Programmatically changing Adobe Pdf Print Properties

[Bash_on_deja]

Greetings,

I have search all over to find an answer to this problem. I am driving
MS Powerpoint with VB6 and also with Perl using Win32::OLE

My program automatically builds powerpoint presentations dependent upon
a number of criteria in my database. Of course not everyone uses the
same paper size (we use A4 in Europe, and they use Letter in North
America). The best way it seems to create undistorted Pdfs using
"Adobe PDF" - the default printer on my system, is to change the paper
size on Acrobat and let it work out the conversion. If I give this job
to Microsoft Powerpoint - well it makes a complete mess of the
translation

This means I can stick to a custom slide size which works on the screen
and have Acrobat print to either A4 and Letter depending on my needs.

Unfortunately there does not appear to be an easy way of talking to the
"Adobe PDF" print driver so that I can change the paper size, using
some kind of automation. I imagine this is an adobe specific thing
which is why I have posted to the SDKuser group.

I have a module in perl (Win32::Printer) which can change this, but it
works outside of Powerpoint so not much use.

Has anyone worked out to do this - I would love to hear from you.

All help appreciated
Steve Bicknell.

[Bash_on_deja]

Having thought about this some more what I really need is a utility to
alter the paper size. Lets call it "setpapersize"

You would run it from the command line

setpapersize "Adobe PDF" A4 or setpapersize "Adobe PDF" Letter

My question is therefore, is this something which can be built using
the Adobe SDK, or would I have to go directly for the Windows API to do
this ?

Kind regards
Steve Bicknell.


Bash_on_deja wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> I have search all over to find an answer to this problem. I am driving
> MS Powerpoint with VB6 and also with Perl using Win32::OLE
>
> My program automatically builds powerpoint presentations dependent upon
> a number of criteria in my database. Of course not everyone uses the
> same paper size (we use A4 in Europe, and they use Letter in North
> America). The best way it seems to create undistorted Pdfs using
> "Adobe PDF" - the default printer on my system, is to change the paper
> size on Acrobat and let it work out the conversion. If I give this job
> to Microsoft Powerpoint - well it makes a complete mess of the
> translation
>
> This means I can stick to a custom slide size which works on the screen
> and have Acrobat print to either A4 and Letter depending on my needs.
>
> Unfortunately there does not appear to be an easy way of talking to the
> "Adobe PDF" print driver so that I can change the paper size, using
> some kind of automation. I imagine this is an adobe specific thing
> which is why I have posted to the SDKuser group.
>
> I have a module in perl (Win32::Printer) which can change this, but it
> works outside of Powerpoint so not much use.
>
> Has anyone worked out to do this - I would love to hear from you.
>
> All help appreciated
> Steve Bicknell.