Auto populating text fields. Text insert question. 2

[stevef22]

Hello and good day to everyone, glad to be a part of this forum! I am going to stick around this site, GREAT INFORMATION!

My question is how do I insert text faster? I am bulding a plaque. Booooring yes I know but necessary. Anyone know how to set up "pre-determined" text fields that populate from an internal or external text? Right now I have to >duplicate layer>drag layer to new spot>enter in new text. It would be really neat if PS could populate from a file like web-site populate pages from other text files. If anyone knows a faster way to enter in this text then your are the PS GURU. Thanks again.
Steve

 

[stevef22]

Just looked at my .PS in notepad. My dada is not there, some how it didnt transfer from the .pl to .ps. Im studying it somemore.

 

[duncdude]

I think it's the modulus 3 (%3) bit that gives the problem - i had the same trouble so i posted a fixed version later on - i should have made it more obvious

[b]#!/usr/bin/perl[/b]

$v = 25; # this is the top-most (start) position in centimetres
         # [ global change to inches can be effected by altering /cm declaration ]

  $typeface_big = 'Times-Bold';
$typeface_small = 'Helvetica';

open (PS_OUT, "> plaque_names.ps");

select PS_OUT;

chomp (@data = <DATA>);

print <<PREAMBLE;
%!PS

%---------- Procedures ----------

/cm {28.3464567 mul} def

%---------- Postscript ----------

<< /PageSize [21 cm 29.7 cm] >> setpagedevice

PREAMBLE

for ($i=0; $i<=$#data; $i++) {

  for ($x=1; $x<=4; $x++) {
    
     $name = shift @data;
    $store = shift @data;
     $date = shift @data;
       
    ($firstname, $surname) = split(/ /, $name);
      
    print $x * 4 . " cm " . $v . " cm moveto\n";
    print "/$typeface_big findfont 16 scalefont setfont\n";
    print "($firstname) dup stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 rmoveto show\n\n";
      
    print $x * 4 . " cm " . ($v - 0.75) . " cm moveto\n";
    print "/$typeface_big findfont 16 scalefont setfont\n";
    print "($surname) dup stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 rmoveto show\n\n";
      
    print $x * 4 - 1.5 . " cm " . ($v - 1.25) . " cm moveto\n";
    print "/$typeface_small findfont 8 scalefont setfont\n";
    print "($store) show\n\n";
      
  }
  
  print "\n\n";
  $v-=3;

}

print "showpage";

close PS_OUT;

[blue]__DATA__[/blue]

Kind Regards
Duncan

 

[stevef22]

Whats the difference between your code and Trojans code? Yours produces the right amout of text and Trojans goes up to 24. I like Trojans because it prints the text in proper format + it's easy to read. Whats the difference, whats making Trojans not produce more than 24? Please feel free to make it as obvious as possible. : )

Trojans Modified Code

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $v       = 25;   # Y starting position (counts down from here)
my $xfactor = -6;    # Panel spacing in x axis

open (PS_OUT, "> plaque_names.ps");

select PS_OUT;

chomp (my @data = <DATA>);
#my $fontname = "Helvetica";
my $fontname  = "Times";
my $largesize = 12;
my $smallsize = 10;
my $spacing   = 0.4;

print <<PREAMBLE;
%!PS-Adobe-9.0
%\%DocumentMedia: Default 842 1000 0 () ()
%\%Orientation: Landscape


%---------- Procedures ----------

/cm {28.3464567 mul} def

%---------- Postscript ----------


PREAMBLE

for (my $x=0; $x<=$#data; $x++) {
  if ($x % 3 == 0) {
    for (my $y=1; $y<=4; $y++) {
    
  my   $name = shift @data;
  my  $store = shift @data;
  my   $date = shift @data;
       
