Scripting Acrobat with VB

PDF Conference 23 November 2002

Robert Anderson - Publishing Technologist
E-mail: BobAnderson@mac.com
Presentations and scripts:
homepage.mac.com/bobanderson
Topics
Why Scripting?
Scripting Languages for Acrobat
How to get started
VB sample
Resources
Why Scripting?
Doing the same manual operations
over and over again with Acrobat?
Scripting provides a way to combine many
manual steps into a single operation.
Visual Basic is powerful
Create custom GUI
Control multiple programs
Create a custom workflow
Create installable .exe apps
Include JavaScript and Perl
JavaScript
Internal to Acrobat
Cross-platform
Access other aspects of ACRO SDK
Art Box
Bleed Box
Trim Box
Perl
The quintessential file munger
We use it to repair PS files before Distilling
Runs on virtually every computer platform
Wicked fast
Callable with VB Shell function
Getting Started with VB
In-house training
Course at local college
Buy a tutorial from local bookstore
Includes Visual Basic 6 Learning Edition
Learn how to create a GUI
and write simple apps
VB Demo Sample: Check Papersize
Select PDF file
Open with Acrobat
Get papersize of page 1
Compare with other pages
Display non-matching pages
File Open Dialog Box
Dim filename As String
cdbOpen.Flags = &H1000 file must exist
cdbOpen.ShowOpen
filename = cdbOpen.filename
MsgBox (filename)
Launch Acrobat
Set gAcro = CreateObject("AcroExch.App")
Set newPD = CreateObject("AcroExch.PDDoc")
Set newAV = CreateObject("AcroExch.AVDoc")
gAcro.Show
Open & Display PDF
OK = newPD.open(filename)
If Not OK Then
MsgBox ("Could not open PDF file: " + filename)
Exit Sub
End If
Set newAV = newPD.openAVDoc
("Paper Size Check")
Get size of page 1
Set newPage = newPD.AcquirePage(0)
x1 = newPage.GetSize.x
y1 = newPage.GetSize.y
Make a list of bad pages
j = 0
For i = 1 To newPD.GetNumPages
Set newPage = newPD.AcquirePage(i - 1)
If (x1 <> newPage.GetSize.x) And
(y1 <> newPage.GetSize.y) Then
j = j + 1
badpages(j) = I
End If
Next I
Display bad pages
For i = 1 To j
k = badpages(i)
newAV.GetAVPageView.Goto (k)
Set newPage = newPD.AcquirePage(k - 1)
xk = newPage.GetSize.x
yk = newPage.GetSize.y
MsgBox ("Page: " + Str(k) + " Size:
+ Str(xk) + " x " + Str(yk))
Next i
Resources
VB Books from computer bookstore
Adobe SDK documentation
Newgroups
User Forums and Email lists
Collegues and friends
Adobe Acrobat Docs
http://partners.adobe.com
Acrobat SDK files
IACOverview Tech Note 5164
IACReference.pdf Tech Note 5465
VBJavaScript.pdf Tech Note 5417
CoreAPIReference.pdf Tech Note 5191
Tell VB to reference acrobat.tlb
(comes with Acrobat)
Newsgroups
comp.lang.visual.basic
comp.text.pdf
Searching newsgroups:
http://groups.google.com/
Search for the name of newsgroup
Then, search for your topic
http://groups.goodle.com
User forums and mailing lists
http://pdfzone.com/resources/discussions.html
http://forum.planetpdf.com
/scripts/wbpx.dll/~planetpdfforum
http://www.adobe.com/support/forums/main.html
Select Folder using standard VB objects:
Select Folder code from newsgroup:
Adobe watches newsgroups & forums
Dov Issacs frequents the PDF Discussion list
Adobe Support MarketPlace
$ but effective
Get answers from Adobe support
Bugs often fixed in next release
Best time: just after major point release
Reporting bugs to Adobe
http://www.adobe.com/support/marketplace.html
The End