The input to gropdf must be in the format output by
troff(1). This is described in groff_out(5).
In addition, the device and font description files for the device
used must meet certain requirements: The resolution must be an integer
multiple of 72 times the sizescale. The pdf device uses
a resolution of 72000 and a sizescale of 1000.
The device description file must contain a valid paper size; see
groff_font(5) for more information. gropdf uses the same
Type 1 Adobe PostScript fonts as the grops device driver.
Although the PDF Standard allows the use of other font types (like TrueType)
this implementation only accepts the Type 1 PostScript font. Fewer
Type 1 fonts are supported natively in PDF documents than the
standard 35 fonts supported by grops and all PostScript printers, but
all the fonts are available since any which aren't supported natively are
automatically embedded in the PDF.
gropdf supports the concept of foundries, that is different
versions of basically the same font. During install a Foundry file
controls where fonts are found and builds groff fonts from the files
it discovers on your system.
Each font description file must contain a command
- internalname psname
which says that the PostScript name of the font is psname.
Lines starting with # and blank lines are ignored. The code for each
character given in the font file must correspond to the code in the default
encoding for the font. This code can be used with the \N escape
sequence in troff to select the character, even if the character does
not have a groff name. Every character in the font file must exist in the
PostScript font, and the widths given in the font file must match the widths
used in the PostScript font.
Note that gropdf is currently only able to display the
first 256 glyphs in any font. This restriction will be lifted in a later
version.
gropdf can automatically include the downloadable fonts
necessary to print the document. Fonts may be in PFA or PFB format.
Any downloadable fonts which should, when required, be included by
gropdf must be listed in the file
/usr/share/groff/1.22.4/font/devpdf/download; this should consist of
lines of the form
- foundry font filename
where foundry is the foundry name or blank for the default
foundry. font is the PostScript name of the font, and filename
is the name of the file containing the font; lines beginning with #
and blank lines are ignored; fields must be separated by tabs (spaces are
not allowed); filename is searched for using the same
mechanism that is used for groff font metric files. The download file
itself is also searched for using this mechanism; currently, only the first
found file in the font path is used. Foundry names are usually a single
character (such as ‘U’ for the URW Foundry) or blank for the
default foundry. This default uses the same fonts as ghostscript uses
when it embeds fonts in a PDF file.
In the default setup there are styles called R, I,
B, and BI mounted at font positions 1 to 4. The fonts
are grouped into families A, BM, C, H,
HN, N, P, and T having members in each of
these styles:
- AR
- AvantGarde-Book
- AI
- AvantGarde-BookOblique
- AB
- AvantGarde-Demi
- ABI
- AvantGarde-DemiOblique
- BMR
- Bookman-Light
- BMI
- Bookman-LightItalic
- BMB
- Bookman-Demi
- BMBI
- Bookman-DemiItalic
- CR
- Courier
- CI
- Courier-Oblique
- CB
- Courier-Bold
- CBI
- Courier-BoldOblique
- HR
- Helvetica
- HI
- Helvetica-Oblique
- HB
- Helvetica-Bold
- HBI
- Helvetica-BoldOblique
- HNR
- Helvetica-Narrow
- HNI
- Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique
- HNB
- Helvetica-Narrow-Bold
- HNBI
- Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique
- NR
- NewCenturySchlbk-Roman
- NI
- NewCenturySchlbk-Italic
- NB
- NewCenturySchlbk-Bold
- NBI
- NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic
- PR
- Palatino-Roman
- PI
- Palatino-Italic
- PB
- Palatino-Bold
- PBI
- Palatino-BoldItalic
- TR
- Times-Roman
- TI
- Times-Italic
- TB
- Times-Bold
- TBI
- Times-BoldItalic
There is also the following font which is not a member of a
family:
- ZCMI
- ZapfChancery-MediumItalic
There are also some special fonts called S for the PS
Symbol font. The lower case greek characters are automatically slanted (to
match the SymbolSlanted font (SS) available to PostScript). Zapf Dingbats is
available as ZD, the "hand pointing left" glyph (\[lh]) is
available since it has been defined using the \X'pdf: xrev' extension which
reverses the direction of letters within words.
The default color for \m and \M is black.
gropdf understands some of the X commands produced
using the \X escape sequences supported by grops.
