Using extendedPDF with NeoOffice

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There is a separate version of this tutorial addressing OpenOffice.org/X11, which behaves differently in a number of key places.

The extendedPDF macro is used to create structured PDFs (those with bookmarks, sections, etc.) in OpenOffice.org. Marc Liyanage has a tutorial on configuring this macro for use with OpenOffice.org Mac OS X (X11), but there are some additional details and steps needed to use this macro with NeoOffice.

ExtendedPDF was particularly useful in the NeoOffice 1.x release cycle, but as of NeoOffice 2.0, most of its features (tagged PDF, links, bookmarks) are now available natively in NeoOffice. Most people should be able to get the functionality they need without using ExtendedPDF.

Contents

Initial setup

  1. Download the extendedPDF macro from the JDiSoftware site and install as instructed.
  2. If you do not have a printer connected to your Mac, you will need to set up a "dummy" PostScript printer. (Acrobat’s "Adobe PDF" dummy printer will not work.)
    1. Open Print Setup Utility (/Applications/Printer Setup Utility) and click "Add" to set up a new printer.
      1. Choose "IP Printing" from the drop-down list.
      2. Choose "Internet Printing Protocol" as the Printer Type.
      3. Enter localhost as the Printer Address; leave the Queue Name blank.
      4. For Printer Model, select a recent HP LaserJet, like the LaserJet 4050 Series.

Configuring extendedPDF

You can set up extendedPDF according to Marc Liyanage’s instructions, with the following changes:

  1. Configuration pane:
    1. In NeoOffice, the printer name setting does not matter and can remain "Generic Printer".
    2. For the path to GhostScript, enter the path to your copy of Marc Liyanage’s Acrobat Distiller helper script (e.g., /Users/macuser/bin/NeoOffice_pdf_helper.pl) if you use Distiller; if you will be using GhostScript, leave the setting as gs.
      • If you use Acrobat Distiller, be sure the name in Marc's script matches the name of the Distiller app on your Mac—without the .app extension, e.g., Acrobat Distiller 6.0.3.
  2. File Settings pane:
    1. Choose a location for the temporary files; you will need to remember this location for step 1.2.1 in the Invoking the extendedPDF macro on a document section below.
    2. As in Marc's tutorial, you might wish to check "Delete temporary files" once you have extendedPDF working properly.
    3. If you want the final PDFs to be created in a location other than that where the source .sxw document is located, enter this location in the "Output folder" field (e.g., /Users/macuser/Documents/extendedPDFs/).

Invoking the extendedPDF macro on a document

Once you have set up the other extendedPDF options to suit your needs and have created a properly styled document, you are ready to invoke the macro. There are a couple of additional steps required to avoid errors or problems in generating the final PDF.

  1. When the extendedPDF macro does its magic, it calls the native Print dialogue box for your default printer.
    1. Select the "Output Options" pane from the third drop-down menu (the one that defaults to "Copies & Pages"); check the "Save as File" box and "PostScript" as the Format.
      • If you will be using extendedPDF often, you may wish to select "Save as Preset" from the "Presets" drop-down menu at this time. In the future, you will be able to simply select the preset for this step.
    2. Click the "Save…" button to save the temporary file. The location and filename required are very specific!
      1. Be sure to save the file to the location you selected in step 2.1 of the Configuring extendedPDF section of this tutorial.
      2. The name of the file you save needs to be filename.ps (e.g., if your document’s name is My Extended PDF.sxw, the filename you specify in the Save box should be My Extended PDF.ps).
  2. extendedPDF and Distiller or GhostScript now do their magic and the PDF is saved in the location you specified, if any, in the "Output folder" field of extendedPDF’s File Settings pane.

Known Issues

  • NeoOffice/J 1.1 did not print (or pass to PDFs) embedded EPS files. This is an Apple bug; Apple does not have support for printing embedded EPS files in the printing routines available to Java 1.3.1.
    N.B. This bug was fixed in NeoOffice 1.2 Alpha using a new Cocoa technique available to Java 1.4.2.
  • Extended PDFs produced by NeoOffice using GhostScript currently render the text as "garbage" in Preview and as blank space in Acrobat.
  • There are reports that link boxes are poorly-rendered and mis-aligned.

Further Reference

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