Preflight automation

We're trying to automate preflighting of pdf files with a Visual Studio 10 app. We have the Acrobat API and javascript documentation, and we were able to get this far:
jso = inDoc.GetJSObject
jso.app.execMenuItem("CALS:Preflight")
This brings up the PreFlight Menu, but doesn’t execute it, and I can’t find a parameter or method that will execute the Preflight for the current profile. Does such a parameter or method exist?
This issue was discussed in 2009 at http://forums.adobe.com/thread/302201 but not answered.
We're also going to test how far we can go with the automated Actions in Acrobat X Pro, but some of the other tasks we are doing look like that won't get us there either. We're going to be running this as watching a hot folder, we need to pull out page counts from the files back to a database, and we may want to automatically combine files.

Have you read the information in the Acrobat 9.1 SDK about the detailed JavaScript APIs for Preflight? Along with sample code?

Similar Messages

Preflight Droplet/Acrobat Startup Automation Problems

Hello,
We're experiencing some problems regarding preflight droplets not being executed for some instances when the Acrobat XI application
(Acrobat Pro XI and Windows XP) is not yet opened before the preflight droplet is executed (Acrobat is started/opened due to the preflight droplet call but it doesn't execute the preflight droplet anymore).
If Acrobat is not yet opened and we executed the droplet, Acrobat opens and loads but the preflight action is not executed (we waited for a long time thinking Acrobat is still warming up but nothing really happens), we tried executing preflight droplet again (with the opened faulty Acrobat) and still does nothing. We needed to close Acrobat and reopen manually before we execute the preflight droplet for it to work again. Note that we are executing the preflight droplet using the commandline using our program (java) and not using drag and drop. Seems Acrobat is still initializing so it wasn't able to queue the preflight process... Note though that this does not happen all the time.
Can anyone from Adobe check if this is a known issue?
Currently, the only resolution is to manually open Acrobat and open the preflight window and let it initialize and close the preflight window again and leave acrobat open before executing executing the droplet (which is a bit troublesome if we want to automate opening Acrobat when server is restarted or just turned on)
Please advise if there is a fix for this? Or is there a way to initialize the preflight preferences on startup of Acrobat via commandline line or any other option.
we can try to execute a script/bat file to start up Acrobat + initialize its preflight preferences before executing our program (though we're not sure if initializing the preflight preferences can be automated on startup of Acrobat).
Thanks

Hello,
We're experiencing some problems regarding preflight droplets not being executed for some instances when the Acrobat XI application
(Acrobat Pro XI and Windows XP) is not yet opened before the preflight droplet is executed (Acrobat is started/opened due to the preflight droplet call but it doesn't execute the preflight droplet anymore).
If Acrobat is not yet opened and we executed the droplet, Acrobat opens and loads but the preflight action is not executed (we waited for a long time thinking Acrobat is still warming up but nothing really happens), we tried executing preflight droplet again (with the opened faulty Acrobat) and still does nothing. We needed to close Acrobat and reopen manually before we execute the preflight droplet for it to work again. Note that we are executing the preflight droplet using the commandline using our program (java) and not using drag and drop. Seems Acrobat is still initializing so it wasn't able to queue the preflight process... Note though that this does not happen all the time.
Can anyone from Adobe check if this is a known issue?
Currently, the only resolution is to manually open Acrobat and open the preflight window and let it initialize and close the preflight window again and leave acrobat open before executing executing the droplet (which is a bit troublesome if we want to automate opening Acrobat when server is restarted or just turned on)
Please advise if there is a fix for this? Or is there a way to initialize the preflight preferences on startup of Acrobat via commandline line or any other option.
we can try to execute a script/bat file to start up Acrobat + initialize its preflight preferences before executing our program (though we're not sure if initializing the preflight preferences can be automated on startup of Acrobat).
Thanks

Using automator as a preflighter

i've never really used automator - but can anyone tell me if it's possible to use it to check pdf files for any RGB elements and flag these? in other words use it as a very basic preflighter?
thanks very much.
james b (uk)

