Warning
	Note: this chapter covers the new user interface of Style Editor Gold, the mode of SEG we call Visual Style Editor. For the documentation on the old user interface, go to "Create Style File, Old User Interface".

At this point, if you have followed the "Gathering Specifications" instructions closely, you should have most – if not everything – you will need to begin creating your Style. PageDNA has simplified the Style-building task by providing a web-based tool called Style Editor Gold – or "SEG" for short – that lets you edit Style files in an organized fashion. SEG is the tool to get to know to create, test and deploy Style files quickly and efficiently.

We have upgraded SEG in many ways to make it a lot easier to use. We added a new mode to SEG, called "Visual Style Editor." This new user interface, "UI" for short, mostly uses forms to enter your data for a Style. But the old UI is still supported. In this section we explain the most important aspects of "SEG in Transition", while the rest of this chapter will focus on the new VSE UI.

Important: If you have converted a Style to use the Visual Style Editor, let's call it "VSE", clicking "Revert" will get you the unconverted Style back, as long a you did not click the "Save" button.

	Warning
	This version of the VSE still has the following open issues we know off: Off-page blocks get rendered as tiny text.

To edit an existing Style that was using the old SEG UI, you need to convert this Style so you can use the new VSE. Converting a Style is easy, just click the "Convert" button at the right (last button under the "Help" button) and your Style will start using the VSE. The "Convert" button is only visible after you have selected a Style and clicked the "Edit Style" button. Note: it is possible that a Style fails to convert, usually due to advanced logic, more on that in a later paragraph. When you have saved a Style that is converted SEG will use the new VSE automatically and you will not see a "Convert" button.

The Styles produced by EGG (discussed in a later section) can be converted automatically by making sure the "Enable Visual Style Editor?" check box is checked. This check box is on the EPS Egg Upload screen and also on style chooser step in the Item Wizard.

It is not always possible to use the VSE. If you have (or plan to create) an advanced Style then currently your only option is to not convert your style. Creating a Style in the old SEG UI requires programming, and this programming is accomplished using a programming language called Python that is easy to learn. For more complex Styles you can access the full power of Python, including conditions and loops. Existing Styles that have advanced code can often not be converted to use the VSE. Whether you will be able to add this code to your Style after conversion depends on what kind of logic you need. VSE has two tabs you can enable, the "Preblocks" and the "Postblocks" tab. These tabs work much the same as the "Blocks" tab in the old SEG UI Although this gives you a lot of the power of SEG, it is unlikely that the VSE and the old SEG UI will become completely equivalent with regards to support for advanced coding. The focus of the VSE is to make editing of the most common Styles a lot easier, not to support every feature of the VIPER typesetting engine.

On a more technical note, the representation of your Style is still a file, regardless of old SEG UI or VSE. However the representation of the Style is rather different: the old Styles essentially contain Python code, whereas the new Styles contain Python objects.

Note: if you want more information on Python, a great resource is the online Python documentation at:

http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.3/

The following link – taken from the tutorial above – is to an informal introduction to Python.

http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.3/tut/node5.html

SEG is accessed through the Site Menu. After logging into the Production Hub, visit your "Sites List" to choose an existing site you wish to work on. Alternatively, you can create a new site exclusively for the purposes of learning to build Styles or for a new client.

Within the Menu for your site, you should see a link for "Style Editor Gold" under the "Site Content" section of the menu listing. If you do not see this option, contact PageDNA and we will quickly set you up with access to SEG. Click the "Style Editor Gold" link to open the application.

When it comes to creating a new Style you have two choices, as depicted in the next figure:

Figure 5.1. Create a new style

The rest of this section focuses on EGG. To try EGG, first prepare an EPS file with a bounding box matching the product dimensions of your product. For example, a business card would normally be 3.5 x 2 inches - your bounding box needs to have these exact same dimensions for EGG to be able to figure out your product. Creating a bounding box is as simple as making your document size the same as the product size and adding a box with no stroke or fill that matches the document size.

For some example artwork prepared to proper specifications, see the Training Files Repository at http://www.PageDNA.com/files/

Although your artwork files may be in a variety of source formats (InDesign, Illustrator, etc) our system strongly prefers to 'digest' EPS files generated by Illustrator. Therefore, if your native file is not yet in Adobe Illustrator EPS format, first save an EPS file out of the current application, then open that EPS file in Illustrator and re-save as EPS following our instructions below.

If you have pre-printed 'shells' that will later be imprinted with this artwork, you may include this in the "EGG" file, but be sure to convert any text in this layer to paths/outlines, leaving variable imprint information as editable text objects.

Now editing in Illustrator, your first and make sure the bounding box represents the exact size you want to get transparent (no stroke, no fill). Save this file in EPS format with no thumbnail and include any fonts.

For detailed instructions on artwork preparation see our EGG Artwork Preparation Guide (link below) - these instructions cover saving an "EGG-ready" file from versions of Illustrator up to version CS 2.

http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/docs/html/SpecificationForms/artwork-prep.html

Now that you have your EPS file saved out, open Style Editor Gold and click "Create New Style From EPS" link in the "Style Window that pops up when you open Style Editor Gold for the first time. The same pop up window is available when you click the "Select Style..." button on the right.

A form will open, titled " EPS Egg Upload", giving you the ability to "Browse" your hard drive and locate your EPS file. In the "Style Name" field, make sure to name the product something unique, ending in the extension '.sty'. Ideally, you have already created the item in the 'Item List', and you will name your style file to match the 'tag' for that particular product. For example, if you business card has the tag 'bc', name your style 'bc.sty'.

When you want to create a style for the VSE, make sure the check box in front of "Convert Style?" is checked. After you "Submit" your EPS file, EGG will try its best to reverse engineer the style from the file you've submitted. If an error occurs (e.g., Fonts not loaded), you may simply click your browser's "Back" button and try again after making changes such as loading any fonts our system is missing. Note that if you want to process the same EPS file again, there is no need to upload that file again, it is already on the server. To re-process this file, click the "Show Advanced Options" link, then you can select the already uploaded EPS file from the select list. Usually it is the one at the top of the list. Leave the "Browse" field empty but fill out the "Style Name" field. See figure below:

Figure 5.3. Re-process an already uploaded EPS file

EGG will 'guess' on a block's positioning (i.e., left justified, growing from the bottom up). If EGG has guessed wrong (which happens), the Block Editor ( blocks tab ) gives you a chance to change this with a visual display of the blocks and their alignment ( anchor points ).

Although there is usually a bit of cleanup to perform with EGG - i.e., standardizing fonts, adding field names into the style that were missed by egg, etc - EGG is highly recommended as it saves you a TON of work in creating your style file.

	Tip
	Make sure that you do not have custom kerning (spacing between letters) defined in your style. EGG will look at each different font usage and define a new font... this makes cleaning up the style later more complicated.

Tip

EGG automatically looks for patterns such as name, title, phones, emails and so forth and then converts them to the proper variable names in our system. If you don't want our system to have to 'guess' variables you can simply pre-populate the fields in your EPS file using the PageDNA variable name surrounded by brackets, e.g.,: [card_title1] ...would be recognized as the title line one for this product. Variable names are shown in green text in the "Personal Page" section of "Web Page Templates" if you need to learn the variable name for a particular field.

