Msg: Re: PDF Links possible?

I've watched this thread with interest, but it looks like Brian's observation, or something similar, might be the best solution in the long run:

Use LaTex.

There are a few people who used to use XyWrite with LaTeX. It should not be an impossible task to create an XPL program that would translate XyWrite documents into LaTeX, especially if you begin to use XyWrite styles in a more "structured-document way" (probably not a bad thing in any event). You could always use a special mode, such as ≪MDBR≫ to identify hyperlinks. Or perhaps a custom-made printer file would work better...

Now that I think of it, ConTeXt might be a better choice than LaTeX (same basic approach, though, but a different variation of TeX).

Anyone out there using LaTeX with XyWrite? I used to, but I normally kept the LaTeX markup codes, using XyWrite only as an editor and home base for running LaTeX software.

Myron

On 24-Apr-07, at 1:01 AM, XYWRITE:: Xywrite Word Processor for Dos & Windows wrote:

XYWRITE Digest 2856

Topics covered in this issue include:

1) RE: PDF Links possible?
by mailto:Brian.Henderson@xxxxxxxxBrian.Henderson@xxxxxxxx

From: mailto:Brian.Henderson@xxxxxxxxBrian.Henderson@xxxxxxxx
Date: April 23, 2007 11:59:23 AM ADT
To: xywrite@xxxxxxxxxywrite@xxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: PDF Links possible?

Hi Patricia,

The technical answer to your question is...yes, there are ways to create
working PDF hyperlinks by embedding markup in the source document. I do
it all the time.

The bad news is, I use $70,000 software (XPP) to do it.

What I don't know (for a fact) is whether you can place markup in an
ordinary text file, run it through any ole converter, and have working
links in your PDF. I believe that it's not possible. I'm pretty sure it
requires software that can embed markup properly into the intervening
Postscript.

Here's a sample of the XPP markup I would use to link to an external
file. These tags are specific to XPP but are very similar to PDFMark,
which is the name of the markup language used within Postscript files:

<:pdfs;2PAGE;1;/File (filename.txt)/Border [0 0 0]>Visible
Text<:pdfe;2PAGE>

A simple net search didn't turn up anything to lead me to believe you
can create links without specialized software.

It looks like LaTex will do it, though.

-Brian

-----Original Message----- From: Patricia M. Godfrey

Is there some way, in preparing a document for subsequent conversion
to PDF (using, of course, XY2PDF) to embed some code analogous to an
HTML XREF one, so that a file so referenced, if in the same directory
or on the same disk as the PDF, could be opened when the code is
clicked on? For example, say FAMHIST.txt (and then famhist.pdf) says,
"here is a picture of our grandfather..." could one then have
grvater.tif somehow set up so that clicking on that would cause
Windows or the Mac to open the file with the associated .tif viewer? I
could, of course, convert the whole thing to HTML, but I'd rather not,
esp. as there are going to be a lot of odd accents. (In fact, I'm
thinking I may have to bite the bullet and try ANSIFIED xy.)
--
Patricia M. Godfrey
mailto:PriscaMG@xxxxxxxxPriscaMG@xxxxxxxx