Hi James.
It doesn't really work like that, you need an Action that could check for embedded RGB;s as far as I know there isn't one written yet.
You will need something like Pitstop or Acrobat Pro, they handle pre-flight nicely, but cost a bit !
regards
Ric

Automated PDF to Grayscale Conversion

Hi,
I need to find a way of converting PDF files to Grayscale using an automated process.
I have adobe distiller and adobe acrobat 8 professional - but I cannot find a way to access via API or command line so that I can automate the process of batch converting PDF files from colour to grayscale.
I have found a system called pit stop that does whats required but its quite expensive so i am trying to find a cheaper alternative.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

You can't pass anything to Batch nor can you "ick it off" programmatically. if you need something like that, then you should look at the "Droplets" functionality of Preflight directly.
You will need to create a new Profile in Preflight with a single fixup that is "Convert colors to grayscale".
Leonard

Preflight droplet process returns too early – before it's done

I'm calling an Acrobat preflight DROPLET from program that I'm writing, and I need to know when the files are ready, that is when the preflight fixups are done.
I need to know this in order to go on with some other file system stuff in my program, that needs to be done after the preflight fixups.
I guess the droplet just tells Acrobat what to do, and then exits. The Droplet process stays up for a while but exits before the work is done.
There is an question from 2009 asking the exact same thing, but no answer. Preflight droplet returns too early
Since it's in a locked section of the forum I venture to ask the same question now, six years later.
Checking the modified dates of all files does not seem to work since a preflight obviously does not alter files that are not in need of being altered.
I'm on windows, and I don't know whether this is a platform dependent problem.
What should I do?
Thanks,
Andreas

This is not a good way to do it. But this is the way I do it now...
It seems to work but there is no guarantee that it will work in the future, or even on all machines.
private static int WaitForAcrobatReady() {
// Get the current Acrobat instance.
var app = new Acrobat.AcroApp();
// While a preflight (droplet) is running, app.GetNumAVDocs() will
// not return ANYTHING, it will just hang.
return app.GetNumAVDocs();
To sum up the efforts of the last weeks: Acrobat doesn't seem to be made for inclusion in other automation jobs. This is just another thing that doesn't work.
(I had to use the C# library PDFSharp to do other things that Acrobat can do really well only that it's not possible to set those properties, or start that kind of actions, from "outside".)

Preflight droplet returns too early

I want to convert a color PDF into grayscale. So I created a new preflight profile where nothing happens except color fixup:
Advanced > Print Production > Preflight
PDF Fixups > Convert to Grayscale
I saved the profile and created a Droplet named grey.exe.
When I call grey.exe smallSize_1MB.pdf everything is fine. But when I have to convert a PDF having big filesize like grey.exe bigSize_160MB.pdf the Droplet .exe process returns before the preflight is done.
Problems: A script (e.g. a batch file) continues without waiting for the Droplet to finish. So the script cannot make use the Droplet's result, e.g. a preflight report or the converted PDF file.
Why does the Droplet's .exe process return too early? Everybody can test this with the help of the attached Droplet and the following batch scripts:
smallSize.bat (use something small, e.g. 1 MB or smaller):
copy /Y smallSize.pdf tmp.pdf
grey.exe tmp.pdf
echo "return"
pause
bigSize.bat (use something really big, e.g. 160 MB or bigger):
copy /Y bigSize.pdf tmp.pdf
grey.exe tmp.pdf
echo "return"
pause
Ideas, anyone?
Message was edited by: Droptix I am using Adobe Acrobat 8.0 Professional.
Message was edited by: Droptix As an alternative I can imagine to re-produce the Droplet's function by Interapplication communication (IAC) through OLE, see http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/interapplication.html -> if anyone can tell me how to do a grayscale conversion via IAC/OLE... would be great! I know the IAC/OLE basics, can open, save and edit PDFs but don't know how to convert. It would also be possible to use: Advanced/Print Production/Convert Colors > set all Document Colors to convert > set Blending profile for instance to Gray Gamma 1.8 > set conversion options to don't embed profile.

