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Paul Hethmon

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Jun 21, 1994, 9:42:12 AM6/21/94
to
When writing a DSC compliant document do the %%BoundingBox:
and %%PageBoundingBox: comments always refer to portrait
orientation?

I'm developing a DSC compliant application which produces documents
with mixed portrait/landscape pages. It seems that to be consistent I should
always specify the bounding boxes in portrait mode. Is this reasonable, or
at least, is this how it is done?

Of course the redbook doesn't dwell on such detail :-).

thanks for the help,

Paul Hethmon
Agricultural Policy Analysis Center
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville
het...@apac.ag.utk.edu
615-974-3666


Chris Anthes

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Jun 21, 1994, 5:04:30 PM6/21/94
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In article <1994Jun21.1...@martha.utcc.utk.edu> Paul Hethmon,

het...@apac.ag.utk.edu writes:
>When writing a DSC compliant document do the %%BoundingBox:
>and %%PageBoundingBox: comments always refer to portrait
>orientation?
>
>I'm developing a DSC compliant application which produces documents
>with mixed portrait/landscape pages. It seems that to be consistent I
should
>always specify the bounding boxes in portrait mode. Is this reasonable, or
>at least, is this how it is done?
>
>Of course the redbook doesn't dwell on such detail :-).

Well actually it does :-). The %%BoundingBox: and %%PageBoundingBox:
refer to the _default user coordinate system_ (*not* the _device
coordinate system_) and can be either portrait or landscape. The
%%Orientation: and %%PageOrientation: comments indicate the orientation of
each page.

Hope this helps.

***************************************************************************
* * *
* It's not the crime, * Chris Anthes (chr...@dsea.com) *
* It's not the thought, * --------------------------------------- *
* It's not the deed, * DAINIPPON SCREEN ENGINEERING OF AMERICA *
* * 3700 West Segerstrom Avenue *
* IT'S IF YOU GET CAUGHT!!! * Santa Ana, CA 92704 *
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***************************************************************************

Paul Hethmon

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Jun 22, 1994, 7:56:56 AM6/22/94
to
In message <1994Jun21.2...@dsea.com> - Chris Anthes <chr...@dsea.com> w
rites:

>In article <1994Jun21.1...@martha.utcc.utk.edu> Paul Hethmon,
>het...@apac.ag.utk.edu writes:
>>When writing a DSC compliant document do the %%BoundingBox:
>>and %%PageBoundingBox: comments always refer to portrait
>>orientation?
>>
>>I'm developing a DSC compliant application which produces documents
>>with mixed portrait/landscape pages. It seems that to be consistent I
>should
>>always specify the bounding boxes in portrait mode. Is this reasonable, or
>>at least, is this how it is done?
>>
>>Of course the redbook doesn't dwell on such detail :-).
>
>Well actually it does :-). The %%BoundingBox: and %%PageBoundingBox:
>refer to the _default user coordinate system_ (*not* the _device
>coordinate system_) and can be either portrait or landscape. The
>%%Orientation: and %%PageOrientation: comments indicate the orientation of
>each page.
>
>Hope this helps.

It did.

But another question (probably again to show my ignorance). If I have a
document with one page in portrait and one page in landscape, how does
one specify the %%BoundingBox? If the %%PageBoundingBox uses
the default user coordinate system then those numbers are relative to
the orientation of each page and can't be used together.

So for example: (with some stuff left out)

%%BoundingBox: (atend)
%%Page
%%PageOrientation: Portrait
%%PageBoundingBox: 0 0 612 612 % assuming us letter
(page stuff)
%%Page
%%PageOrientation: Landscape
%%PageBoundingBox: 180 180 792 792
(page stuff)
%%Trailer
%%Bounding Box: ???

Something like this doesn't cover the same area on the paper even
though the sizes are the same. To which orientation do you define
the %%BoundingBox? Can you put in a %%Orientation: Portrait even
though one page is landscape and then specify relative to portrait
mode for all pages?

Thanks for any help,

David Chappell

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Jun 22, 1994, 10:50:06 AM6/22/94
to
>>>When writing a DSC compliant document do the %%BoundingBox:
>>>and %%PageBoundingBox: comments always refer to portrait
>>>orientation?
>So for example: (with some stuff left out)

>%%BoundingBox: (atend)
>%%Page
>%%PageOrientation: Portrait
>%%PageBoundingBox: 0 0 612 612 % assuming us letter

%%PageBoundingBox: 50 72 590 770

David Chappell

unread,
Jun 22, 1994, 11:02:12 AM6/22/94
to
>>>When writing a DSC compliant document do the %%BoundingBox:
>>>and %%PageBoundingBox: comments always refer to portrait
>>>orientation?
>So for example: (with some stuff left out)

>%%BoundingBox: (atend)
>%%Page
>%%PageOrientation: Portrait
>%%PageBoundingBox: 0 0 612 612 % assuming us letter
>(page stuff)
>%%Page
>%%PageOrientation: Landscape
>%%PageBoundingBox: 180 180 792 792
>(page stuff)
>%%Trailer
>%%Bounding Box: ???

>Something like this doesn't cover the same area on the paper even
>though the sizes are the same. To which orientation do you define
>the %%BoundingBox? Can you put in a %%Orientation: Portrait even
>though one page is landscape and then specify relative to portrait
>mode for all pages?

>Thanks for any help,

Look at the illustration on page 641 of the Red Book. The %%BoundingBox:
comment is concerned with the location of the _marks_ on the page. If you
rotate the coordinate system in order to put the letters sideways, this is
only for your convenience and does not influence how you describe the bounds
of these marks. The text says that the coordinates are in terms of the
default user coordinate system. That means 1/72ths of an inch, the system in
effect before rotate, scale, and translate.

This means that a "%%PageBoundingBox:" statement for a landscape page might be
identical to the statement for a portrait page whose marks covered a similar
physical area of the paper; for instance, if both had the 1 inch margins all
around, both bounding boxes would be "72 72 540 720".

Rembember that the parameters to "%%BoundingBox:" must be integers. It should
be possible to make the bounding box a clipping path without suppressing any
of the marks.


Angus Duggan

unread,
Jun 23, 1994, 8:30:21 PM6/23/94
to

>When writing a DSC compliant document do the %%BoundingBox:
>and %%PageBoundingBox: comments always refer to portrait
>orientation?

Depends what you mean by "portrait" :-) My interpretation is that the bounding
boxes refer to the size of the image on the page, in the default coordinate
system. So if I take a page 11" wide and 8.5" high, shift it right 8.5" and
rotate it 90 degrees, the same area on the page will be marked as a normal US
letter page, and therefore the bounding box will be the same. If I didn't
rotate or shift the page, and mixed it with 8.5" wide by 11" high pages, I
would expect the PageBoundingBoxes to be different for the portrait and
landscape pages, and the overall BoundingBox to be 11" by 11".

a.
--
Angus Duggan, Harlequin Ltd., Barrington Hall | PSUtils is available from
Barrington, Cambridge CB2 5RG, U.K. | ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk in pub/ajcd.
INET: an...@harlequin.co.uk | selects, n-up, booklet & more

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