New PageDNA sites by default include three default Styles, bc.sty (Business Card), env.sty (Envelope), and lh.sty (Letterhead). These templates are pre-populated with information that should help you jump-start Style building – in particular for the business card. It is recommended that you start with one of these templates or use EGG as above to get a style started. Assuming you have opened "Style Editor Gold" (from the menu at the left), click the "Select Style..." button at the column of buttons at the right. This will open a dialog box with a drop down list with the available styles. Note that this pop up window also has a button "Manage Styles...", we will describe that later, at the end of this section.

Figure 5.4. Select style window

Now select "bc.sty" from the list at the top of the screen and click "Edit Style" to open the Style. You will be presented with the opening screen, shown in Figure 2 below:

Figure 5.5. Style Editor Gold Opening Screen for unconverted style.

Notice the gray "tabs" running along the top of the gold area of the screen. Clicking one of these tabs opens one section of the Style file for editing. We will be focusing our attention on only a few of these tabs, but following is an overview of all of the possible tabs for your reference. Explore these tabs by clicking on each individual tab as you read the description below. At this time, do not make any changes to the information found within each tab you explore.

As already noted, SEG has two ways of editing a Style, the VSE, which allows for easier editing by mostly using forms and the old UI, which has text areas in which you edit code. In general you will see the VSE when your style is converted for using the VSE, and the old UI when your style is not converted. But we mention that here again because on some tabs you will have a choice of which UI to use. The images below depict the VSE.

The buttons to the right of the editing area allow you to Save and Test your Style.

In general, keep in mind that you only need to click the "Save" button when you are ready to publish your changes to your ordering site. Up until you click "Save", everything is saved in a working copy or cache – a temporary holding zone where you are free to experiment. Clicking between tabs automatically saves the changes you’ve made to the cache. If you do not click "Save" when finished editing, your changes will be in the working copy. When you then reopen the style for editing the working copy will be loaded if this working copy is changed compared to your live style (production copy). A message will inform you of that. With an option to abandon the changes and go back to the live style.

The "Save" has button has a "unsaved changes" indicator as (changes compared to the live style) depicted below:

Figure 5.12. Save button indicator – unsaved changes

The "no changes" state of the "Save" button indicator:

Figure 5.13. Save button indicator – no changes

Remember that we talked about the button "Manage Styles..." button in the beginning of this section? The button in the pop up window that appears when you click "Select Style..." opens a new pop up window, which allows you to copy a style, delete a style and to open a third pop up window to undelete styles.

Figure 5.14. Manage styles window

Now that you are familiar with navigation within Style Editor Gold, it is time to jump in and actually start building a Style file.

Click on the "Blocks" tab within SEG. Then click the button for the "Page Window", this is the last button, the icon ("Open page Window"), in the tool bar just left of the align selector. See figure below:

Figure 5.15. Page window button

If you click the "Page Window" button a new window opens, much like the following figure:

Figure 5.16. Page_window_prefs

You will see input boxes for the Page size, just under the "Page settings" heading. Enter the value you measured – in the units selected, inches is the default – into the W and H fields. Note the selected units are in the "User preferences" section above the "Page settings" in the window. If you are building a Style for a standard business card, the values for these fields will be: 3.5 and 2 in inches or 252 and 144 in points. If you are editing an existing Style, or a Style made by EGG, page size values should be present already. Click the "Apply" button in the right top corner of the window to apply the values (they are applied to your working copy of the style). Note: for historic reasons the information can be set in the "Other" tab. There the format is different, since there only one input box: (width, height) and the values must be in points.

You also see input boxes for bleed under the input for the page size. From left to right these bleed values are for left, bottom, right and top edges of the page. Note that these values are in the current units. Also note that each value is the difference between the bounding box edge (unfinished product) and the edge of the finished product. When you need to use bleed you normally let EGG set your page size and bleed. See the chapter on bleed: "Dealing with Items Having a Bleed".

As you will notice the "Page Window" has some other section that allow you to change user preferences, output settings and enable the "Block logic". The "Settings for output" are the same one as on the "Other" tab and for VSE the "Other" will go away in the future. You can also set the size of the text dispalyed in the Block Edit Window by using the Font Size option. See the last part of the section "VSE Blocks Tab". for a more detailed description of the Page window.

	Tip
	On the "Other" tab you will notice some links below this input area named "bc", "lh", etc. Clicking one of these links will fill in the appropriate value for a standard sized Business Card (bc), Letterhead (lh), Envelope (evp), etc.

Now we will need to define fonts. Click on the "Fonts" tab. You should find a list of fonts already defined. These are provided as examples for you to modify. Each font you identified within your document will need its own font definition.

Next to each font in the list, under Actions, are three links which allow you to edit, copy (making a clone with a new name) and delete the font. Below the list is the form where all the editing happens. To edit a font click the "edit" link next to the font you want to edit. The data for that font appears in the form. After you are done editing, click the "Apply" button at the bottom of the form. The data in the form is also saved if you visit another tab.

If you want to create a new font, make sure you have a blank form. In case you have been editing an existing font before you will need to click the "add new Item" link just above the form towards the right. Clicking that link will show a blank form with a select list of the font classes, 'FONT', 'MIXEDFONT', SCFONT' and so on. Select the desired font class in the list and click the "Change Type" button, then fill out the form and apply the changes.

You can change the font class while editing ('FONT', 'MIXEDFONT', SCFONT' and so on) used for the current font using the select list above the form to the right. After changing the type, click "Apply" or "Change Type", then you will be editing the same font again but this time with different fields, appropriate to the newly selected type. Note that the MMFONT type only works with specific fonts, so you may get an error when changing to this font type.

To delete a font click on the "del" link next to a font in the list. Be sure that you want to delete this font, after clicking the link the font is deleted (if it can be) without further questions! Fonts that are currently in use cannot be deleted, you will receive an error message: Font 'F3' is in use. You cannot delete this font

A font definition requires a Name (to refer to the font elsewhere in the Style), the Fontname, and the Pointsize. All other values can be left at their defaults. Note that if you leave a required field open (blank), a default value will be used. This ensures that the style will be valid. The fonts in the list are using the following format:

Name, Size - Leading, Tracking, Color (if the font has a color other then black)

Each font you define will require a distinct font label (Name in the form) ( like "F1" ). We recommend using the F1, F2, F3, ... convention as it is very easy to remember and identify when used in other parts of the Style. Your next font would therefore be named "F2", and so on. Fonts can be defined in any order.

The Fontname of the font must be recorded as the formal PostScript format name. Adobe Type Manager, when showing the details of a font, shows "PostScript name" as one field. This is the field you will need to specify when defining your font. Alternatively, it is possible that we already have the font your document uses installed and you can get the name from our fonts listing. Read the next section for more information.

Tip

VIPER defines Leading as the vertical space above the top of a line of type. Most desktop publishing applications (e.g., Illustrator) measure Leading as the total vertical distance between lines. A quick way to convert Leading into VIPER terms this is to simply subtract the font point size from the provided Leading value to get the VIPER leading value. For example, an 8-point font with 9.5 points Leading (in Illustrator terms) will become an 8-point font with 1.5 pt VIPER leading. Similarly, a 12-point font with 10 point Leading would have VIPER leading of –2. A VIPER leading value of 0 sets the leading to the same number of points as the point size.

