usedistiller switch

[bbender]

Hi folks,

I'm using Arbortext PE 5.4 with a FOSI. I have a publish job that needs to use DirectPDF to add custom PDF metadata including document properties and bookmarks, which is not possible using Adobe Distiller. Can I dynamically switch the usedistiller=off from usedistiller=on without a Tomcat/services restart to register the change? Is there a way to support Distiller and DirectPDF configuration on the same PE server? If not, the obvious choice is to move away from Distiller. But are there any benefits to using Distiller instead of DirectPDF? The reasons we use Distiller is unknown to me.

Thanks in advance,

Bryan

[naglists]

I haven't run PE with Distiller in quite some time but it used to be that
Distiller produced PDFs were smaller than DirectPDF PDFs. PTC/Arbortext
closed the gap appreciably by 5.3 m110 and may have made further gains by
5.4.

I don't know about dynamically assigning the usedistiller mode or
supporting both Distiller and DirectPDF on the same PE Server.

We're not setting usedistiller so I don't remember where it goes ... client
/ server / editinit / init. If it's server-side, you could try placing the
use distiller command in an ACL in either editinit or init (whichever is
correct) below PE's custom folder and running the PE init function:

[AndyEsslinger]

The usedistiller option is set in the preference file.

<option name="usedistiller" value="on"/"> = Distiller.

<option name="usedistiller" value="off"/"> = Direct PDF.

I only looked at the Direct PDF once (years ago) and there were so many differences between its output and Acrobat distiller output that I never looked again. Also, Direct PDF requires a styler license.

-Andy
\ / Andy Esslinger LM Aero - Tech Order Data
_____-/\-_____ (817) 279-0442 1 Lockheed Blvd, MZ 4285
\_\/_/ (817) 777 3047 Fort Worth, TX 76108-3916

[bbender]

Thanks, Paul!

The custom/init folder on the server side stores the usedistiller setting (if it isn't defined the default is off). I tried the init function call, and that sucessfully registered my manual edit to init.acl usedistiller (on --> off) without a service restart. Luckily, the init call doesn't kill jobs that are running already it appears.To make this run without human interface, I must first programatically set usedistiller to the appropriate value and then run the init function call, and then finally publish the PDF. Any recommendations on running the first change via the servlet?

1. (usedistiller switch done via servlet?)


2. http://peservername:8080/e3/servlet/e3?f=init


3. http://peservername:8080/e3/servlet/e3?file=d:\test.xml&type=pdf&f=convert

Bryan

[bibach]

I'd be worried about this approach affecting other workers besides the
one handling the specific print job for which you want to change the
setting, or possibly the reverse, where you get a worker that was not
affected by the change. I'd guess you might be better off, and
programmatically cleaner, setting up a composition framework hook to
change the setting, run the job, then put it back as it was.

The trick would be, how would you identify that a particular job
required the setting change?

-Brandon 🙂

[bibach]

Hey, Andy...

The preference file would be one option, though usedistiller can be
set just about anywhere you can execute some ACL code, as the value is
examined and acted upon at the time of each print job. In other
words, it isn't a "one-time configuration at startup" type of thing,
but can change from one print job to the next within a session.

I could be mistaken, but I believe Direct PDF only requires a Styler
license for local composition. Print composition with a PE
installation should be able to use Direct PDF without any additional
license.

-Brandon


On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 5:43 PM, Esslinger, Andy W
<-> wrote:
> The usedistiller option is set in the preference file.
>
>
>
> <option name="usedistiller" value="on"/"> = Distiller.
>
>
>
> <option name="usedistiller" value="off"/"> = Direct PDF.
>
>
>
> I only looked at the Direct PDF once (years ago) and there were so many
> differences between its output and Acrobat distiller output that I never
> looked again. Also, Direct PDF requires a styler license.< /font>
>
>
>
> -Andy
>
> \/ AndyEsslinger LM Aero–Tech& nbsp;OrderData
>
> _____-/\-_____ (817) 279-0442 1 Lockheed Blvd,MZ4285
>
> \_\/_/ (817) 777 3047 For tWorth,TX 76108-3916
>
>
>
>
>

[bbender]

Yes, Brandon, good point. I'm uncertain of the effects, and I'm running initial tests and analysis to determine if this would be possible at all. I'll have to dig into our PE servlet interface code, since I'm not too familiar with it right now. This interface could define the different composition framework. 🙂

Thanks,

Bryan

[bibach]

This should be doable without getting into the servlet stuff or
anything PE-specific, really. The composition framework hook is
usable even without PE (as long as you have some type of local
composition license) and would just involve some ACL code to identify
the need for changing the usedistiller setting and resetting the value
after the job is complete.