This is not a good way to do it. But this is the way I do it now...
It seems to work but there is no guarantee that it will work in the future, or even on all machines.
private static int WaitForAcrobatReady() {
// Get the current Acrobat instance.
var app = new Acrobat.AcroApp();
// While a preflight (droplet) is running, app.GetNumAVDocs() will
// not return ANYTHING, it will just hang.
return app.GetNumAVDocs();
To sum up the efforts of the last weeks: Acrobat doesn't seem to be made for inclusion in other automation jobs. This is just another thing that doesn't work.
(I had to use the C# library PDFSharp to do other things that Acrobat can do really well only that it's not possible to set those properties, or start that kind of actions, from "outside".)

Applescript to drop pdf files onto preflight droplet

Hi, is it possible to write an Applescript to use in an Automator Folder Action which would push pdf files dropped into the folder to a preflight droplet?
Thanks,
Charlotte

well, maybe this isn't as obvious as I think it is, but you need to replace the word droplet with the actual name of the preflight droplet. And you either need to do it as an automator folder action or make it a normal folder action, using a folder action handler like below and storing the script in the proper folder actions folder:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
tell application "<droplet name>"
open these_items
end tell
end adding folder items to
That should work, but you haven't told me anything about the droplet itself. if the droplet won't handle even basic applescripting you may need to rephrase like so:
tell application "Finder"
open these_items using application "<droplet name>"
end tell

Unable to capture startup and shutdown event of Photoshop in automation Plugin.

Hi,
I am creating an automation plugin and I want to register some events. I have seen listener plugin sample to register event in startup and unregister event in shutdown. I have used same code in my plugin but I am unable to capture the startup nad shutdown event of Photoshop. On clicking the menu item of my plugin the calls come inside the AutoPluginMain but during the startup or shutdown of plugin, the calls does not come inside the AutoPluginMain.
I am unable to detect the cause of the problem. Can someone please giude me??
Thanks in advance.

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the suggestion.
Yes, I am working on Windows. As you suggested, I compiled .rc file but the compile option for .r file was disabled. After compiling the .rc file, I again rebuild the complete project and tested my build. But still I was not able to achive the desired result.
Any other thing that I need to do to make it work?
Thanks

How to resize and change the resolution of a batch of photos using Automator

I searched for a long time tonight looking for the answer to this (seemingly) simple question:
How do I use Automator to scale and change the resolution of a batch of images?
It was not so simple.
Links to this question:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12341246#12341246
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12342026#12342026
https://discussions.apple.com/message/5785047#5785047
https://discussions.apple.com/message/1173358#1173358
https://discussions.apple.com/message/5641853#5641853
https://discussions.apple.com/message/3207516#3207516
These are just the links on this site - I found them all over the place at MacRumors, Apple Tips, Mac Help, etc.
You can actually manage this in Automator.
Here are the steps that worked for me:
Create an Automator APPLICATION - not a workflow (this is due to the way that I'm batch converting images - workflows might be ok for some cases)
Step 1 is Copy Finder Items
My flow inserts an SD card, opens the DCIM folder that my Nikon creates, selecting the images that I click (command + click to multi-select) and once I have the photos highlighted, I drag them onto this Automator App we're creating.
<== You'll have this guy soon!
As a result - I want to copy the originals to my computer as step 1. I don't touch the originals on the SD card (and cards are cheap so I tend to leave them on the cards as well)
Step 2 is the Scale Images action - you can search the library for this and find it quickly. For my part, I found that scaling images to about 38.8 percent of their size on the SD card is good for uploading to a blog. Change this value to whatever you wish.
Step 3 is Run Shell Script - and here is where we marry the brilliance found at this link with our script.If you have a hard time reading the text in the image, it is as follows:
#bin/bash
for f in "$@"
do
/usr/bin/sips -s dpiHeight 72.0 -s dpiWidth 72.0 $f
done
Save this application (I named mine "Format Photos")
Place the application inside the target folder where you want the images to end up. I do this because when I have the SD card window open, I can also open my "Photos" window and see my App sitting there. I select my images as I mentioned and drag them on top of this app. The app copies the originals and the conversions into the folder.
NOTES: When you open a converted pic in Preview, you will see Resolution = 300 dpi if you go to Tools --> Adjust Size... This reading is explained by another brilliant discussion as sips only touches the JFIF properties inside the file's MetaData. However, if you look at the bottom of the Adjust Size... window, you'll see the image size is probably around 500 kb (give or take depending on the original). My goal was to get the images down from the 3.0 MB I shoot at to around 500 kb. Therefore even though the MetaData still thinks that it is 300 DPI according to Preview, it has been changed to 72 (open it in some other applications mentioned at the links and you'll find different readings - it all depends on what the application reads from the Meta).
This does not rename the files, so you'll get DSC_1000.jpg and DSC_1000 copy.jpg in all likelihood. If that annoys you, add a step into the Automator Application that renames the file after the "Run Shell Script" action has run, and you can have each file renamed according to some convention that you like.
This took a heck of a lot longer than I expected - so I decided to put in the effort to share this with the community and save others the hassle.