Specifically, the following is supported.
- \X'ps: invis'
- Suppress output.
- \X'ps: endinvis'
- Stop suppressing output.
- \X'ps: exec gsave currentpoint 2 copy translate n rotate neg
exch neg exch translate'
- where n is the angle of rotation. This is to support the
align command in gpic.
- \X'ps: exec grestore'
- Again used by gpic to restore after rotation.
- \X'ps: exec n setlinejoin'
- where n can be one of the following values.
- 0 = Miter join
1 = Round join
2 = Bevel join
- \X'ps: exec n setlinecap'
- where n can be one of the following values.
- 0 = Butt cap
1 = Round cap, and
2 = Projecting square cap
- \X'ps: ... pdfmark'
- All the pdfmark macros installed by using -m pdfmark or
-m mspdf (see documentation in pdfmark.pdf). A subset of
these macros are installed automatically when you use -Tpdf so you
should not need to use ‘-m pdfmark’ for using most of the
PDF functionality.
gropdf also supports a subset of the commands introduced in
present.tmac. Specifically it supports:-
- PAUSE
BLOCKS
BLOCKE
Which allows you to create presentation type PDFs. Many of the
other commands are already available in other macro packages.
These commands are implemented with groff X commands:-
- \X'ps: exec %%%%PAUSE
- The section before this is treated as a block and is introduced using the
current BLOCK transition setting (see ‘pdf: transition’
below). This command can be introduced using the macro
.pdfpause.
- \X'ps: exec %%%%BEGINONCE
- Any text following this command (up to %%%%ENDONCE) is shown only once,
the next %%%%PAUSE will remove it. If producing a non presentation pdf,
i.e. ignoring the pauses, see GROPDF_NOSLIDE below, this text is
ignored.
- \X'ps: exec %%%%ENDONCE
- This terminates the block defined by %%%%BEGINONCE. This pair of commands
is what implements the .BLOCKS Once/.BLOCKE commands in present.tmac.
The mom macro set already has integration with these
extensions so you can build slides with mom.
If you use present.tmac with gropdf there is no need to run
the program presentps(1) since the output will already be a
presentation pdf.
All other ps: tags are silently ignored.
One \X special used by the DVI driver is also
recognised:
- \X'papersize=paper-size'
- where the paper-size parameter is the same as the papersize
command. See groff_font(5) for details. This means that you can
alter the page size at will within the PDF file being created by
gropdf. If you do want to change the paper size, it must be done
before you start creating the page.
In addition, gropdf supports its own suite of pdf:
tags. The following tags are supported:
- \X'pdf: pdfpic file alignment width height
line-length'
- Place an image of the specified width containing the PDF drawing
from file file of desired width and height (if
height is missing or zero then it is scaled proportionally). If
alignment is -L the drawing is left aligned. If it is
-C or -R a linelength greater than the width of the
drawing is required as well. If width is specified as zero then the
width is scaled in proportion to the height.
- \X'pdf: xrev'
- This toggles a flag which reverses the direction of printing letter by
letter, i.e., each separate letter is reversed, not the entire word.
This is useful for reversing the direction of glyphs in the Dingbats font.
To return to normal printing repeat the command again.
- \X'pdf: markstart /ANN definition'
- The macros which support PDF Bookmarks use this call internally to start
the definition of bookmark hotspot (user will have called
‘.pdfhref L’ with the text which will become the
‘hot spot’ region). Normally this is never used except from
within the pdfmark macros.
- \X'pdf: markend'
- The macros which support PDF Bookmarks use this call internally to stop
the definition of bookmark hotspot (user will have called
‘.pdfhref L’ with the text which will become the
‘hot spot’ region). Normally this is never used except from
within the pdfmark macros.
- \X'pdf: marksuspend'
- \X'pdf: markrestart'
- If you are using page traps to produce headings, footings, etc., you need
to use these in case a ‘hot spot’ crosses a page boundary,
otherwise any text output by the heading or footing macro will be marked
as part of the ‘hot spot’. To stop this happening just place
‘.pdfmarksuspend’ and ‘.pdfmarkrestart’ at the
start and end of the page trap macro, respectively. (These are just
convenience macros which emit the \X code. These macros must only be used
within page traps.)
