Where are the Sample Jobs?

[RyanB]

I'm specifically looking for the sample which covers importing one PDF with varying page counts into a template.

 

I'm not looking for the sample which imports multiple PDFs into one template.

 

I have a cover letter which now needs each record's PDF appended after it.

 

Thanks in advance,

Ryan

 

FP Desktop 5.0P1b

Mac OS 10.4.11

[Alex Marshall]

Hello,

Are you asking how to import specific pages from a PDF document based on a specified page count in your data file? If so, read on.

You don't have to use the multi-page PDF as your input (template) PDF

document. Instead, you can use it as an external graphic resource, and

specify the desired pages with the FusionProResource.pagenumber

property. If you use inline graphics in a text frame with overflow

pages, you can insert a variable number of pages for each output record.

Here are the steps to take to accomplish this:

* Start with a new input PDF document. (You can start from a blank

one-page document by saving or printing a blank document to PDF from

another application.) The page size should be the same as in the PDF

from which you are including the pages.

* Define the data source for the document. (You can import from your

original input PDF.)

* Set a text frame that completely covers the page, starting at X and Y

of zero. You may need to extend the width and depth of the page by a

bit.

* Insert an Overflow page, duplicating the existing Body page. Set the

text frame as the overflow destination. (Check the "Overflow To" box on

the Text Frame palette.)

* Create a Text rule like the one below. Make sure to check the "Treat

returned strings as tagged text" box.

* Edit the text of the frame on the Body page to include the rule

variable. Set the point size of the variable to 1.

* Set the Overflow options for the Body page to overflow to your

Overflow page (in the "New Left Page" drop list). Leave "New Right

Page" as "(None)" and set the add page mode to "As Few Added Pages As

Possible."

Here is an example of the kind of rule you need:

// MODIFY THESE TO MATCH YOUR DATA

var PDFResourceFile = "myfile.pdf";

var FirstPageNumber = Int(Field("firstpagenumber"));

var FirstPageCount = Int(Field("firstrepeatcount"));

var SecondPageNumber = Int(Field("secondpagenumber"));

var SecondPageCount = Int(Field("secondpagecount"));

var result = "";

var pdf = new FusionProResource(PDFResourceFile, "graphic");

pdf.pagenumber = FirstPageNumber;

for (var i = 1; i <= FirstPageCount; i++)

result += pdf.content + "\n";

pdf.pagenumber = SecondPageNumber;

for (var i = 1; i <= SecondPageCount; i++)

result += pdf.content + "\n";

 

return result;

This assumes that you have data fields specifying the page numbers and

repeat counts for each. You may have to play around a bit with the size

of the frames, but this should work.

[esmith]

Well I followed your instructions and received an error message: "Failed to open file </Volumes/BlueEarthShared?vivian/7079 ESCORT CARD/ESCORT CARD list.txt>.

 

what if you renamed the folder and remove the question mark "?" indicated in the path: "BlueEarthShared?vivian"

 

I don't see your confirmation that you renamed your path so that you're not using symbols. I'd go a step further and (temporarily) put your data file and FP template in the same folder/directory and try to link template to data that way. If that works, your initial problem may be network-related rather than FusionPro-related.

 

If that doesn't work, perhaps you could post your template and a stripped down version of your data to see if a user has the same issue on our machine.