PPI is pixels per inch of the image. It is difficult to increase resolution as you are trying to add data that is not there.
But for printing purposes what you want is dpi or dots per inch.
The image processor either accessed from Bridge (tools/photoshp) or PS is a good way to change a batch of images.

A tree-view in HTML page with nodes generated with java script in run time is not visible in the UI Automation Tree. Need Help

I have a HTML page with an IFrame. Inside the Iframe there is a table with a tree view
<iframe>
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<treeview id="tv1"></treeview>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</iframe>
In UIA, i am able to traverse till the tree view but not able to see it.
I have used the TreeWalker.RawViewWalker Field to traverse the node from the desktop Automation.RootElement.
I tried to use AutomationElement.FromPoint method to check whether i am able to get that element. Fortunately i was able to get the automation element.
i tried to get the path to root element from the node element using the TreeWalker.RawViewWalker. I was able to get the parent path to the root element.
But trying the reverse way like navigating from root element to tree node, was not getting the element for me.
Please help me with suggestions or inputs to resolve this issue.

Thanks Bernard,
It works fine with JInitiator but not working with
the JPI. For JPI what settings I need to do ??hi TKARIM and Bernard, i am having similar problem even with the Bernard's recommended setup. could you post the webutiljini.htm (i presume you are using config=test) ?
i am actually using jinitiator 1.3.1.28 with Oracle HTTP Server of OAS 10gR2) calling Forms Server 6i (f60cgi). After setting up according to Bernard's recommended setup steps, the java console showed that it loaded the icon jar file when it could not read the form, but it skipped the loading of the icon jar file once it read and started the form. How do we specify in the form to pick up the icon from the jar file instead from a directory ? Or do we need to specify ? Any ideas ?
Thx and Regards
dkklau

Error while invoking a automated activity

Hello,
I don't know whether this is the correct quesiton to this forum but since I am getting error in NW BPM process, I am writing it here.
I have created a process which is getting triggered by WS call. The first step after start is automated activity where a call to SAP is made via a sync proxy.
When I tried to execute the entire BPM process, I am getting the error in BPM Logs as
"A technical error during invocation: Could not invoke service reference name
eb7cf84e-f05c-41c4-940a-8f95113179f3, component name
example.org~<DC Name>~BPMcomponent"
Actually 2 things I did as a part of correction, the first is to set the communicaiton protocol is XI in the service reference of an outbound service interface that is used to call SAP system and change the interface pattern of its inbound interface to XI3.0 compatible. as suggested by Udo Martens in one of his blog. Also the inbound interface in the start step is of XI3.0 compatible.
I re-deployed the project which I verified by going through NWA logs and also checked the configuration as given in blog. I have collaboration agreement done in PI where Sender is SOAP communication channel with XI protocol and it is as per the sender defined into the service reference.
Sending a message from SAP NetWeaver BPM process to PI fails via automated activity - Technology Troubleshooting Guide -…
Also I read one thread where it was resolved by clearing JCO caches but it seems the call was RFC call unlike in my case it is proxy call.
"Could not invoke service reference" for automated activity (RFC call)
Any clue what could have went wrong. I could see a cache issue here. But how to clear BPM cache.I couldn't find such option on NWA.
Thanks in advance.
Regards

