How to set the standard.pdfcf file for pdf output

[mstéphane]

Hi all.

I'm always annoyed by the generation of pdf files from arbortext editor 5.4.

I begin to believe that compose a batch of pdf files is impossible unless you know to program in ACL.

So, when I compose a pdf file, I can choose 2 options:

Use of distiller set to off and I generate my pdf file with the standard.pdfcf file

Use of distiller set to on and I generate my pdf with the PS printer wich is Adobe pdf.

I don't understand why my generated pdf files are always in 216 x 279 mm.

I want them in A4.

Whatever the setting of the useditiller option, I always have 216 x 279 mm files.

The comic part of the history is:

1) It's impossible to generate pdf files by batch instead of one by one

2) I've always 216 x 279 mm pdf files

3) I must gather them in one pdf files (publication of amount XML files)

4) I must create all the bookmarks manually and one by one

5) When I did all these steps, if the content of one of my XML file has changed, I must incorporate it in the pdf publication and I have to resize the format in A4 previously.

If not and if I save under a new pdf file, there is no generation of bookmarks and I must create them again and.. manually.

When I see all the time I waste to just generate a pdf printout from Arbortext editor and the impossibility to be able to easily set myself some basic settings without being a Arbortext editor Bill Gates because this software is a gas factory, I just want to be a wolf and scream all the night...

We walk on the head.

All this wasting time to do all these tasks without any added value...

And I wonder if it's possible to set, EASILY, the standard.pdfcf file to set the format to A4.

Another very boring thing is the embedded previewer of Arbortext editor: why the setting of this preview is always set to 120 % and why the windows of the preview is not fitted to this scale ?

Is it possible to set the behaviour of this preview to set it to 100 % and to choose the size of the windows ?

Sorry if you can feel my exasperation, but I work since 10 years with this software and as it's a gas factory and I'm not a programmer (but who likes to look at all the settins, options and open some configuration files to try to understand), I can't adapt it to my needs and all these reproducible things tired me...

If someone can bring some lights or help me, I will recognize him.

Best regards.

[GarethOakes · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

You seem to cover a lot of ground so I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to answer everything you discuss. My notes on reading this are:

1. The PDFCF file doesn't set page size, that is set by the stylesheet you use (.style, .fos, or .3f files).
2. Some stylesheets support both US Letter and A4 e.g. the as-shipped DITA stylesheets in 6.1 detect if xml:lang="en" and uses US Letter, if not it uses A4.
3. usedistiller only sets if PostScript is output through Distiller to make PDF, or if the direct-to-PDF PDFLib driver of Arbortext is used instead. I believe that there used to be (or maybe still are) problems with bookmarks when not direct-to-PDF.
4. If you find yourself wasting a lot of time there are specialist Arbortext companies who can assist with fixing or updating your system. The company I work for www.gpsl.co is an example of one, and the PTC Partners page lists more.

Regards,

Gareth

[rdiaz]

Hi Stephane,

Gareth has it right.  This is not a pdfcf setting, rather something in the stylesheet, when defining pagesets.

If you have Styler, you can easily look through what your stylesheet has defined, and tweak it as needed.