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Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

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Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#201

Post by fuzztester »

rudasn wrote: post #189
fuzztester wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PDF spec even supports attachments in PDF files.

How does that work exactly? Is it widely supported? I recently had to add an embed feature to our pdf rendering, to allow users to embed other pdfs inside the one we generate for them. Since we use headless Chrome, I used pdfjs from mozilla to render the embedded pdf on screen before generating the pdf, so you can actually see and read the embedded pdf. Works pretty well, but was wondering about this attachment featu…

good question. how it works is an implementation question. read the PDF spec (big, and somewhat hard to grok in parts) or Google about it. I don't know. I just knew about the fact, because I have done some work with PDF. also don't know if it is widely supported, sorry.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#202

Post by fuzztester »

rudasn wrote: post #189
fuzztester wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PDF spec even supports attachments in PDF files.

How does that work exactly? Is it widely supported? I recently had to add an embed feature to our pdf rendering, to allow users to embed other pdfs inside the one we generate for them. Since we use headless Chrome, I used pdfjs from mozilla to render the embedded pdf on screen before generating the pdf, so you can actually see and read the embedded pdf. Works pretty well, but was wondering about this attachment featu…

nice idea there.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#203

Post by klysm »

mrfumier wrote: post #130

But... why? WHY?? Why would I run a docker container, a webserver, start a browser, navigate webpages... just to do some operations on a pdf locally? A few KiloBytes native program like PDFtk ( https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/ ) does the job perfectly. I don't understand what is the point of bloating softwares like this. Not even speaking of the very bad consequences for the planet.

The point of the bloat is that web is by far the easiest way to create a cross platform UI. It’s far from ideal but that’s the world we live in.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#204

Post by anon373839 »

Alifatisk wrote: post #61

It's scary how such a widely used format (PDF) is almost in full control by Adobe. I have yet to see a true competitor to Adobe Acrobat. The only one that has come really close is the one that comes built-in for macOS. It's a hidden gem.

Warning: Preview has a very, very nasty PDF-damaging bug. After applying a signature to a PDF in Preview, the searchable text layer becomes scrambled so that numbers are no longer searchable or copy-able. For example, “$745.25” would become something like “$;@€:-€“. The document would still look correct, but you could not search for that figure or copy it out of the PDF without instead getting the garbled version.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#205

Post by Finnucane »

mrfumier wrote: post #130

But... why? WHY?? Why would I run a docker container, a webserver, start a browser, navigate webpages... just to do some operations on a pdf locally? A few KiloBytes native program like PDFtk ( https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/ ) does the job perfectly. I don't understand what is the point of bloating softwares like this. Not even speaking of the very bad consequences for the planet.

And for all that this does, it doesn’t seem to touch any accessibility remediation problems.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#206

Post by rudasn »

cmrx64 wrote: post #194
rudasn wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does that work exactly? Is it widely supported? I recently had to add an embed feature to our pdf rendering, to allow users to embed other pdfs inside the one we generate for them. Since we use headless Chrome, I used pdfjs from mozilla to render the embedded pdf on screen before generating the pdf, so you can actually see and read the embedded pdf. Works pretty well, but was wondering about this attachment featu…

PDF is a container format and yoy can just shove files in there. pdftk supports this with attach_files, and at the very least the linux pdf readers I’ve used know how to deal with them.

TIL!

Since these pdfs end up in whatever and how old devices, I'd rather not risk it though.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#207

Post by Aerbil313 »

bla3 wrote: post #78
Alifatisk wrote: post #61

It's scary how such a widely used format (PDF) is almost in full control by Adobe. I have yet to see a true competitor to Adobe Acrobat. The only one that has come really close is the one that comes built-in for macOS. It's a hidden gem.

PDF had an open spec and oodles of programs supporting it. I don't understand where this comment is coming from.

I'd guess it's the fact that nothing supports editing PDFs except Adobe Acrobat. Not to any sufficient extent. LibreOffice Draw kinda try to do it but also corrupts the file IME.

Edit: Apparently some people can edit PDFs reliably with MacOS Preview.app, LibreOffice Draw or pdftk.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#208

Post by wolverine876 »

Aerbil313 wrote: post #207
bla3 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PDF had an open spec and oodles of programs supporting it. I don't understand where this comment is coming from.

I'd guess it's the fact that nothing supports editing PDFs except Adobe Acrobat. Not to any sufficient extent. LibreOffice Draw kinda try to do it but also corrupts the file IME. Edit: Apparently some people can edit PDFs reliably with MacOS Preview.app, LibreOffice Draw or pdftk.

Where are people getting this information? There are many applications that support edting PDFs, more than I can remember.

Re: Stirling-PDF: local web application to perform various operations on PDFs

#209

Post by wolverine876 »

hyperthesis wrote: post #111
Alifatisk wrote: post #61

It's scary how such a widely used format (PDF) is almost in full control by Adobe. I have yet to see a true competitor to Adobe Acrobat. The only one that has come really close is the one that comes built-in for macOS. It's a hidden gem.

Adobe is expert at software standards. They aren't compulsive about control, yet don't give the farm away. The know when to be open and how much. That is how they dominate.

Could you give an example? PDF is an open standard controlled by ISO and has been for awhile.
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