Hi Ameet,
I'm facing same error,
Could you tell me how to apply the solution? Please.
Thanks in advantage,
Regards.

Error: Automation Error while creating a new app

Hello Experts,
Have installed FDM on one of our servers and trying to create a new application.
Getting the following Error:
Error: Automation Error. The System cannot find the file specified.
We are using Oracle OLE DB Provider.
Kindly Advise.
Edited by: user7313376 on Apr 16, 2009 12:23 PM

Check the path of the application and if its installed on server,pl check whether you have access to that path.
If not get full access.

How do I create an automator task to run TimeMachine at only certain hours?

Hi
In another forum it was suggested I make an Automator task for setting TimeMachine to only run at certain hours of the day.
I've not used Automator in the past.
I'd like to set it to run TimeMachine from only 1AM to 7 AM.
Can anyone point me to a good source to figure out how to do this? Or just share with me how to write the task?
Thanks

You might look at this program.
TimeMachineEditor - Time Software - Free

Checking for PDF 1.7 compatibility in Preflight (Acrobat 9 Pro)

Hi,
I've noticed that in the given Preflight profiles in Acrobat 9 there is no compatibility check for PDF 1.7, only 1.6. is there a profile i can load? or a set of checks i can make a profile in order to determine 1.7 compatibility?
Thanks,
Yair Agmon.

Hi,
Knowing a PDF file's version premits deduction of what version "compatibility" is present.
Version 1.7 (Acrobat 8.x) lacks compatibility for Acrobat 9.x specific features.
Version 1.6 (Acrobat 7.x) lacks compatibility for Acrobat 8.x specific features.
And so forth.
Certainly, not an elegantly simple approach; but, nevertheless it is functional.
Using Acrobat Professional/Extended 9.x -
Open the Preflight dialog.
Advanced > Preflight
From the Options drop-down menu, Select "New Preflight Profile".
The Prefight: Edit Profile dialog opens.
A default profile name is provided (New Profile <number>).
Initially, Click the Save button to save the profile. You can rename it later.
Note that "New Profile" is placed in "Custom
Now, locate your "New Profile" in the column at the left of the dialog and select
"Custom checks".
The available custom checks list loads in the pane to the right.
Above and to the right is a "Find" field.
Enter the string "version".
A filtered list appears.
A custom check is available for "versions newer than":
1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7
and there is a custom check for "version older than 1.3".
Add the desired custom check to the profile. Save.
Configure the check for Error | Warning | Info
Info is "Notification" in the report that can be provided.
Once you have configured "New Profile" it can be used by a Batch Sequence to check multiple files.
When a Preflight is selected for use by a Batch Sequence you can configure for a "on success" and/or "on error" report.
Be well...

Automated Tasks in Photoshop or using Adobe Bridge

I have recently transfered to CS3 and am having problems using the automated tasks. Normally with CS2 i would select pictures in bridge and then hit the Tools-Photoshop-Image Processor to switch over a series of files from one format to another. When I try to do the same thing with CS3 nothing happens, the photoshop screen comes up empty and i do not get the image processor message. I would appreciate any advice. thanks
R. Silveston
ps: I am using a pc

Try asking in the PS Elements forum.
http://forums.adobe.com/community/photoshop_elements

Preflight automation

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