There doesn't appear to be a help "number" for this topic, but I found
an overview (it's actually called the "Publishing Framework Hook" in
the 5.4 help center I'm looking at) under "Programming", "Arbortext
Publishing Engine Programmer's Guide", "Arbortext Publishing", "The
Publishing Framework", "The Publishing Framework Hook".

-Brandon 🙂

[bbender]

Brandon, great! This helps a lot and I can foresee using this hook for other tasks. I'll start looking into it.

Bryan

[naglists]

Looks like you have a good avenue or two of research.

The only other observation I have is that you only need to set
usedistiller, init, and start your job. You do not need to wait for it to
complete before switching usedistiller off and re-init-ing back to your
"default" usedistiller setting. That would still expose other jobs that
started in the window between setting, init-ing, starting, re-setting, and
re-init-ing to the wrong usedistiller mode, but it wouldn't have to then
include the entire length of the job itself.

That's worth contemplating if you can't find a way to set usedistiller
logically/programatically per job.

[ptc-953926]

With AE 5.4, a print composer license enables you to do local direct PDF (as also does a Styler license).

Dave

[AndyEsslinger]

Interesting. Thanks for the info. If we ever update to Arbortext Editor 5.4, then I may revisit direct PDF. Switching to styler was just too much work for not enough capability.

-Andy

\/ AndyEsslinger LM Aero-TechOrderData
_____-/\-_____ (817) 279-0442 1 Lockheed Blvd,MZ4285
\_\/_/ (817) 777 3047 FortWorth,TX 76108-3916

[ptc-953926]

We actually have a Styler license, but don't use it for PDF generation -- still using FOSIs there. Our use of Styler is strictly for the editor display. I just can't imagine using it for page layout (especially since our FOSIs do a perfectly fine job).

Dave

[AndyEsslinger]

Still using FOSI here also. Management wants to shoot me if I try to make minor FOSI changes. I can't imagine what kind of torture they would devise if I requested budget to change to Styler.

Have you noticed that the newer version (9 and 10) Adobe Distiller output is a lot more fragile than it used to be? Any little tweak to a completed PDF caused the PDF to change to a different version.

-Andy

\/ AndyEsslinger LM Aero-TechOrderData
_____-/\-_____ (817) 279-0442 1 Lockheed Blvd,MZ4285
\_\/_/ (817) 777 3047 FortWorth,TX 76108-3916

[ptc-953926]

Not sure the last question was for me. I'll let others respond as we abandoned Distiller PDFs several years ago. This was maily due to only Direct PDF being able to reliably output CJK for us. I don't remember the issues, but Direct PDF eliminated them all (also, it's MUCH better for PDF bookmark stuff).

[ClayHelberg]

Just for the record, it *is* possible to use distiller to generate document metadata and bookmarks. I did it several years ago, using the stylesheet generate an EPS file that contained the PDFMark commands to generate the desired metadata and/or bookmarks, and then link it in as if it were a graphic. Distiller then processes those commands when it distills the PS to produce PDF. You could also do this using a texmac processing instruction in generated text to embed the PDFMark commands directly into the flow.

If you're interested, google PDFMark, and you should be able to find reference material for how to write the commands you need to set the items you want.

--Clay

Clay Helberg
Senior Consultant
TerraXML

[ptc-953926]

Oh, yes, we also added bookmark stuff to the Distiller PDFs. But, we used an OmniMark script to manipulate the PS file directly before converting it to PDF. I would recommend doing that, of course.

[bibach]

Ah, Clay, you're such a never-say-never techy romantic. 😉

-Brandon 🙂

[ptc-953926]

I meant "would NOT recommend".

[AndyEsslinger]

This sort of post makes me wonder what kind of wonderful marvelous things people are doing with bookmarks (and what is driving the requirement).

The bookmarks that I generate with a FOSI cover everything I ever saw a need for. Editor with print composer and distiller is all of the software with no ACL, omni mark, java or other scripting language. Actually, I do use and eps file used as a graphic that fills in the metadata I want. Otherwise, plain FOSI.

-Andy

\/ AndyEsslinger LM Aero-TechOrderData
_____-/\-_____ (817) 279-0442 1 Lockheed Blvd,MZ4285
\_\/_/ (817) 777 3047 FortWorth,TX 76108-3916

[ClayHelberg]

Aw, come on, where's your sense of adventure? 🙂

BTW, I wouldn't recommend these approaches either--it would be much easier (and more maintainable) to sort out any loose ends and make the switch to direct PDF, if you can. At the time I developed that solution, we were using XSL-FO for publishing, and it didn't support PDF bookmarks at all. (It does now.)

--C

Clay Helberg
Senior Consultant
TerraXML