	Tip
	Tracking is defined as the space between each character in a line of type. There are a number of different conventions used in the desktop publishing world for measuring tracking values. PageDNA has support for three different systems. This may seem a bit confusing, but in the end this gives you the ability to enter tracking values from a number of different programs. Read on for the full scoop:

	Tip
	When using expert fonts, use NONISOFONT instead of FONT in your definition.

	Tip
	Multiple master fonts need to have the Axis defined. You enter the numbers between brackets, the first indicates the custom font weight (700) and the second the width (600). The remainder of the definition is the same as normal fonts. Axis: [700,600]

Historically leading meant the amount of lead strips to be added between the lines of type (composed of letters cast in lead) to create the desired extra space between lines of text. So from an historic perspective leading means the amount of space (usually in points) between the top of one line and the baseline of the line above. This classic interpretation is also the one the PageDNA system uses.

Most desktop publishing applications use the term Line Height as a loose synonym for leading. This is the concept of leading that you're probably used to.

The PageDNA system allows you to enter the leading for your items in two different ways.  These can be found on the Fonts tab of any item's Style page.

For example, if a font is 8 point and you wish to have 10 points of line height and you prefer the traditional use of leading, you would select the icon to the right and enter 2 in the Leading field (10 - 8 = 2).

Figure 5.17. Leading_2

If you wish to define the leading as meaning line height, thus the sum of the font size and the extra space above the font, then select the icon on the left and enter the total size of the leading you wish to use.  Using the same values as the example above, you would enter 10 in the Leading field.  That would represent 2 points of space above the 8 point font size ( 8+ 2 = 10).

Figure 5.18. Leading_1

Both methods will result in the same amount of space between lines. This feature simply allows a builder to enter a value for leading in terms that are most familiar to them.

Sometimes when you import type using a file with special kerning (intra-letter spacing), our engine finds many different tracking values and gets over-zealous defining fonts.

  F1	FONT	Optima, 7.5 - 0.0, 5.0, C1
  F2	FONT	Optima, 7.5 - 0.0, -95.0, C1
  F3	FONT	Optima, 7.5 - 0.0, -55.0, C1
  F4	FONT	Optima, 12.0 - 0.5, -30.0, C1
  F5	FONT	Helvetica-Black, 9.75 - 1.25, 5.0, C1
  F6	FONT	Optima, 7.5 - 1.5, 0.0, C1
  F7	FONT	Optima, 7.5 - 0.0, 10.0, C1
  F8	FONT	Optima, 7.5 - 0.0, 0.0, C1

As you can see, there is a crazy variation in the tracking value between fonts, many of which have the same font size - 7.5 points for F1, F2, F3, F6, F7, and F8..

Now, take a look at the blocks section (double click the block) - examine how often the fonts are switching out (every line!):

  LEFT, F7, card_title3, NEWLINE,
  F7, card_title4, NEWLINE,
  F4, IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '), name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
  F5, card_title2, NEWLINE,
  F6, card_street1, NEWLINE,
  F8, card_street2, NEWLINE,
  F2, card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
  F1, IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
  IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
  F1, IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
  F1, IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
  F1, IF('E-mail: ', card_email), NEWLINE,
  F1, IF('Website: ', card_www), NEWLINE,

...that would be very unusual to change fonts every line like this - when you see this, you need to investigate further.

Those fonts with the same font size (first number) and leading (second number) but with a varied tracking (third number) likely can be (and should be) consolidated into a single font (perhaps with 0 tracking, as would be the norm, but check the original artwork specs from customer).

Font consolidation is done by performing the following steps:

	Tip
	You may also need to check the Phones section of the style for font usage. Make sure that the fonts used in the Phones section are defined on the fonts tab. Phonewords contain font definitions which are not overridden by the fonts in the Blocks section.

VIPER needs a local copy of any PostScript or TrueType fonts used in your template in order to create an accurate proof. Please note that fonts are only used for the creation of the proof – you must own your own copy of all fonts for local use in production.

To see if the fonts you wish to use are already installed on our server, visit the Font Loader from the Production Hub at this URL:

http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/font/

Click on "text" Show Fonts to view a full listing of all installed fonts, listed by PostScript name. If you do not find your font here, you will need to upload your font to our server. For information on uploading fonts, see our Appendix "Uploading Fonts".

Tip

Occasionally, designs may use Horizontal and/or Vertical scaling on a font to stretch or squish the characters. VIPER supports these options using the 'hscale' and 'vscale' attributes. Information on forcing upper or lower case is shown in the "Forced Case" section of the "Configure custom typesetting rules" below. More information on advanced subjects (Multiple Master fonts, custom colors, vertical and horizontal tracking) will be included in a later version of this document. If you have any questions about advanced typography support, please do not hesitate to contact PageDNA technical support. We have likely seen everything and anything you may come across in a Corporate Identity Template and are here to help you.

If your need small-caps formatting on a font, you need to define a new font for this using SCFONT. The special setting is the Algorithm field. It can be LINEAR, NONLINEAR and a floating point number less then 1. LINEAR algorithm method means the small caps are the same aspect ratio as caps, NONLINEAR make the small caps a little wider. Finally if you want to control the ratio of the height between the caps and the small caps, then use a number, like 0.85. The other settings are the same as for FONT. Small caps are listed like the following example. Note that not all settings are in the listing, i.e. Algorithm is not in the listing.

F4 SCFONT Helvetica, 9.0 - 0.0, 0.0

	Note
	This section focuses on defining blocks. Although we will indicate how to see and edit the block content this section is not the place to learn about the VSE features. Read the chapter "SEG and VSE Reference". for that.

Each block of text you identified while gathering requirements will require its own block definition.

Click on the "Blocks" tab in Visual Style Editor. You will see a few blocks already created for the sample business card. These are merely provided as examples for you to copy and modify.

Selecting Blocks:

You can select a block three different ways:

	Tip
	If you use the Blocks tool in the grey toolbar to open the Block List window to select a block and edit it, you can select another block in the Block List window to view its contents.

	Caution
	If you edit a block and switch blocks using the Block List window, you will lose your edits. So, select the block to edit; switch blocks to examine another block; then, switch back and make the needed edits.

Let's look at the AddressBlock block. It is the block at the left and you can look at the content by clicking on the block ( the border turns blue ) and then click the button ("Edit a block") in the tool bar. Or you can just double click the block. An edit window pops up which looks like this:

Figure 5.19. Block edit window

F1, card_division, NEWLINE,
card_street1, NEWLINE,
card_street2, NEWLINE,
card_street3, NEWLINE,
card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip

This reads as follows: use font F1 ( defined on the fonts tab ), use the variable card_division and start a new line. Lets look at the line that says: "card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip", where the only difference is that we have some static text between the variables. We need this here because otherwise the proof would show the values for card_city and ard_state right next to each other without a comma or any spacing. You can include hard-coded strings of text using quoted text wherever necessary.

