PDF rather than going through all the rigmarol
of adding dummy printers, converting files etc..?

perhaps because not all installations have PDF writer installed?

But you still have to install something either way, a converter or PDF
printer.

another reason is that PDF exporting tools differ. if all you do is
print, it doesn't matter much (although size can differ). but if you
want to _search_ for text, some PDF export tools will create such PDFs
that you won't be able to search in them. the method above doesn't
mangle text, convert it to raster image or split it into separate
characters as some of the tools do.

/max

Fair enough, I only really use CutePDF for converting Excel invoice
sheets into PDF's for emailing, saves the customer inadvertantly
editing it and cocking it up!

For making PDF's if I wanted to make them properly I've got a copy of
Acrobat 6 Pro round here somewhere.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

In article , Huge wrote:
For making PDF's if I wanted to make them properly I've got a copy of
Acrobat 6 Pro round here somewhere.

BTW, Open Office can export to PDF's directly.

And I've not yet come across an MS Office document that Open Office
won't open.

Alternatively you can use the method that's been available for
about 2 decades - create a postscript file for sending to your postscript
printer, and instead feed it to your postscript-to-PDF conversion program
(hundreds available for free, or upwards in price).
If you want something "official", get an Adobe PS printer driver
(http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...sp?ftpID=1500), then use
whatever PS-2-PDF program you want to use.
(Hint : this is exactly what Adobe's Distiller does. Distiller is
Yet Another PS to PDF converter. With it's own selection of bugs.
Personally, I use Ghostscript or PDFcreator, depending on the lack of
administrative rights I have on a system.)

--
Aidan
Aberdeen, Scotland
Written at Thu, 17 May 2007 11:27 +0100, but posted later.