Re: The name of the pdfmark mark

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

@ExternalLink, @FixedWidthRule, etc. can all be used in a Lout document
regardless of which output backend is being used.  Why would it be
different for @DocInfo?  If @DocInfo makes sense only in the PS backend,
then its definition would just include something like:

  @BackEnd @Case {
    PostScript @Yield { ... }
    else @Yield @Null
  }

Cheers,
Ludovic.

On Mon, Sep 15, 2003 at 04:01:56PM -0700, Albert Kinderman wrote:
> I am sorry I lost the thread, so I am starting it anew.
> 
> K.H. was suggesting @Mark, but thought it might be confusing.
> 
> Jeff suggested @DocInfo (this is from memory).
> 
> I suggested @PdfMark
> 
> Jeff responded that what was needed was something more general that 
> would apply equally to other backends.
> 
> So let's consider another backend.  Macromedia now has a Flash 
> "distiller" that produces Flash movies (swf) from Word documents (it is 
> installed as a printer driver in Windows), just as a pdf distiller 
> produces pdf files from ps.  Suppose someone wanted to create a Flash 
> distiller that worked on ps output.  I would guess that the ps would 
> need some flashmarks in it to direct the distiller.  The goal is to 
> have neither the pdfmarks or the flashmarks appear on paper when the ps 
> is printed, but to be "visible" as directives to the distiller.
> 
> Question:  would the pdf distiller choke on the flashmarks and the 
> flash distiller choke on the pdfmarks?
> 
> If the answer is no, then Jeff is correct that we only need a generic 
> name that would cover these two distillers and any others. Authors 
> could create a unified ps document with all types of embedded marks 
> that would produce different types of documents depending on the 
> distiller that the ps was run through.
> 
> On the other hand, if a pdf distiller would choke on the flashmarks, 
> then the unified document is impossible.  ps intended for a pdf 
> distiller could only use pdfmarks while ps intended for a flash 
> distiller could only use flashmarks.  In this case, using the symbol 
> @PdfMark for pdfmarks intended for the pdf distiller would help keep 
> the author from accidentally using the wrong type of mark.  Similarly, 
> using @FlashMark or @SwfMark for marks destined only for a flash 
> distiller would help the author know that those were the only legal 
> marks to be used.
> 
> The other option is to use a form like
> 
> @DocInfo
>       distiller { pdf }
>       type { url }
>    etc
> 
> so every mark would be identified by the intended distiller.  This 
> still wouldn't prevent the flash distiller from choking on the pdfmark 
> produced, but at least the author would have a way to easily identify 
> the type of distiller that each mark was intended to direct.
> 
> I realize that my knowledge in this area is very limited.  I am only 
> looking at this from the point of view of an author using lout to 
> produce a ps document that has pdfmarks in it.
> 
> Al
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Albert Kinderman              Systems and Operations Management
>           California  State University Northridge
>