Thread View: adobe.postscript.programming
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Started by Juergen May
Tue, 29 Oct 2002 14:35
PPD Information
Author: Juergen May
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 14:35
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 14:35
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Hi there! I'm trying to find some information about PPD files and how they work. Specifally, I'd like to know if it's possible to determine printer specific settings at the print stage without having to change them manually. I thought I could create two different PPD files for the same printer and just choose the relevant one for the job. An example is this... My RIP (an AGFA Taipan 2) offers the choice of In-RIP Separations. For some jobs (but not all), this feature is very useful but when I choose to use it I must change some other features too. In order to make things quicker I thought I could create two PPDs - one would be a standard PPD, the other would be the In-RIP Separations PPD which would change the In-RIP Separations setting to true and also change any other features. Using QuarkXPress, I could then setup a few Print Styles using the relevant PPD. That way, when I need to print I just select the print style and hit Print, leaving the PPD to carry all the printer settings. Does this sound at all possible? Many thanks, Juerg
Re: PPD Information
Author: Aandi Inston
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 15:07
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 15:07
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It may be possible. You should start by reading the PPD specification. Carefully examine the PostScript sequences and contraints in the file. It won't be easy or quick. One key flaw though, and one many people reach, is the belief that they can change the default behaviour by changing the *Default lines in the PPD. This is risky, and may not work because the default is not intended to tell the driver what to show as default. The default is supposed to tell the driver the printer's ACTUAL default. As such, the driver is free to generate no code in the default case, because it knows the printer is already set up. Aandi Inston
Re: PPD Information
Author: Juergen May
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 15:36
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 15:36
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Thanks Aandi! Um, pardon my ignorance but what is the PPD specification? I think what you're saying makes sense as I've already tried (unsuccessfully) to change the *Default lines! :P I guess what I'm after is a way of telling the printer to ALWAYS set a certain setting to True, whenever that PPD is used. I'm not too worry about how long it takes because I'm interested in learning something new anyway, and if I can get it to work the benefits will be substantial. All I need is someone to point me to a book or on-line information to get me started! Thanks, Juerg
Re: PPD Information
Author: Aandi Inston
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 17:19
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 17:19
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>Um, pardon my ignorance but what is the PPD specification? A PDF of 300 or something pages. Look on http://partners.adobe.com/. Something like Developers > Technotes > PostScript. >I guess what I'm after is a way of telling the printer to ALWAYS set a certain setting to True, whenever that PPD is used. That may be done, but may not be simple - you probably need to remove the UI choice and move the code into an unconditional setup... Aandi Inston
Re: PPD Information
Author: Juergen May
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 19:14
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 19:14
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Hey, Right. I found the PPD Specification - looks good. I think it'll take a while to read through but it seems ideal for what I need. I'd already guessed that I need to move the code out of the conditional statement - I just didn't know it was OK to do that! I think I've found what I need so for now, I'm going to take a bow, tip my hat, thank for your kind help and bid you farewell... Best wishes, Juerg
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