Keep in mind that the order of quotes, and commas within your block definitions is extremely important. All static text or string must be inside quotes and the commas are used to separate variables and strings from each other. And again, if you need a literal comma, you need to make it part of a string, as in the example above.

Lets explore this block in detail so as to understand how blocks work in general. The block is first defined with a unique name; in this case it is called "AddressBlock". You can call your blocks whatever you want, as long as the name makes sense to you and contains no spaces or non-alphanumeric characters.

In this example, first the font within the block is set to "F1". Then we begin naming fields and adding NEWLINE after them. These field names come directly from the form inputs on the IMPRINT page in the ordering process. To find the name of a form field or variable browse the list at the right of the edit area. Note that clicking on a variable name in that list will insert the variable in the edit area at the cursor position, including a trailing comma for your convenience. The font names and the icons above the edit area will insert at the cursor as well.

See also Appendix C, "Form Field Name Reference" for the official listing.

If and only if a particular field is included by the end user when ordering will that field appear in this block and be followed by a NEWLINE (carriage return). If a field is not included, the NEWLINE following it is not used in the block. For example, if the user’s imprint address does not include a third Street Address line (card_street3), this field and it’s NEWLINE will not be included in the block.

Before we move on to the next topic, let's briefly cover the tool bar, search/add input box and the variable list of the edit window. The font links (like F1) and the align icons you see in the tool bar as well as the variables in the list at the right all help you inserting text in the text box. Clicking any of these will insert them at the cursor, including a trailing comma. For instance, clicking on "F1" will insert F1, at the cursor. If some text was selected this text will be replaced. Clicking the paragraph icon inserts NEWLINE, at the cursor, while clicking the left align icon inserts LEFT, at the cursor. And no surprise, clicking "city (card_city)" in the variables list will insert card_city, at the cursor.

The search/add input box serves two functions: quick search of variables and adding plus inserting variables. If you type a existing variable in the box, the list is shortened to only include the variables that match the text in the box making clicking the right one easier. If you type in a not yet existing variable, the list goes away and you can add/insert that new variable by clicking on the small "+" button next to the input box. This will do three things: inserts this new variable at the cursor in the block content, add this new variable to the variables list below the input box and this new variable is added to the "Variables" tab.

Besides the edit window for text blocks there is the photo block edit window. There is also a photo block create window, accessible by clicking the "Make a new photo block" icon, and the photo create window is almost identical to the photo edit window. You access the photo edit window by selecting a photo block and clicking the pencil icon or just double clicking a photo block.

Figure 5.20. Photo Block Edit Window

In the photo block edit window you can edit properties for the block.

Next lets examine a block that includes some simple logic. The NameBlock is shown below, with the new elements highlighted:

F4, CENTER, name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ', name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
F3, card_title1, NEWLINE,
card_title2

This block includes an "IF" statement for the middle name and suffix. If and only if the user submits a middle name while ordering, the IF condition will evaluate as true and the middle name will be included – with a blank space before it. If the middle name is not included, everything inside the parenthesis is ignored. Note this logic will not cause any errors if your site does not include a middle name field on the IMPRINT page.

The same type of statement is included for the suffix (e.g., ‘Jr.’, ‘Ph. D’), except that a comma is included before the space. In this fashion, you can use IF blocks like this to quickly build ‘molecules’ out of the ‘atomic’ form units.

The last block on this item is "PhoneEmailBlock", which consists of phone numbers and the email address.

F1, RIGHT, Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
card_email

This block is unique because it uses something we call Phones for the phone fields. Phones act similar to form fields, but are defined in the Phones tab (explained later in this document). Phones are used to make styles more readable. The Phone words are highlighted below:

F1, RIGHT, 
Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
card_email

Finally you can enable two extra tabs in the VSE, one before the "Blocks" tab and one after. These tabs are called, no surprise, "Preblocks" and "Postblocks". If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs. The purpose of these tabs is to allow you to add Python code for a little more advanced usage of logic in your style. Examples that use these tabs are in the chapter: "Typography Exceptions, New User Interface".

It is possible to have type line up in columns. This is sometimes used in phone blocks to force the phone number digits to align in a vertical column, despite the fact that the phone labels before the number (e.g., "Main", "Direct", "Mobile") vary in length. Following is an example block illustrating the usage of the "COL" command for a scenario like this:

F2, LEFT, 
ph1_label, ' ', COL, Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
ph2_label, ' ', COL, Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
ph3_label, ' ', COL, Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
ph4_label, ' ', COL, Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
ph5_label, ' ', COL, Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
IF('E-mail:', ' ', COL, card_email)

No matter how long the phone labels are, the PHONEWORDS and email address (card_email) will align vertically in a column – at a location within the line specified by the COL command. In this case, the longest phone label (or the text "E-mail", if it is the longest label) will determine where the column is defined on this left justified block.

A more precise way of aligning text is uses TABS, which can be defined at specific locations in your document. The following example block defines a tab:

 
F2, LEFT,
ph1_label, TAB, Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
ph2_label, TAB, Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
ph3_label, TAB, Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
ph4_label, TAB, Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
ph5_label, TAB, Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
IF('E-mail:', TAB, card_email)  

To set the tab at a precise location, 160 points from the left side of the card, you need to set the tab value.

Taking things one step further, one way to improve the block definition further would be to wrap each phone (label, tab and phone word) in an IF statement. This will ensure that phone labels do not appear in the imprint unless the end user has entered the corresponding phone number:

F2, LEFT, 
IF([ph1_label, TAB], Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
IF([ph2_label, TAB], Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
IF([ph3_label, TAB], Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
IF([ph4_label, TAB], Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
IF([ph5_label, TAB], Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
IF(['E-mail:', TAB], card_email), 

Phones are used for putting together phones, using a specific word type called a PHONEWORD. Click on the "Phones" tab to edit all of the phones currently defined for your Style. The default templates included on all new sites include six PHONEWORDs.

PHONEWORDs combine dynamic form inputs (text entered by the user) along with static fields into a predetermined format. The various phone elements taken from the IMPRINT screen of the ordering site are first listed:

ph1_label, ph11, ph12, ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14

With this form you can set the various setting that your Phone Word will use: the font, whether or not to use a label and the separator character between label and number part of the phone, the extension label and extension separator, and finally the pattern for the numbers of the phone.

Note that it is important to select the right "Phone Type" first.

All Phone Words use the default font, except when you set the PhoneWord in the "Font Exceptions". For the setting for the "Phone Label" you can select it from the list or if your setting, i.e. the desired separator, is not in the list you select "Other..." from the list and fill in the separator character in the next to the select box.

The setting for the "Extension Label" works the same way: either select from the list or use "Other..." to enter a new separator. If you have a US phone number, you can set the pattern for the number as a text string. In the pattern the numbers are represented by a *, the other characters are literal characters used as separator characters for the imprint of your phone number. Note you must have 3 stars in your pattern string.

