Complex PDF Versioning Job

[draco66]

I have a huge job to develop which consists of the following:

 

• There will be a library of 100 static PDF files
  
• Files will be 8.5 x 11
  
• Page counts of these files will vary from 8 pages to as many as 28 pages.
  
• Data will be received that includes the version to print for that record along with the name and address of the recipient which will be printed on the last page of the PDF.
  

So, how do i build a template that will read the data for each record, select the correct static PDF from the library and print the variable address on the last page of the selected PDF? The output will be PDF files imposed for saddle stitching. Each record will produce its own PDF file.

 

 

I know how to output the individual files for each record and do the imposition. I just need to know how to make the template so that all static pages from the chosen PDF are imposed as is except for the last page which will get the address added to it. And the last page may be page 8 or page 28 or anything in between.

 

 

Can it be done and if so any help would be appreciated.

 

 

Thank you.

[step]

I would do this by utilizing an overflow page to pull in the PDFs (found here). Then I'd modify that code so that it would pull in everything up until the last page (1-27 in a 28 page document). Then have a second body page that pulls in the last page of the PDF (page 28) with a text frame on it that displays the address block.

 

I've uploaded an example that I built to get you started.

test_template.zip

[ThomasLewis]

I have another example of this that takes a little different approach. It uses a single page template with repeat record count. It has a text frame that is suppressed unless it is the last page of the document.

 

You should be able to just extract the zip and compose for a test.

multipage_backtext.zip

Edited March 5, 2014 by ThomasLewis

[step]

Thomas's solution would work as well as long as you are not planning on imposing out of FP. Applying a saddle stitched imposition to that solution will not give you the correct imposition because it's technically only 1 record being repeated 'x' number of times.

[ThomasLewis]

Thomas's solution would work as well as long as you are not planning on imposing out of FP.

 

I think you mean it would need to be imposed outside of FusionPro. And yes, the original version of that template was made so the output would go into a hot folder for smartstream imposition.

 

I'm curious how FP Imposer would work anyways since you have to tell it how many pages per record there are. In this case that would be a variable amount.

[draco66]

Thank you both for your suggested solutions. I will look at these today and do some testing.

 

I do have the ability to impose these outside of FP via a hot folder so I should be able to use either method.

 

I will post back later with my results.

 

Thanks again for the help.

[draco66]

I have tested both of these solutions and the one from Step seems to work best for this particular application although I will probably use them both on future projects.

 

I could not get the imposition to work in FP but that is not an issue as I can impose the output files outside of FP.

 

Thank you again for the help with this.