Re: fmbatch post script print problem

["Thomas Michanek" <thomas.michanek@xxxxxxxxx>]

From: "Ken Luke" <ken_luke@mentorg.com>
> The behavior of the "smart" Print dialog is indeed a bug. The specific 
> setting is not saved with the file, yet all other print settings are.

That's not exactly true. The Print option "Last Sheet First" is not
saved with the file, neither on Windows 2000, nor in Solaris.

From: "Gregory Vance" <gregory@systemnews.com>
> It seems like a bug that FrameMaker does not remember the "Generate 
> Acrobat Data" setting for files printed to ps. Is there a reason it 
> would do this intentionally?

It's true that you can set up the Print dialog on UNIX to create a
PS file *and* Generate Acrobat Data, and that this combination of
options isn't saved with the file. Whether this is a bug is a
matter of opinion. The Print dialog in both Windows and UNIX works
so that setting certain options automatically sets, clears or greys
out other options. You cannot have any combination of Odd/Even pages,
Thumbnails, Last Sheet First and Acrobat Data turned on. Try it.

On UNIX, the intention is that you either create a PS file for printing
purposes, *or* a PDF file with Acrobat Data. Turning on Acrobat Data
switches the Destination to PDF File, and the other way around. You
can override this by first turning on Acrobat Data and then switch
the Destination to PostScript File, but that's not considered to be
a "standard" option. You both wish to post-process the PS file before
creating PDF, but that's not considered a standard practice.

You have four choices:
1. Create PS files with Acrobat Data manually from each file,
   without using fmbatch.
2. Create PS files without Acrobat Data using fmbatch.
3. Find a way to include the information you want in the PS file
   by using an FM add-on like Shlomo Peret's TimeSavers.
4. Write a script that copies the temporary PS file created by FM
   before it's deleted (after being handed over to the Distiller).

A final thing: only the Print options Generate Acrobat Data and
Print Separations are saved with the file when saving as MIF.
Something to think about if you post-process MIF files or use
MIF as the storage format for version control systems.


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Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
Technical Communicator, Uppsala, Sweden
mailto:Thomas.Michanek@telia.com   (Sweden)
http://go.to/framers/
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