Suppose the label for Phone 1 (ph1_label) on your site was hard coded to "Main: " and the Phone Extension Label (ph1_ext_lbl) was "Ext." In addition to that suppose your "Phone Label" and "Extension Label" were set to a colon and a space and the "US Format" to "(*) *-*". Then this number would be formatted within this PHONEWORD to give the following example imprint:

Main:  (555) 555-1212 Ext. 1234

By changing the format used, you can make the phones match the corporate identity standards for phones. For example, if you want your phone number to appear with dots between the area code and phone digits, like this: "555.555.1212", you would merely change the US format to "*.*.*" and you will get the imprint as below:

Main:  555.555.1212 Ext. 1234)

To add a (sub-)logo to your Style use the "Make a new photo block" option in the tool bar of the blocks tab. This allows you to upload an EPS file containing an image. Ensure that your EPS file has been converted to paths, that the EPS file is the same size as your document, and that the EPS file is placed correctly within this document. After clicking the Save button the EPS file is uploaded and will show as a block in your Style.

If you created an image representing the master or pre-printed "shell" for your item, you add a block in the same way as in the previous paragraph. The only difference is that you set the layer setting to PREVIEW_LAYER. This means that your image will show on the proof, but it will be omitted from in the output going to the printer.

Sometimes, in custom situations, you may only want a particular EPS file to appear at certain times (example, if the user has checked a box requesting a sub-logo on their business card). This would qualify as a custom typesetting situation. Read more below about how to accommodate custom typesetting situations for more information on how to proceed, or contact PageDNA support for assistance.

Dealing with Double-Sided Items

Occasionally, you may need to include an item on your site that has a back side. To accomplish this, you will need to create a separate item and style for the backside. Make sure that both items use the x_item_class 'SosBackItem'. Define the tag for the backside as 'tag_back.sty', where "tag" is replaced by the name of the tag for the front side. In other words, if the tag for the front side is "bc", the backside's tag must be "bc_back". Of course, the style file will be bc_back.sty for the backside. That is half of the battle: making two styles show up for one item. The other part of the battle is making fields for the backside, where necessary. If your backside has hard-coded information or includes only information from the standard SOS forms, you are in great shape, just build the style as if it were a new item. If you need custom fields for the backside, the general approach is to make a custom item form (see Item Forms section for more information). Contact PageDNA support if you have any questions about this or any other aspect of creating double-sided items.

At this point, if you have followed the "Gathering Specifications" instructions closely, you should have most – if not everything – you will need to begin programming your Style. Yes, creating a Style is technically considered programming, and this programming is accomplished using a programming language called Python that is easy to learn. If you want more information on Python, a great resource is the online Python documentation at:

http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.3/

The following link – taken from the tutorial found above – is to an informal introduction to Python.

http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.3/tut/node5.html

PageDNA has simplified the Style-building task by providing a web-based tool called Style Editor Gold – or "SEG" for short – that lets you edit Style files in an organized fashion. SEG is the tool to get to know to create, test and deploy Style files quickly and efficiently.

SEG is accessed through the Site Configuration Menu. After logging into the Production Hub, visit your "Sites List" to choose an existing site you wish to work on. Alternatively, you can create a new site exclusively for the purposes of learning to build Styles or for a new client.

Within the Menu for your site, you should see a link for "Style Editor Gold" within the "Site Content" section of the menu listing. If you do not see this option, contact PageDNA and we will quickly set you up with access to SEG. Click the "Style Editor Gold" link to open the application.

The first thing to try when creating a new style is to use something we call "EGG". EGG stands for "Excellent Graphics Grabber" and is key PageDNA technology which accepts a 1-up EPS file of your item and then 'reverse engineers' the layout to create a style file, including automatically determining variables, font settings, block position, custom colors, etc. This can save hours of work, and often only requires minor hand-edits to complete the style building process.

To try EGG, first prepare an EPS file with a bounding box matching the product dimensions of your product. For example, a business card would normally be 3.5 x 2 inches - your bounding box needs to have these same dimensions for EGG to be able to figure out your product. Creating a bounding box is as simple as making your document size the same as the product size and adding a box with no stroke or fill that matches the document size.

For some example artwork prepared to proper specifications, see the Training Files Repository at http://www.PageDNA.com/files/

Although your artwork files may be in a variety of source formats (InDesign, Quark, etc) our system strongly prefers to 'digest' EPS files generated by Illustrator. Therefore, if your native file is not yet in Adobe Illustrator EPS format, first save an EPS file out of the current application, then open that EPS file in Illustrator and re-save as EPS following our instructions below.

If you have pre-printed 'shells' that will later be imprinted with this artwork, you may include this in the "EGG" file, but be sure to convert any text in this layer to paths/outlines, leaving variable imprint information as editable text objects.

Now editing in Illustrator, your first and make sure the bounding box represents the exact size you want to get transparent (no stroke, no fill). Save this file in EPS format with no thumbnail and include any fonts.

For detailed instructions on artwork preparation see our EGG Artwork Preparation Guide (link below) - these instructions cover saving an "EGG-ready" file from versions of Illustrator up to version CS 2.

http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/docs/html/SpecificationForms/artwork-prep.html

Now that you have your EPS file saved out, open Style Editor Gold and select "From EPS File..." from the bottom of the drop-down list, and then click the "Edit" button.

A dialog box will open in the frame below, giving you the ability to "Browse" your hard drive and locate your EPS file. In the "Style Name" field, make sure to name the product something unique, ending in the extension '.sty'. Ideally, you have already created the item in the 'Item List', and you will name your style file to match the 'tag' for that particular product. For example, if you business card has the tag 'bc', name your style 'bc.sty'.

After you "Submit" your EPS file, EGG will try it's best to reverse engineer the style from the file you've submitted. If an error occurs (ie, Fonts not loaded), you may simply click "Back" and try again after making changes such as loading any fonts our system is missing.

EGG will 'guess' on a block's positioning (ie, left justified, growing from the bottom up). If EGG has guessed wrong (which happens), the Block Editor a chance to change this with a visual display of the blocks and their anchor points.

Although there is usually a bit of cleanup to perform with EGG - ie, standardizing fonts, adding field names into the style that were missed by egg, etc - EGG is highly recommended as it saves you a TON of work in creating your style file.

	Tip
	Make sure that you do not have custom kerning (spacing between letters) defined in your style. Egg will look at each different font usage and define a new font... this makes cleaning up the style later more complicated.

Tip

EGG automatically looks for patterns such as name, title, phones, emails and so forth and then converts them to the proper variable names in our system. If you don't want our system to have to 'guess' variables you can simply pre-populate the fields in your EPS file using the PageDNA variable name surrounded by brackets, e.g.,: [card_title1] ...would be recognized as the title line one for this product. Variable names are shown in green text in the "Personal Page" section of "Web Page Templates" if you need to learn the variable name for a particular field.

New PageDNA sites by default include three default Styles, bc.sty (Business Card), env.sty (Envelope), and lh.sty (Letterhead). These templates are pre-populated with information that should help you jump-start Style building – in particular for the business card. It is recommended that you start one of these templates, or use Egg as above to get a style started. Select "bc.sty" from the menu at the top of the screen and click "Edit" to open the Style. You will be presented with the opening screen, shown in Figure 2 below:

Figure 6.1. Style Editor Gold

Notice the gray "tabs" running along the top of the gold area of the screen. Clicking one of these tabs opens one section of the Style file for editing. We will be focusing our attention on only a few of these tabs, but following is an overview of all of the tabs for your reference. Explore these tabs by clicking on each individual tab as you read the description below. At this time, do not make any changes to the information found within each tab you explore, but scroll around and briefly examine the code found inside. You do not need to understand this information yet – the idea is to familiarize yourself with how the Style code looks:

The buttons to the right of the editing area allow you to Save and Test your Style.

