Position Afterline and MDSF v13.4 no longer generating file correctly when afterline is used

[sandig199]

These templates used to work just fine, until last week. Attached collected files.

It is a set of 53 different flashcards, with a common frontside (repeatable component) and different backside pulled in from a PDF master onto the overflow page.

This template was originally built in 2019 and I have not had any issues until last week.

I am using DSF v13.4.2.26730 today.

When I preview the composed file in DSF, page 2 is no longer appearing. It is blank. I can see the first page (repeatable component) but the back side of each flashcard is showing a blank page.

When I compose the template locally with Fusion Pro Creator 12.0.3, all content appears correctly.
Do you have any ideas as to why DSF is suddenly having issues with the file generation?

If I remove the <position=“afterline”> tag, DSF shows brings in the content, but it is placed too high on the even pages.

I need the <position=“afterline”> in order to get the content to position properly on the pages.

These are the lines of code in the rule called 'PDF Graphic Insertion Rule:

//without the position tag, the preview shows correctly in MDSF, however the second side too high
    markupToReturn += '<graphic file="' + PDFresourceRef.name + '" pagenumber = "' + pageLoop + '" />';
 

      //with the position tag, MSDF does not generate the second side artwork. The second page is blank.
 markupToReturn += '<graphic file="' + PDFresourceRef.name + '" pagenumber = "' + pageLoop + '" position="afterline"/>';

I need assistance as to how to get this template working properly again for MDSF to generate both pages in the correct position.

Is there something in MSDF that does not understand position="afterline" or do I need something additional in the code to make this work in MSDF today?

As always, your assistance is highly appreciated and valued.

collected Flashcard template afterline removed.zip PROOF with postion afterline in place.pdf PROOF with postion afterline removed.pdf

[Dan Korn]

This is probably a question for DSF Support.  The most likely root of this is that the version of FusionPro Server was updated on DSF.  But I would need to at least see the output file from DSF to confirm that.

This job may also be better accomplished by repeating the record for each PDF page inserted, rather than using the repeatable component.

[sandig199]

Hello Dan,

Thank you for your response. I attached the output from DSF which has the problem "blank" pages.

As I said initially, this template was working fine last week.

I can definitely reach out to EPS support about this issue. I truly appreciate your thoughts and will pass along to them.

If EPS cannot resolve it, I need to find another way to build this template to produce a print file for a set of 53 flash cards.

I appreciate your advice on the repeatable component page. I am definitely a novice here and piecing parts together. This forum is a valuable and essential resource for me.

The repeatable component is creating the common side of each flashcard and the other side comes from the imported PDF. On the example collected files, I removed the variables on the repeatable component page and made them "static" in order to simplify the file and eliminate these variables as an issue.

I would like to explore improving this file based on your advice to "....may also be better accomplished by repeating the record for each PDF page inserted".

I have no idea where to start. Can you point me in the right direction?

 

 

DSF output - FLCard-Achieve-Charter-Academy.pdf

[Dan Korn]

So the file you attached was made with FP 13.0.2.  I wonder if the older version of the output, when it worked differently, was made with an older version of FusionPro which had been installed on the DSF server before it was upgraded to FP 13.

Regarding record repeats, it's fairly easy to do in OnRecordStart, by setting the repeat count, something like this:

FusionPro.Composition.repeatRecordCount = PDFresourceRef.countPages;

And you can call out the page from the PDF resource that corresponds to the repeat number in the graphic rule, like so:

PDFresourceRef.pagenumber = FusionPro.Composition.repeatRecordNumber;

Then you don't need any extra Overflow or Template (Repeatable Component) pages.  It's really a much simpler way to build a job like this.

[sandig199]

Hello Dan,

thank you for the response. I did update my desktop version of Fusion Pro Creator to version 13.0.4. recomposed and uploaded the template files to DSF.

The result is still missing the overflow page. (attached PDF)

I will try to rewrite this template with the OnRecordStart as you outlined for me.

Thank you.

FLCard-Fusion Pro 13.0.4.pdf

[Dan Korn]

 

1 hour ago, sandig199 said:

I did update my desktop version of Fusion Pro Creator to version 13.0.4. recomposed and uploaded the template files to DSF.

The result is still missing the overflow page. (attached PDF)

It's not an issue of the version installed on your desktop.  What gets composed online in DSF is determined by the version of FusionPro Server that's installed on the DSF machine, because it's that FP Server that's doing the composition work.  If version 13 is installed on DSF, then the job will be composed by FusionPro 13, regardless of what version you used to design and upload the template.

My conjecture is that, at some point, the version of FP Server on the DSF machine was updated, which triggered the difference in the output.  Whatever older version of FP Server that had been on DSF previously was composing differently than the FP 13 that's installed on DSF now.  The way to confirm this is to look at the two different outputs from the online DSF compositions, open them both in Acrobat, and view their Document Properties, which specify the version of FusionPro used for the composition (which may be different than the version used to design the template).

At any rate, reworking the job to use record repeats rather than overflow pages is probably worthwhile.

 

[sandig199]

Thank you for the excellent advice. I was able to apply the OnRecordStart repeat record and repeat record in the graphic rule.

I think I did it properly as I am getting the desired output. (attached revised collected files)

This is working correctly in the MDSF template.

Flashcard_v13 onrecord start forum.zip from MSDF Fl_CardOutput.pdf