- \X'pdf: transition'feature mode duration dimension motion direction
scale bool
- where
- feature can be either SLIDE or BLOCK. When it is SLIDE the
transition is used when a new slide is introduced to the screen, if BLOCK
then this transition is used for the individual blocks which make up the
slide.
mode is the transition type between slides:-
- Split - Two lines sweep across the screen, revealing the new page.
The lines may be either horizontal or vertical and may move inward from
the edges of the page or outward from the center, as specified by the
dimension and motion entries, respectively.
Blinds - Multiple lines, evenly spaced across the screen,
synchronously sweep in the same direction to reveal the new page. The
lines may be either horizontal or vertical, as specified by the
dimension
entry. Horizontal lines move downward; vertical lines move to the right.
Box - A rectangular box sweeps inward from the edges of the page or
outward from the center, as specified by the motion entry,
revealing the new page.
Wipe - A single line sweeps across the screen from one edge to the
other in the direction specified by the direction entry, revealing
the new page.
Dissolve - The old page dissolves gradually to reveal the new one.
Glitter - Similar to Dissolve, except that the effect sweeps across
the page in a wide band moving from one side of the screen to the other in
the direction specified by the direction entry.
R - The new page simply replaces the old one with no special
transition effect; the direction entry shall be ignored.
Fly - (PDF 1.5) Changes are flown out or in (as specified by
motion), in the direction specified by direction, to or from
a location that is offscreen except when direction is None.
Push - (PDF 1.5) The old page slides off the screen while the new
page slides in, pushing the old page out in the direction specified by
direction.
Cover - (PDF 1.5) The new page slides on to the screen in the
direction specified by direction, covering the old page.
Uncover - (PDF 1.5) The old page slides off the screen in the
direction specified by direction, uncovering the new page in the
direction specified by direction.
Fade - (PDF 1.5) The new page gradually becomes visible through the
old one.
- duration is the length of the transition in seconds (default
1).
- dimension (Optional; Split and Blinds transition
styles only) The dimension in which the specified transition effect shall
occur: H Horizontal, or V Vertical.
- motion (Optional; Split, Box and Fly
transition styles only) The direction of motion for the specified
transition effect: I Inward from the edges of the page, or O
Outward from the center of the page.
- direction (Optional; Wipe, Glitter, Fly,
Cover, Uncover and Push transition styles only) The
direction in which the specified transition effect shall moves, expressed
in degrees counterclockwise starting from a left-to-right direction. If
the value is a number, it shall be one of: 0 = Left to right,
90 = Bottom to top (Wipe only), 180 = Right to left (Wipe
only), 270 = Top to bottom, 315 = Top-left to bottom-right
(Glitter only) The value can be None, which is relevant only for
the Fly transition when the value of scale is not 1.0.
- scale (Optional; PDF 1.5; Fly transition style only) The
starting or ending scale at which the changes shall be drawn. If
motion specifies an inward transition, the scale of the changes
drawn shall progress from scale to 1.0 over the course of the
transition. If motion specifies an outward transition, the scale of
the changes drawn shall progress from 1.0 to scale over the course
of the transition
- bool (Optional; PDF 1.5; Fly transition style only) If
true, the area that shall be flown in is rectangular and
opaque.
- This command can be used by calling the macro .pdftransition using
the parameters described above. Any of the parameters may be replaced with
a "." which signifies the parameter retains its previous value,
also any trailing missing parameters are ignored.
- Note: not all PDF Readers support any or all these
transitions.
gropdf only supports importing other PDF files as graphics.
But that PDF file may contain any of the graphic formats supported by the
PDF standard (such as JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc.). So any application which
outputs PDF can be used as an embedded file in gropdf. The PDF file
you wish to insert must be a single page and the drawing must just fit
inside the media size of the PDF file. So, in inkscape(1) or
gimp(1) (for example) make sure the canvas size just fits the
image.
The PDF parser used in gropdf has not been rigorously
tested with all possible applications which produce PDFs. If you find a
single page PDF which fails to import properly, it is worth running it
through the pdftk(1) program by issuing the command:
pdftk oldfile.pdf output
newfile.pdf
You may find that newfile.pdf will now load
successfully.
gropdf does not support any other fonts except Adobe Type 1
(PFA or PFB).