In general, keep in mind that you only need to click the "Save" button when you are ready to publish your changes to your ordering site. Up until you click "Save", everything is saved in a cache – a temporary holding zone where you are free to experiment. Clicking between tabs automatically saves the changes you’ve made to the cache. If you do not click "Save" when finished editing, your changes will be discarded.

Now that you are familiar with navigation within Style Editor Gold, it is time to jump in and actually start building a Style file.

Click on the "Other" tab within SEG. You will see a text input for "page size". Enter the value you measured – in points – into this field in the format: (width, height). If you are building a Style for a standard business card, the value for this field will be: (252, 144).

	Tip
	You will notice some links below this input area named "bc", "lh", etc. Clicking one of these links will fill in the appropriate value for a standard sized Business Card (bc), Letterhead (lh), Envelope (evp), etc.

Now we will need to define fonts. Click on the "Fonts" tab. You should find a list of fonts already defined. These are provided as examples for you to modify. Each font you identified within your document will need its own font definition. Fonts are defined using the following format:

FontLabel = FONT(‘Name’, Size, Leading, Tracking)

For example, the following font definition defines the font called ‘F1’ as 12 point Palatino Italic with 12 point leading and default tracking:

F1 = FONT('Palatino-Italic', 12, 0, 0)

Each font you define will require a distinct font label ( "F1" in the example above). We recommend using the F1, F2, F3, ... convention as it is very easy to remember and identify when used in other parts of the Style. Your next font would therefore be named "F2", and so on. Fonts can be defined in any order.

The Name of the font must be recorded as the formal PostScript format name. Adobe Type Manager, when showing the details of a font, shows "PostScript name" as one field. This is the field you will need to specify when defining your font. Alternatively, it is possible that we already have the font your document uses installed and you can get the name from our fonts listing. Read the next section for more information.

Tip

VIPER defines Leading as the vertical space above the top of a line of type. Most desktop publishing applications (e.g., Illustrator) measure Leading as the total vertical distance between lines. A quick way to convert Leading into VIPER terms this is to simply subtract the font point size from the provided Leading value to get the VIPER leading value. For example, an 8-point font with 9.5 points Leading (in Illustrator terms) will become an 8-point font with 1.5 pt VIPER leading. Similarly, a 12-point font with 10 point Leading would have VIPER leading of –2. A VIPER leading value of 0 sets the leading to the same number of points as the point size.

	Tip
	Tracking is defined as the space between each character in a line of type. There are a number of different conventions used in the desktop publishing world for measuring tracking values. PageDNA has support for three different systems. This may seem a bit confusing, but in the end this gives you the ability to enter tracking values from a number of different programs. Read on for the full scoop:

	Tip
	When using expert fonts, use NONISOFONT instead of FONT in your definition.

	Tip
	Multiple master fonts are defined as shown below. The number in brackets indicates the custom font weight (700) and width (700). The remainder of the definition is the same as normal fonts. F1 = MMFONT('MyriadMM', 9, [700,600], 1.5)

Historically leading meant the amount of lead strips to be added between the lines of type (composed of letters cast in lead) to create the desired extra space between lines of text. So from an historic perspective leading means the amount of space (usually in points) between the top of one line and the baseline of the line above. This classic interpretation is also the one the PageDNA system uses.

Most desktop publishing applications use the them Line Height as a loose synonym for leading. This is the concept of leading that you're probably used to.

The PageDNA system allows you to enter the leading for your items in two different ways.  These can be found on the Fonts tab of any item's Style page.

For example, if a font is 8 point and you wish to have 10 points of line height and you prefer the traditional use of leading, you would select the icon to the right and enter 2 in the Leading field (10 - 8 = 2).

Figure 6.2. Leading_2b

If you wish to define the leading as meaning line height, thus the sum of the font size and the extra space above the font, then select the icon on the left and enter the total size of the leading you wish to use.  Using the same values as the example above, you would enter 10 in the Leading field.  That would represent 2 points of space above the 8 point font size ( 8+ 2 = 10).

Figure 6.3. Leading_1b

Both methods will result in the same amount of space between lines. This feature simply allows a builder to enter a value for leading in terms that are most familiar to them.

Sometimes when you import type using a file with special kerning (intra-letter spacing), our engine finds many different tracking values and gets over-zealous defining fonts.

 C1 = CUSTOMCOLOR('Blue-01', 1.00, 0.80, 0.00, 0.00, tint=1)
 F1 = FONT('Optima', 7.5, 0.0, 5.0, color=C1)
 F2 = FONT('Optima', 7.5, 0.0, -95.0, color=C1)
 F3 = FONT('Optima', 7.5, 0.0, -55.0, color=C1)
 F4 = FONT('Optima', 12.0, 0.5, -30.0, color=C1)
 F5 = FONT('Helvetica-Black', 9.75, 1.25, 5.0, vscale=0.7692308, color=C1)
 F6 = FONT('Optima', 7.5, 1.5, 0.0, color=C1)
 F7 = FONT('Optima', 7.5, 0.0, 10.0, color=C1)
 F8 = FONT('Optima', 7.5, 0.0, 0.0, color=C1)

As you can see, there is a crazy variation in the tracking value between fonts, many of which have the same font size - 7.5 points for F1, F2, F3, F6, F7, and F8..

Now, take a look at the blocks section - examine how often the fonts are switching out (every line!):

 Block1 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
         F7, card_title3, NEWLINE,
         F7, card_title4, NEWLINE,
         F4, IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '), name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
         F5, card_title2, NEWLINE,
         F6, card_street1, NEWLINE,
         F8, card_street2, NEWLINE,
         F2, card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
         F1, IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
         IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
         F1, IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
         F1, IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
         F1, IF('E-mail: ', card_email), NEWLINE,
         F1, IF('Website: ', card_www), NEWLINE,
         ], (112.5, 9.3), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

...that would be very unusual to change fonts every line like this - when you see this, you need to investigate further.

Those fonts with the same font size (first number) and leading (second number) but with a varied tracking (third number) likely can be (and should be) consolidated into a single font (perhaps with 0 tracking, as would be the norm, but check the original artwork specs from customer).

Font consolidation is done by performing the following steps:

	Tip
	You may also need to check the Words section of the style for font usage. Phonewords contain font definitions which are not overridden by the fonts in the Blocks section.

VIPER needs a local copy of any PostScript or TrueType fonts used in your template in order to create an accurate proof. Please note that fonts are only used for the creation of the proof – you must own your own copy of all fonts for local use in production.

To see if the fonts you wish to use are already installed on our server, visit the Font Loader from the Production Hub at this URL:

http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/font/

Click on "text" Show Fonts to view a full listing of all installed fonts, listed by PostScript name. If you do not find your font here, you will need to upload your font to our server. For information on uploading fonts, see our Appendix "Uploading Fonts".

