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How do I write raw pdf to produce transparent hyperlinks?

Forum Index > PDF Creation > How do I write raw pdf to produce transparent hyperlinks?
2008-08-11 16:33:13
rsriedel
Registered: Aug 11 2008
Posts: 7
Answered

I am a CAD engineer and have written a utility from within a CAD environment (Cadence) to automatically produce a pdf file based on a design hierarchy. It includes hyperlinks to all of our design blocks based on what is contained on the current block. Since we don't have acrobat for linux, I do it the hard way by composing files on the fly and then pushing it all through ps2pdf:

[/Rect [llx lly urx ury] /Border [0 0 1 [3]] /SrcPg 6 /Color [1 0 0] /Dest [33 /Fit] /Subtype /Link /ANN pdfmark

However, the red [1 0 0] boxes around the design blocks is somewhat intrusive. How can I make the hyperlinks transparent and highlight only when the cursor is over a hyperlink?

Another cool feature would be to have text or a balloon appear over the link to tell us where the link takes us.

Any ideas? Remember, acrobat is not an option, only free linux utilities.

Rick

My Product Information:
Reader 8.1.2, Unix/Linux
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2008-08-26 13:43:32
#1
rsriedel
Registered: Aug 11 2008
Posts: 7
Lori DeFurio and her team helped with a partial solution to my problem. I have had to use 2 lines of pdfMark to create the hypertext link with a border and note inside. The following line creates a link on page 5 with a red border with page 1 as the destination:

[/Rect [310 1 360 12] /SrcPg 5 /Border [0 0 1] /Color [1 0 0] ) /Dest [1 /Fit] /Subtype /Link /ANN pdfmark

I had tried using the /Contents and /DA commands on the same line as the previous line, but the contents never displayed. As a result, I had to add the following line simply to give me a label.

[/Rect [310 1 360 12] /SrcPg 5 /Contents ( TOP) /Border [0 0 0] /Color [0 0 0] /F 4 /DA(/Helv 10 Tf 1 0 0 rg) /Subtype /FreeText /ANN pdfmark

The /DA command lets you specify the font name, font size and rgb description of the contents color.

Unfortunately, the /Dest /Prev or /Page /Prev command does not work to return to the previous view. Still looking for a solution ....
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2008-08-26 13:45:04
#2
rsriedel
Registered: Aug 11 2008
Posts: 7
I forgot to mention that an invisible link requires the /Border specification of [0 0 0].
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2008-08-26 15:33:25
#3
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4308
According to the PDFMark Reference Manual, you will need to create an Action for the JavaScript and this will require additional coding in the PS to include one or more dictionary references to establish the JavaScript code.

George Kaiser

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2008-09-11 13:58:36
#4
rsriedel
Registered: Aug 11 2008
Posts: 7
Actually, the pdfmark manual did not actually specify that additional code be generated to create the correct action. Far from it.

The problem was that I was using gs or ps2pdf (freeware) to create pdf from ps/ pdfmark files. The constructs /Dest, /Page and /Prev are not supported and are therefore ignored. Of course, this results in the creation of a hyperlink that doesn't work.

My bad. The moral of the story is to use Adobe products if you really want to use all of the supported features of pdfMark. I am trying to get the company to buy distiller for linux now. Wish me luck.

Rick
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