PrintPDF and multiple files

I have a number of draw files (Page1, Page2 … Page 94) which I want to convert into a single (94 page) PDF file. So I drag the (94) files onto the ‘PDF3’ printers icon to invoke !PrintPDF and queue them for conversion. It works except that I have to click ‘Add to queue’ 94 times. When I have done this, I create the PDF using !PrintPDF ‘Queues’ menu item.

Is there any way of automating the ‘add to queue’ option please? And of notifying that it has queued the last of the dragged files? Dragging the files together is the easy bit – just select them all and drag them in one operation.

If I can’t make this work, my next step is to write my own multitasking programme to simulate a ‘save drag’ of each file in turn to the VRPC ‘print to PDF’ Uniprint icon (which uses the ‘Adobe PDF definition in Windows to create a PDF file with no user interaction at a place on the hard disc where VRPC can see it), wait and watch for the ’UniprintJob.pdf’ file to be created (on the PC side), rename it (so it doesn’t get overwritten by the next file) and simulate a drag-save for the next file until all are done. Once all the PDFs are created I can easily concatenate them into a single PDF using Adobe Acrobat Standard 8.3

Any ideas please? Currently I drag each draw file in turn into ArtWorks, centre it on the page and export it as PDF. One page at a time. Blahh!!

Any ideas please?

“Any ideas please? Currently I drag each draw file in turn into ArtWorks, centre it on the page and export it as PDF. One page at a time. Blahh!!”

Could you not use the Artworks ‘Page-Insert Page-After current page’ menu option to add blank pages to your ArtWorks file, onto which you could drag successive drawfiles? You could then generate a single, paginated ArtWorks PDF.

You are missing the point. Yes that is another way. But it still requires 94 separate ‘drag file’, ‘centre on page’ ‘add another page’ drag file’ ’centre on page ….. Actually more than ten or twenty pages causes ArtWorks to run out of memory (on my VRPC) anyway.

At least using !PrintPDF I just need to keep the mouse still and click 94 times in the same spot on ‘add to queue’ as the window pops up. It is just that this gets rather boring after a while. I suppose I could write a programme that would repeatedly simulate a mouse click at that point on the screen for an hour or two. And the next book has nearly 300 pages and so that is too much boredom for me!

@Chris.
Have you contacted Steve Fryat? He is the author of PrintPDF
after all.

Gah! Appologies to Steve Fryatt for replacing the last ‘t’ of his surname with a question mark.

Have you contacted Steve Fryat?

No. The problem is solved. My application ‘MultiTask’ will now create a collection of ‘pdf’ files from a directory of draw files (using Martin Wuerther’s postscript 3 printer driver and Ghostscript). This allows me to concatenate the pdfs afterwards (using Adobe Acrobat Standard 8.3) into a single pdf.

Yes, at the SW show. An update to !PrintPDF is being considered and I now have some useful insight to the undocumented ParamFile: and PDFMarkFile: redirection choices. I have also had some help from Martin Wuerther with the multi-page ArtWorks method. Isn’t the RISC OS community great!

Could you not use the Artworks ‘Page-Insert Page-After current page’ menu option to add blank pages to your ArtWorks file, onto which you could drag successive drawfiles? You could then generate a single, paginated ArtWorks PDF.

Indeed so.