Tip

Occasionally, designs may use Horizontal and/or Vertical tracking on a font to stretch or squish the characters. VIPER supports these options using the 'hscale' and 'vscale' attributes: F2 = FONT('GillSans', 9, 1, 0, hscale=.85) F3 = FONT('GillSans', 9, 1, 0, vscale=.85) Information on forcing upper or lower case is shown in the "Forced Case" section of the "Configure custom typesetting rules" below. More information on advanced subjects (Multiple Master fonts, custom colors, vertical and horizontal tracking) will be included in a later version of this document. If you have any questions about advanced typography support, please do not hesitate to contact PageDNA technical support. We have likely seen everything and anything you may come across in a Corporate Identity Template and are here to help you.

If your need small-caps formatting on a font, you need to define a new font for this using SCFONT, as shown below:

F4 = SCFONT('Helvetica', 9, 1)

Each block of text you identified while gathering requirements will require its own block definition.

Click on the "Blocks" tab in Style Editor Gold. You will see a few blocks already created for the sample business card. These are merely provided as examples for you to copy and modify. The first block looks like this:

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                       ' ', card_zip], (12,14), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

The formatting shown in this example is not mandatory... it is provided as a suggestion for legibility. However, keep in mind that the order of brackets, parenthesis, quotes, and commas within your block definitions is extremely important. If you leave out or misplace even one of these characters, you will get an ugly error screen – so please be sure to follow the format very closely. If things go wrong, refer back to these example blocks for ‘proper’ formatting.

Lets explore this block in detail so as to understand how blocks work in general. The block is first defined with a unique name; in this case it is called "AddressBlock":

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                       ' ', card_zip], (12,14), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

You can call your blocks whatever you want, as long as the name makes sense to you and contains no spaces or non-alphanumeric characters. This block is specified as a "DWIMBLOCK", which stands for "Do What I Mean Block". This is a funny name for the standard block format that you will use when building Styles.

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                       ' ', card_zip], (12,14), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

All of the block definition information is contained within the parenthesis following the DWIMBLOCK statement. The first bit of information for a block definition is a list of all fields to include within the block, which are comma delimited and surrounded by the square brackets:

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                                      ' ', card_zip], (12,14), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

In this example, first the font within the block is set to "F1". Then we begin naming fields and adding NEWLINE after them. These field names come directly from the form inputs on the IMPRINT page in the ordering process. To find the name of a form field, simply view HTML source on the IMPRINT page for your site or consult Appendix C, "Form Field Name Reference" for the official listing. You will get to know these names quickly.

If and only if a particular field is included by the end user when ordering will that field appear in this block and be followed by a NEWLINE (carriage return). If a field is not included, the NEWLINE following it is not used in the block. For example, if the user’s imprint address does not include a third Street Address line (card_street3), this field and it’s NEWLINE will not be included in the block.

Following the field card_city, you will notice that the string: ‘, ‘ as highlighted below:

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                       ' ', card_zip], (12,14), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

This is included so that a comma and a space follow the City field – before the State field is shown. Similarly, you will notice that there is a single space (‘‘) included after the State:

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                       ' ', card_zip], (12,14), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

This field is included so that a space appears after the State field – before the ZIP code is shown. You can include hard-coded strings of text using this system wherever necessary.

The last two properties in a block definition are the block position and the block alignment. The two numbers in parenthesis indicate the block position, measured from the lower-left corner of the item to the anchor point:

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                       ' ', card_zip], (12,14), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

The next two words – highlighted below – indicate the horizontal and vertical alignment for this block. In this case, the block is LEFT justified (to 12 points from the left side of the item) and grows from the BOTTOM (14 points above the bottom edge of the item):

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                       ' ', card_zip], (12,14), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

Above is about as straightforward of a block as is possible to create.

Next lets examine a block that includes some simple logic. The NameBlock is shown below, with the new elements highlighted:

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F4, CENTER,
                       name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
                       name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
                       F3, card_title1, NEWLINE,
                       card_title2], (126,75), (CENTER, TOP_BASELINE))

This block includes an "IF" statement for the middle name and suffix. If and only if the user submits a middle name while ordering, the IF condition will evaluate as true and the middle name will be included – with a blank space before it. If the middle name is not included, everything inside the parenthesis is ignored. Note this logic will not cause any errors if your site does not include a middle name field on the IMPRINT page.

The same type of statement is included for the suffix (e.g., ‘Jr.’, ‘Ph. D’), except that a comma is included before the space. In this fashion, you can use IF blocks like this to quickly build ‘molecules’ out of the ‘atomic’ form units.

The last block on this item is "PhoneEmailBlock", which consists of phone numbers and the email address.

PhoneEmailBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1, RIGHT, 
                       Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
                       card_email], (240,14), (RIGHT, BOTTOM))

This block is unique because it uses something we call Words for the phone fields. Words act similar to form fields, but are defined in the Words tab (explained later in this document). Words are used to make styles more readable. The Phone words are highlighted below:

PhoneEmailBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1, RIGHT, 
                       Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
                       card_email], (240,14), (RIGHT, BOTTOM))

It is possible to have type line up in columns. This is sometimes used in phone blocks to force the phone number digits to align in a vertical column, despite the fact that the phone labels before the number (e.g., "Main", "Direct", "Mobile") vary in length. Following is an example block illustrating the usage of the "COL" command for a scenario like this:

RightBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, LEFT, 
                       ph1_label, ' ', COL, Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
                       ph2_label, ' ', COL, Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
                       ph3_label, ' ', COL, Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
                       ph4_label, ' ', COL, Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
                       ph5_label, ' ', COL, Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
                       IF('E-mail:', ' ', COL, card_email)],
                       (122,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

No matter how long the phone labels are, the PHONEWORDS and email address (card_email) will align vertically in a column – at a location within the line specified by the COL command. In this case, the longest phone label (or the text "E-mail", if it is the longest label) will determine where the column is defined on this left justified block.

Bulleted lists are often used in sales materials. Combining the LINEWRAP command BULLET and COL together with a set of user input lines can create a simple list that looks great.

          Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT, LINEWRAP(newline_indent=COL),
                   F4,
                   IF(bullet2, COL, job_req1), NEWLINE,
                   IF(bullet2, COL, job_req2), NEWLINE,
                   IF(bullet2, COL, job_req3), NEWLINE,
                   IF(bullet2, COL, job_req4), NEWLINE,
                   IF(bullet2, COL, job_req5), NEWLINE,
                   IF(bullet2, COL, job_req6), NEWLINE,
                   ], (38.9, 456.2), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE), (432,0))
        

In the example above the LINEWRAP command has been modified with an extra command to tell the system how to handle newline commands when encountered. The newline_indent (default = 0) has been set to the width of the COL command. The rst of the block is set as normal for the preblocks tab, with each user defined bulleted line having its own variable. The entire block is limited to a max width of 432 points. The LINEWRAP command will then force the line to break at a space bar and wrap to a new line - with an indent that will align the type past the bullet.

In the last section the LINEWRAP command was used to create a wrapped bulleted list. In this section there wil be examples of how to use a SPACER to add automatic indents to free paragraphs of text.

Add this code at the top of your block:

            LINEWRAP(newline_indent='', indent=SPACER(9)),
          

Setting the newline_indent to a null value will keep the soft wrap from spacing over, while setting the indent to a spacer value (measured in points) will indent the first line of any hard return.

