Adding a Barcode only on Odd Pages for Booklets

[acookster101]

I'm working on adding DataMatrix barcodes to PDFs for use with a Morgana 5050 booklet maker, which scans barcodes on each sheet to ensure correct order and set integrity. I'd like to use an Enfocus PitStop Pro Action List to automate this process. The challenge I'm facing is that the Morgana expects the barcode's Page Number and Page Count to reflect the physical sheets (the front sides the scanner reads), not the PDF page numbers. For example, a 12-page booklet printed duplex results in 6 physical sheets (since each sheet has two pages when folded). So the barcode should encode Page Numbers from 01 to 06 and a Page Count of 06, not the PDF's 12 pages.

I created an Action List that places the barcodes on Odd pages only, however now I need to adjust the barcode data in PitStop Pro to reflect the sheet numbers instead of the page numbers. However, I'm running into a roadblock: PitStop Pro's Action Lists don't seem to support variable calculations or scripting necessary to perform arithmetic operations (like dividing the page number by 2 and rounding up) to compute the sheet numbers dynamically. Is there a way in PitStop Pro to perform such calculations within an Action List, or any workaround to achieve this? I know that it can be done with Switch, however I'd like to avoid purchasing a costly software subscription for JUST this purpose when it seems like Pitstop is SO SO close to getting it right.


Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[yosimo]

Hi,

there is a similar post on this issue where a possible solution is offered, see here:
viewtopic.php?t=4498

I myself solve it directly in Adobe Acrobat with a little JavaScript.

[acookster101]

Hmm.. I see.

Unfortunately I will need more of a dynamic solution than simply adding static page numbers - as the barcodes applied will need to know each page number as well as the total page count of the PDF.

Pitstop can already do this dynamically as it pulls meta data from the file itself, but it's totally inflexible in that the data can't be manipulated in any way - i.e. - (%Page Number% +1) /2 - which would turn a PDF page number 07 into 04 which is what the barcode reader would be expecting.

What's frustrating is that its obviously able to do this to some extent when looking into the smart preflights that are preloaded into Pitstop - each is able to pull variables and then alter them with calculation or rule based edits - I can see that Smart Preflight Variable Set - v1.4 has 'Number of Pages' as a variable - however it does not have Page Number.

The only thing I can think of in my head is possibly splitting apart the PDF then applying the barcodes then remerging them, but I don't think Pitstop on it's own can do that in an automated way.

The other thing would be altering the metadata of the PDF itself in someway so that Pitstop could then just apply the altered metadata as it would normally...

Banging my head against a wall here. Perhaps I just need some feedback that this simply isn't possible.

[magnussandstrom]

It sounds like you've hit a limitation with Pitstop when it comes to handling dynamic metadata manipulation. I'd would suggest looking into Enfocus Switch with a metadata license. Switch integrates seamlessly with Pitstop Server, and with it, you would be able to achieve the kind of dynamic calculations you’re after, with ease.