#      ($firstname, $surname) = split(/ /, $name);
      
      print $y * 4 . " cm " . $v . " cm moveto\n";
      print "/$fontname-Bold findfont $largesize scalefont setfont\n";
      print "($name) dup stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 rmoveto show\n";
      
      print $y * 4 . " cm " . ($v - $spacing) . " cm moveto\n";
      print "/$fontname-Bold findfont $smallsize scalefont setfont\n";
      print "($store) dup stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 rmoveto show\n";
      
      print $y * 4 . " cm " . ($v - $spacing*2) . " cm moveto\n";
      print "/$fontname findfont $smallsize scalefont setfont\n";
      print "($date) dup stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 rmoveto show\n";
      
    }
    print "\n";
    $v-=3;
  }
}
print "showpage\n";

close PS_OUT;

__DATA__

PS> Working with the fonts I've had nothing but trouble. 3hrs later and no luck with the list Trojan posted up for me. I really dont believe .PS likes different fonts. Ive tried, AvantGarde-Book NB, NewCenturySchlbk-Bold, Palatino-Bold , Times-Italic, Times-BoldItalic and no luck. Its like the .pl selected its own font. Even after substituting multiple variations. I am convinced Helvetica Times is the only font I can use.

 

[stevef22]

PS> I’m also leaning/reading up about PHP, I want to make my own website that presents random text boxes and always has fresh content. I thought you guys could appreciate this. What’s your take on PHP? Can you write data driven sites in .PL? I guess your server would just have to have Perl installed on it, correct?! OMG, I think im learning.

 

[TrojanWarBlade]

Yes,yes and yes.
PHP is great for websites. I use it for simple pages but for complex stuff I tend to prefer Perl.
The big advantage of PHP is that it's embedded in the html directly whereas perl has to generate the html.
PHP can be more readable as a consequence but perl can generate many pages from one script.


Trojan.

 

[TrojanWarBlade]

Try this then:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $v       = 25;   # Y starting position (counts down from here)
my $xfactor = -6;    # Panel spacing in x axis

open (PS_OUT, "> plaque_names.ps");

select PS_OUT;

chomp (my @data = <DATA>);
#my $fontname = "Helvetica";
my $fontname  = "Times";
my $largesize = 12;
my $smallsize = 10;
my $spacing   = 0.4;

print <<PREAMBLE;
%!PS-Adobe-9.0
%\%DocumentMedia: Default 842 1000 0 () ()
%\%Orientation: Landscape


%---------- Procedures ----------

/cm {28.3464567 mul} def

%---------- Postscript ----------


PREAMBLE

while(@data) {
    for (my $y=1; $y<=4; $y++) {
    
  my   $name = shift @data;
  my  $store = shift @data;
  my   $date = shift @data;
  last unless($date);
       
      print $y * 4 . " cm " . $v . " cm moveto\n";
      print "/$fontname-Bold findfont $largesize scalefont setfont\n";
      print "($name) dup stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 rmoveto show\n";
      
      print $y * 4 . " cm " . ($v - $spacing) . " cm moveto\n";
      print "/$fontname-Bold findfont $smallsize scalefont setfont\n";
      print "($store) dup stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 rmoveto show\n";
      
      print $y * 4 . " cm " . ($v - $spacing*2) . " cm moveto\n";
      print "/$fontname findfont $smallsize scalefont setfont\n";
      print "($date) dup stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 rmoveto show\n";
      
    }
    print "\n";
    $v-=3;
}
print "showpage\n";

close PS_OUT;

__DATA__

Trojan.

 

[stevef22]

Man, thats great to hear. There are so many PHP templates to use for sites. I found a pretty neat one...

http://www.wordpress.org

atleast I think thats a PHP template. Do you recomend any one there are so many.

 

[stevef22]

Holy moly~! It worked what did you change. The ___DATA___ doesn’t even have to be in 4 increments. Gee that’s great! Thank you very much.

 

[TrojanWarBlade]

I think you need to start a new thread for php questions.


Trojan.

 

[stevef22]

Oh, I see you changed,

for (my $x=0; $x<=$#data; $x++) {
  if ($x % 3 == 0) {
    for (my $y=1; $y<=4; $y++) {

to

while(@data) {
    for (my $y=1; $y<=4; $y++) {

 

[stevef22]

Cool, I started a thread in PHP. Thank you very much.