Merge scribbles with PDF

[gmt]

Probably should have posted this before. Attached is a slightly modified IliadPdfScribbleMerger which will paste anything which was originally in grey on the Iliad _behind_ the document in the merge.

Basically the default settings mean that thin black lines will come out as red overtype, and thick light grey lines will come out as yellow highlighting.

[Atom_]

¡Thank you so much! ¡This is exactly what I needed!

[Atom_]

BTW ¿would you mind posting the modified sources? I'm sure I'll learn a lot about the program just diffing it against the "original".

and... ¡thanks again!

[Man Eating Duck]

Hi! First of all, thanks for a great tool, it works very well

I have a small issue, however. It seems that my iLiad will retain a <page>-entry in the XML if you make a scribble on a page and then remove it (xml reformatted for clarity):

    <page backgroundcolor="#000000" id="1">
      <orientation>0</orientation>
      <height>1024</height>
      <width>768</width>
      <strokes/>
    </page>
    <page backgroundcolor="#000000" id="2">
      <orientation>0</orientation>
      <height>1024</height>
      <width>768</width>
      <strokes/>
    </page>

The merger app vill then add these scribble-less pages as well when you select "Scribbled pages only" . I have the book Edition, if that's interesting.

I don't really want the pages with no scribbles on them. I'm no Java developer, but dived in and made the following change in v1.8-src at ScribbleMerger.java:97

                    arrScribblePages.add(sp);
                    mapScribblePages.put(new Integer(sp.nPageId), sp);

to

                // Test for pages with no scribble strokes
                if(sp.arrStrokes.length > 0) {
                        arrScribblePages.add(sp);
                        mapScribblePages.put(new Integer(sp.nPageId), sp);
                    }

This might not be the proper object in which to put this test, but it seems to solve the problem.

@Bert: Maybe you'll want to check that this doesn't break anything, and include it (or something like it) in your next version? It is not extensively tested, though

[vblars]

Originally Posted by gmt

Probably should have posted this before. Attached is a slightly modified IliadPdfScribbleMerger which will paste anything which was originally in grey on the Iliad _behind_ the document in the merge.

Basically the default settings mean that thin black lines will come out as red overtype, and thick light grey lines will come out as yellow highlighting.

Thanks I like it. It's the best Merger I've seen.

Lars

[gmt]

Source of the edited version (which does highlighting) attached (literally just the source, not the whole build tree). Note that these edits were done on 1.7.5, so if anyone out there has time, the changes should be compared to the original 1.7.5 then patched in to the newer version. Sorry, I don't have time to do this myself.

[Atom_]

Originally Posted by gmt

Source of the edited version

Thank you very much!

[mand]

Just happened on this (i'm not a developer) - fantastic, saves me reinstalling the iLiad companion s/w which i did NOT want to do! Thanx so much.

Is there any way of merging documents more than one at a time? I tend to go through a lot of small documents making quick notes on each, and it's taking more time to merge them than it did to make the notes in the first place.

If not i'll just enjoy your wonderful bit of software while i wait...

[ramesh]

Hi -
Your java tool would convert my iliad into something really useful. But, I havent been able to get it to work, and I hope you might have some insight.

I downloaded the .jar and launched it with java -jar. I get a nice window with two dialog boxes on top and bottom and the color mapping console.

However, if I browse to the directory that contains the irx files it does not show that directory in the text box "IRex pdf directory". It will display the directory if I manually enter the full path.

On the other hand the browse option works for the destination path

Anyway, if I fill both boxes, and then click merge nothing happens - no error messages, no files generated, just nothing.

Anyhelp on how to debug this would be appreciated.

[Paul_R]

The more I read up running Bert's very nice utility (all about installing Java, i-text, all the scripts, etc, etc), the more despondent I became and the less I understood what was involved.

So, instead, do this:

1) Install Java:
That's probably already done - check your Control Panel for the Java icon. If not, go to http:\\java.com. It's very easy.

2) Make a folder for the utility:
..called, for example, "C:\Program Files\iRex Utilities\iLiad PDF Scribble Merger". If you don't know how to do this, find a 12-year-old to help you.

3) Extract Bert's latest version into this folder:
You don't need the source files, just get the latest 'compiled' version. For this example, I used ILiadPdfScribbleMerger v1.8.zip - see the first page in this discussion. Use the 'extract here' option for whatever unzip utility you use. You should end up with something like the following files and folders in your newly created folder:

dist\
dist\ILiadPdfScribbleMerger.jar
dist\README.TXT
dist\lib
dist\lib\itext-1.4.8.jar
dist\lib\swing-layout-1.0.jar


3) Create a batch file:
Right-click while in the folder and select 'New .. Text Document".
Rename the document to "iLiad Scribble Merge.bat" [or whatever you want to call it, but make sure the '.bat' is at the end] and click OK. Click Yes at the 'Rename' warning.

4) Edit the batch file:
Right-click on the batch file and select 'Edit'.
Copy and paste the text between the *****'s below into the batch file:
*****
cd "C:\Program Files\iRex Utilities\iLiad PDF Scribble Merger\dist"
java -jar "ILiadPdfScribbleMerger.jar"
"*****
[Note: if you installed Bert's utility somewhere else, that first line HAS TO MATCH!]
Click on the upper-right 'X' to close Notepad, click on Yes to save the changes.
[Note: the batch file changes to the folder so the jar file can find the lib(rary) files.]

5) Create a shortcut wherever/if you want one:
Right-click-drag the batch file to, say, your desktop and select 'Create Shortcut'.

When you double-click on the shortcut (or the batch file) a DOS box will open, then a second or two later, Bert's ILiadPdfScribbleMerger utility will appear. It's pretty self-explanatory. When you click on the 'Exit' button, the DOS box will disappear.

[X. Trapnel]

Just posting to say this utility is awesome. Thanks so so much!

[rrustema]

Warning, on Mac OS X 10.5.7, don't update your Java to version 12.3.0. This was suggested to me today by Software Update and out of a habit I accepted. But now ILiadPdfScribbleMerger does not work anymore.

In the attached png you can see what it looks like now. No dialogue anymore to save the merged PDF:

[senseabove]

Just ran into the same problem as rrusterna, with the scribblemerger window messing up. Anyone got a fix for this? I need to merge something asap, so I can send my iLiad in for repair.

[rrustema]

Hi senseabove,

Downgrading to 10.5.6 seems to be the only fix so far. Which is a bit difficult, because you have to get your original 10.5.x disk and then get the combo-installer from Apple to go to 10.5.6. A lot of trouble.

If anyone has a better solution, I would be very grateful!

[Paul_R]

rrustema et al:

Date a PC/Windows user?
(I keed!)