PDF Document Management Software, Services & Support

Readme, Version 5.1

© 2010 Appligent, Inc.

Introduction

StampPDF Batch is a server-based, command-line-driven application that lets you stamp new text or images into PDF documents. Any text or image added by StampPDF Batch becomes a permanent part of the document.

These release notes contain last-minute product information and updates. Please refer to the documentation for additional information.

Memory Requirements

Minimum free memory available to run the application: 512 MBytes

Installation

For all Unix platforms — setting environmental variables

In version 5.1, there are two additional environmental variables that need to be set for StampPDF Batch on all UNIX platforms. If you run StampPDF Batch from the stamppdf script created during installation, these environmental variables will be set by the script. If you run stamppdfapp directly, you will need to set these environmental variables to run StampPDF Batch. Once StampPDF Batch is installed, you can view the variables needed by looking at the stamppdf script created by the installer.

For all Unix platforms — setting the Appligent home directory

The environmental variable that stores the location of the Appligent home directory is APPLIGENT_HOME. The default location for the Appligent home directory is /usr/local/appligent. The Appligent home directory contains the library files and resources needed to run StampPDF Batch. It also contains license information for StampPDF Batch.

Example: export APPLIGENT_HOME=/usr/local/appligent

For Unix platforms only (not including AIX) — setting the APDFL library path

The APDFL library path must be added to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable. The APDFL library path is located in a subdirectory of the APPLIGENT_HOME directory. 

The path should be set to ${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFL9.0.1/Libs

Example: export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFL9.0.1/Libs

For AIX only — setting the APDFL library path

The APDFL library path for AIX must be added to the LIBPATH variable. The APDFL library path is located in a subdirectory

of the APPLIGENT_HOME directory.

The path should be set to ${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFL9.0.1/Libs.

Example: export LIBPATH=${LIBPATH}:${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFL9.0.1/Libs

Registration Numbers for StampPDF Batch 5.1

In previous versions of StampPDF Batch, the StampPDF Batch registration number was required as a command line option with the -r flag each time stamppdfapp was run. A stamppdf script was provided that automatically added -r and the registration number to the stamppdfapp command line when the script was run. In the current release, in addition to getting the registration number from the command line, StampPDF Batch can get the registration number from a license file in the appligent home directory. License files are created by the installation script and stored in the ${APPLIGENT_HOME}/license directory. With a valid license file, the -r is no longer required on the command line. The -r option can still be used as in previous versions, and will override the value in the license file.

New Features

StampPDF Batch 5.1

Version 5.1 adds the following new command line options:

-cmds <filename>

To process multiple commands quickly and efficiently, use the -cmds <filename> option. The file specified by -cmds, the commands file, should contain one or more single line commands. Each command is just like an ordinary StampPDF Batch command-line without the executable name. The commands file does not support wildcards in filenames.

When you use the -cmds option, many of the StampPDF Batch options should be set in the -cmds file instead of on the command line. The following options are supported on the command line when using the -cmds option:

-r
-l
-n
-p

If the same option is set on the command line and in the a record of the -cmds file, the option value from the -cmds file record will be used.

StampPDF Batch 5.0

For document optimization, use -optimize.

This flag reduces file size in most instances, and performs a variety of functions.

• encode any non-encoded streams using Flate compression
• remove ASCII85 filters from all streams
• replace LZW encoded streams with Flate encoding
• merge identical XObjects and images
• optimize common sequences in page content
• merge identical font descriptors and encodings

To maximize compression, use -comp.

This flag will apply object level compression, typically reducing file size by 2%.

Note: PDF files support the simultaneous use of multiple types of compression. Object level compression was developed by Adobe Systems to reduce the size of PDF files, with a typical reduction of 2%. The object level compression mechanism is not always understood by older versions of Acrobat or third party PDF software, and limits compatibility to Acrobat 6 or higher.

To not use object level compression, use -nocomp.

This flag will not add object level compression and will remove object level compression, if found, resulting in a document that is compatible with all versions of Acrobat.

To create an ISO 32000 compliant PDF, use -iso32000.

This flag sets the output file version for ISO 32000 compliance (Adobe PDF version 1.7).

StampPDF Batch 4.5

OffsetX and OffsetY parameters for text and image stamping. This parameter allows you to place text and images at very precise locations. The X and Y positions are defined in positive and negative points from the top left position of the stamp item.

StampPDF Batch 4.1.1

PageNumber parameter for PDF image stamping. This parameter specifies which page in the PDF file to use as the PDF stamp. Enter a page number or -1 to indicate the last page. If the page number entered is less than 1 but not -1, the first page is used. If the page number entered is greater than the last page number, the last page is used. The default is the first page of the PDF file.

CharSpace, WordSpace, and LineSpace parameters for Text Stamp Items. CharSpace adjusts character spacing, WordSpace adjusts word spacing, and LineSpace adjusts line spacing. Enter a positive real number with up to three digits following the decimal point. Numbers greater than 1 increase the spacing, and numbers less than 1 decrease the spacing.

Enhanced barcode support. StampPDF Batch includes built-in support for Code 128 character set B barcodes. StampPDF Batch automatically calculates the check character and places the start, check, and stop characters in the appropriate place. You only need to specify the data.

StampPDF Batch 4.0.8

BatesDigits parameter for Bates numbers. This parameter sets the number of digits in a Bates number. It overwrites the application default and value set on a command line with the -j option.
Ordinal suffix for dates. Code %D adds an ordinal number suffix (for example, "st" for first) to the day of the month: "1st".

Known Issues

Unicode

Automatic word wrapping is not available for Unicode characters. You must manually insert line breaks and set the MultiLine parameter to Yes.

Variables (%x) are not supported.

General

If you are using the %i variable, be sure not to include any white space after Title, Author, and Subject. For example, use (%i(Title)) instead of (%i(Title )).

If an input PDF file has a user password set, this password will be copied over into the Stamp document, even if -userpass is not specified on the command line with -encrypt.

If a PDF file you are stamping is cropped, it may not stamp in the right location. You will need to remove the crop before stamping the pdf.

If you are stamping with the Symbol or Zapf Dingbats fonts, your stamps may not appear in the correct location.

There are some instances where the combination of the PDF source creation application and the printer driver draw a white rectangle behind the text of the page. This causes underlaid stamps to be obscured by the body of the document and underlaid stamped text to be obscured by images. The work-around is to use an overlaid stamp that is semi-transparent, uses an outline font, or both.

The %p variable, local equivalent of AM or PM, may not behave properly in all locales. When Regional Settings are changed to dd/mm/yy - dd MMMM yyyy (English, United Kingdom), nothing stamps where AM or PM should appear. However, this does work fine with the mm/dd/yy - dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy setting.

When diagonally stamping large text in the right or left position, the corners of letters may be cut off. To correct the problem, add a space at the beginning of the text, use the center position, or decrease the size of the text.

ASCII characters greater then 128 may not always stamp properly. Stamp files need to be generated on the same platform on which the StampPDF Batch application will run, because StampPDF Batch uses platform specific character encodings. For example, producing a stamp file on a Windows machine, then transferring that file to a UNIX computer to use with StampPDF Batch would result in the wrong character encoding being used and the wrong characters showing up in the output PDF file.

UNIX only

When the %P variable is used in the stamp file to stamp the "full directory path" of the document being stamped, the variable works correctly only when the full path or the input PDF document is given on the command line. If a relative path is given, only the relative path will be stamped.

There can be a problem with stamping high ASCII characters (accents, ®, ß, etc.) in a PDF document that includes a font that is not encoded (we saw the problem with Times). Make sure that all fonts are encoded in a document to ensure proper stamping.