ID/Acrobat linking questions

[klgc]

I first posted this in the InDesign forum, but considering that the source of the PDFs need not be ID, I thought it might be just as appropriate here.

I have set up and verified a little test that works fine, but would like to better understand what is going on behind the scenes so as to avoid possible problems.

One of my ID books produces a PDF just shy of 2 gigs so, before any further work on the book, I am going to start producing separate PDFs for each document in the book.

My little test was creating three sepatare documents (A,B & C) of three pages each. I defined a destination for each page of each document, then defined multiple hyperlinks between the documents. I produced a PDF (via export) for each document, opened the first PDF and jumped back and forth between the three document PDFs to my hearts content.

Looking at the destinations in a PDF, I see the destination names I defined each prefixed with the ID document file name (but not a PDF file name). So how does the link find the right PDF to link to?

Now, I can readily see how all the links are correctly implemented in a single PDF for a whole book. What I am not sure of is how all the links were implemented correctly in three separate PDFs from three separate documents not being produced at the same time.

Why do I care? I know from over 40 years in computer sciences that it is what you don't know that causes the problems. It seems to work great, so I wonder how I can inadvertently screw it up.

Can anyone explain pertinent considerations in producing a colection of PDFs with multiple links throughout? For example, all the PDFs have to be present (duh), and (necessary or not) I will have them all in the same folder. That folder will be copied to a DVD with an Acrobat autorun opening the root PDF.

Using the latest software versions of ID, AA, XP Pro.

Any explanations, information resources, experiences, and so on will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Lee C

[kurtmel]

Hi Lee,
Thank you for your post. I too am having the same problem. I would love some more info on what you term the doc ID number, for I'm new to Acrobat and need to link together numerous PDF file within one CD. any further info you can provide about your technique that works would sure be appreciated.

Kurt M.

[klgc]

Not doc ID number, but rather the InDesign (ID) file name. I created the documents in InDesign and produced PDFs.

I do not know exactly what code InDesign genetares when the linkages are defined therein, but I assume it is very nearly what is generated when one defines a link in Acrobat with the link tool. The hyperlink destinations I define in InDesign, I can view in the resulting PDF with Acrobat. I just wonder how these linkages hold up once the little PDFs are out in the world on their own (i.e. without the originating references).

Beyond the linkages I maintain in the originating InDesign documents, I create additional interactivity in the PDFs (conditional/choice linkages, sound start/pause/stop buttons, ...) with a data base driven javascript batch sequence module I developed.

For example, Acrobat provides a Previous View button so the viewer can step back to some prior view/document. Rather than ask the viewer to step back through however many views though, I include a return button/link that returns the viewer to the previous document immediately. I use the following sample javascript actions for such.

// Going
//
global.originDoc = (/\w+\.pdf$/.exec(this.path))[0];
global.originPage = this.pageNum;
var toDocPath = "A1GCHART01.pdf";
var toDocDest = "A1GCHART01.indd:AnGChart02";
var newDoc = app.openDoc(toDocPath, this);
newDoc.gotoNamedDest(toDocDest);
this.closeDoc();
//
// Returning
//
var newDoc = app.openDoc(global.originDoc, this);
newDoc.pageNum = global.originPage;
this.closeDoc();

This also illustrates what I mentioned about the destination labels. The destination label in the above script is the label "AnGChart02" I defined in InDesign prefixed with the InDesign document file name "A1GCHART01.indd", which is what I found the resulting destination label to be in the produced PDF.

I've probably raised more questions in your mind than I have answered, so I will stop here. I see no problem with defining linkages directly in the PDFs with Acrobat, as long as the PDFs are maintained in the intended file system relationship. Study the Acrobat Help PDF and especially the Interactivity part. When the volume of such maintenance with the Acrobat UI (user interface) becomes too much, then maybe I and others can answer some of your questions about Batch Processing.

Regards,
Lee C

[klgc]

DO NOT assume that there are no problems with linking, just because no one has noted any in this thread. As you can see in the thread:

<http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?128@@.1de7902d>

there seems always to be another technical glitch to have to work around.

If one perceives any number of possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvents these, then yet another way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

Regards,
Lee C