Understanding the Publi PDF Stamper plug-in
Publi PDF Stamper is a plug-in module for Publi PDF that makes it possible to automate insertion of water marks, letter heads, logo's etc. on-the-go.
Publi PDF Stamper inserts any Encapsulated PostScript document on top of the contents of each processed page, i.e. first it processes a page from your document and then it applies the content of your stamp file(s) topmost on that page. Therefore, when you create your own stamp files you should always remember not to apply a background fill, since such a fill effectively will cover the contents of the documents you print.
Stamp files must be single page documents stored in Encapsulated PostScript format (EPS) without any background fill, preferably without a preview header. The preview header part of the EPS format is not used by Publi PDF Stamper, and any presence of preview headers in stamp files will degrade conversion performance.
Enumerations and objects
Enumerations
None
Objects
Publi PDF Stamper implements the following objects:
- Stamp object
- Stamps Collection
These objects are currently not available through ActiveX.
| Property | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| FileName | String | File name without path, but with extension. Usually the file extension is »eps«. The default value is a zero length string. The value is case sensitive. It is prohibited to use the file name »None.eps«. |
| ScaleFactor | String | Scale factor measured in percent. The default value is 100. |
| PositionX | String | X position of the insertion point for the lower left corner of
FileName. The unit is points (1/72 inch). The default value is 0. |
| PositionY | String | Y position of the insertion point for the lower left corner of
FileName. The unit is points (1/72 inch). The default value is 0. |
| Parent | Stamps Collection |
Owner object. It's value can be Nothing. |
ScaleFactor, PositionX and PositionY allow 2 decimals. The only allowed decimal separator is the punctuation character ».«, i.e. commas, semicolons and other decimal separators are not allowed.
Stamp objects are inserted at position (PositionX,PositionY) relative to the lower left corner of the output document media size.
Parameters in the configuration file
Publi PDF Stamper implements an additional set of parameters into the configuration file. From the DirStampFiles entry in the [Configuration] group it determines where to find the stamp files referred to by each [<Queue Name>] group.
Important: The folder defined by DirStampFiles must contain a file called »None« without any extension. This file must contain dummy PostScript code that doesn't leave any marks on the page. The Publi PDF installer will install a suitable »None« file. Do not overwrite this file and remember to have it moved properly if you change the DirStampFiles configuration entry to anything else than the default.
Publi PDF Stamper implements the following queue based parameters:
| Type | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| String | File name without path, with extension |
Points to the stamp file Publi PDF Stamper inserts in the foreground on
page 1 in the output document. The default value is the string value »None«. It is prohibited to use the file name »None.eps«. |
MarksFileName1 is read by Publi PDF Stamper and is available only for backward compatibility. With revision 1.00.0227 or later it's value will automatically be moved into the JobStamps1 object.
Example:
MarksFileName1=Logo.eps
will convert to:
JobStamps1=Logo.eps|100.00|0.00|0.00
The above entry will insert Logo.eps at the lower left corner of the document media.
| Type | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Stamps Collection |
See below | Points to the stamp files Publi PDF Stamper inserts in the foreground on
page 1 in the output document. The default value is the string value »None«. It is prohibited to use the file name »None.eps«. |
JobStamps1 specify a collection of Stamp objects. Each Stamp object is represented by a set of parameters separated by the »|« character. Each Stamp object is separated by two consecutive »|« characters, i.e. »||«. The last Stamp object may not have any trailing »|« characters.
Each Stamp object is described in the configuration file as a string with the notation <FileName>|<ScaleFactor>|<PositionX>|<PositionY>. It's allowed to specify <PositionX> and <PositionY> with the convenience unit identifiers »cm« and »inch«. However, the numeric value and the unit identifier must be separated by a Space character.
Examples of valid JobStamps1 array type entries are:
JobStamps1=Logo.eps|97.3|17 cm|26 cm||Address.eps|100|1 inch|0.5 inch
The above entry will insert two Stamp files on-the-go. First Logo.eps is scaled to 97.3% size and inserted near the upper right corner of the media (A4 or Letter size). Then Address.eps will be inserted without scaling near the lower left corner of the media.
JobStamps1=Letterhead.eps|100|481.88|637.01
The above entry will insert Letterhead.eps at position (481.88,637.01) on the document media (measured in points).
| Type | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| String | File name without path, with extension |
Points to the stamp file Publi PDF Stamper inserts in the foreground on
pages from page 2 to the last page in the output document. The default value is the string value »None«. It is prohibited to use the file name »None.eps«. |
MarksFileName2 is read by Publi PDF Stamper and is available only for backward compatibility. With revision 1.00.0227 or later it's value will automatically be moved into the JobStamps2 object.
| Type | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Stamps Collection |
See below | Points to the stamp files Publi PDF Stamper inserts in the foreground on
pages from page 2 to the last page in the output document. The default value is the string value »None«. It is prohibited to use the file name »None.eps«. |
If the output document contain only one page JobStamps2 is ignored.
Additional remarks: As for JobStamps1.
| Type | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Number (Boolean) |
0 | Effectively disables the Publi PDF Stamper plug-in. |
| 1 (default) | Enables the Publi PDF Stamper Plug-in. |
StamperEnabled can be changed without affecting other settings in Stamper. However, other Stamper settings has no effect at all when StamperEnabled=0.
| Type | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Number (Boolean) |
0 (default) | Displays the Stamper plug-in User Interface in menus and dialogs. |
| 1 | Effectively hides User Interface parts related to the Stamper plug-in. |
Enabling StamperHideUI does not change the behavior of the Stamper plug-in. It simply prevent the user from making changes via the User Interface.
Known problems
Sometimes the EPS preview-header is not properly stripped off (EMF formatted previews only).
Last revised: 19-12-2007.