Whats happens if the user can enter a hard return into the bulleted list field?

The LINEWRAP command can be set to indent both hard and soft returns equally to keep that same smooth look, or if needbe differently if the first line needs a different look than the rest of the lines in the paragraph

Add this code at the top of your block:

          LINEWRAP(indent=29, newline_indent=29),
          

Above is another way to define the number of points to use for the indent. indent=29 is the same as indent=SPACER(29). With the code above if the line wraps because its too long it will indent 29 points and if the user enters a hard return into the field it will also indent 29 points.

A more precise way of aligning text is uses TABS, which can be defined at specific locations in your document. The following example block defines a tab at a precise location, 160 points from the left side of the card:

 
RightBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, LEFT,
                       ph1_label, TAB, Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
                       ph2_label, TAB, Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
                       ph3_label, TAB, Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
                       ph4_label, TAB, Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
                       ph5_label, TAB, Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
                       IF('E-mail:', TAB, card_email)],    
                       (122,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), tabs=[160])

Taking things one step further, one way to improve the block definition further would be to wrap each phone (label, tab and phone word) in an IF statement. This will ensure that phone labels do not appear in the imprint unless the end user has entered the corresponding phone number:

RightBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, LEFT, 
                       IF([ph1_label, TAB], Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
                       IF([ph2_label, TAB], Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
                       IF([ph3_label, TAB], Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
                       IF([ph4_label, TAB], Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
                       IF([ph5_label, TAB], Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
                       IF(['E-mail:', TAB], card_email), 
                       (122,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), tabs=[160])

Words are mostly used for putting together phones, using a specific word type called a PHONEWORD. Click on the "Words" tab to view all of the words currently defined for your Style. You will see some simple logic, followed by the Word definitions. The default templates included on all new sites include six PHONEWORDs.

Following in an example PHONEWORD for Phone 1:

Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph1_label, ph11, ph12, ph13, 
                                    ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '* (*) *-* * *')

PHONEWORDs combine dynamic form inputs (text entered by the user) along with static fields into a predetermined format. The various phone elements taken from the IMPRINT screen of the ordering site are first listed:

Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph1_label, ph11, ph12, ph13, 
                                    ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '* (*) *-* * *')

And then these fields are sequentially formatted using the portion of the PHONEWORD highlighted below:

Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph1_label, ph11, ph12, ph13, 
                                    ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '* (*) *-* * *')

Note that each form element requires it’s own place in the format, or an error would occur (the above example has 6 elements). If the label for Phone 1 (ph1_label) on your site was hard coded to "Main: " and the Phone Extension Label (ph1_ext_lbl) was "Ext.", this number would be formatted within this PHONEWORD to give the following example imprint:

Main:  (555) 555-1212 Ext. 1234

By changing the format used, you can make the phones match the corporate identity standards for phones. For example, if you want your phone number to appear with dots between the area code and phone digits (555.555.1212), you would merely change the PHONEWORD format as highlighted below:

Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph1_label, ph11, ph12, ph13, 
                                    ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '* *.*.* * *')

If you created an image representing the master or pre-printed "shell" for your item, you will need to upload it and add some information to the style file indicating the location of that file along with its properties. PageDNA has developed an automated system for taking care of this aspect of Style building.

Click on the "Previews" tab and then click the "Upload" button on the right panel. Choose "gif" from the drop-down list and then click "Browse..." to locate the GIF image on your local machine. Leave the other settings at their defaults, and then click "Upload" again to upload your image to the server and automatically insert code into the Previews section of your Style. After upload, you will see a message near the top of the gold screen saying something similar to this:

saved in: /home/inet/www/clients//yoursite/con/yourimage.gif
Combine /home/inet/www/clients//yoursite/con/yourimage.gif added. scale=2.0

You can click the "Previews" tab to see the code that was added to the Style, but you should be ready to go.

As explained in Appendix B, you will want to upload images that are already sized to the exact resolution you want to display your item to the end user. Assuming you are working on a standard business card, you would be uploading a 7 x 4 GIF file at 72 dpi. If you wish to display your item at a different scale, you may need to change the "scale" field in the "Preview" tab to match the scale of your item.

For example, if you were uploading a letterhead combine image, sized to 70% of the real-world document size, you would change "scale" to 0.7, as shown below:

{
  'normal': {
    'use_magick': 1,
    'combine_scale': 1.0,
    'combine': '/home/inet/www/clients//acme/con/bc_backer.gif',
    'scale': 0.7,
    'combine_offset': (0.0, 0.0),
  },
}

EPS files are uploaded in the same fashion as GIF files are, except that "eps" is selected from the drop-down list. Ensure that your EPS file has been converted to paths, that the EPS file is the same size as your document, and that the EPS file is placed correctly within this document. Upon uploading, code will be automatically added so that the EPS file is included in your style.

Sometimes, in custom situations, you may only want a particular EPS file to appear at certain times (example, if the user has checked a box requesting a sub-logo on their business card). This would qualify as a custom typesetting situation. Read more below about how to accommodate custom typesetting situations for more information on how to proceed, or contact PageDNA support for assistance.

Dealing with Double-Sided Items

Occasionally, you may need to include an item on your site that has a back side. To accomplish this, you will need to create a separate item and style for the backside. Make sure that both items use the x_item_class 'SosBackItem'. Define the tag for the backside as 'tag_back.sty', where "tag" is replaced by the name of the tag for the front side. In other words, if the tag for the front side is "bc", the backside's tag must be "bc_back". Of course, the style file will be bc_back.sty for the backside. That is half of the battle: making two styles show up for one item. The other part of the battle is making fields for the backside, where necessary. If your backside has hard-coded information or includes only information from the standard SOS forms, you are in great shape, just build the style as if it were a new item. If you need custom fields for the backside, the general approach is to make a custom item form (see Item Forms section for more information). Contact PageDNA support if you have any questions about this or any other aspect of creating double-sided items.

Detailed coverage of how to deal with various typography exceptions is covered in the next Chapter.

	Warning
	Note: this chapter is updated to reflect the use of the VSE. However in cases where the VSE misses the functionality to make the examples possible, the code for the old UI is left in place with a warning, like this one, above the example. If you are looking for the documentation of the old SEG UI, please go to "Typography Exceptions, Old User Interface".

As outlined earlier in the "Gathering Specs" portion of this document, following are examples of custom typesetting situations, including an explanation of how you would accommodate these situations programmatically within a style file.

This document illustrations some of the 'trickier' situations you may encounter with your variable imprint items. We are constantly adding to this section of our documentation to help you in your style building tasks.

Below are some very simple IF logic statements, highlighted inside a sample block for the name and title. We wish to show a space between the first and middle names but only if the user entered a middle name. We also want to show a comma and space between the users last name and their suffix (i.e., 'Ph.D'), but only if they have a suffix for this order.

F4, CENTER, name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ', name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
F3, card_title1, NEWLINE,
card_title2, NEWLINE,
card_division

The IF statements above look at everything inside their parenthesis and do a test. If there is a value in each element separated by commas in its list, it will show everything. Otherwise, it will show NOTHING at all. It is important for this reason to keep IFs surrounding as few items as possible, to ensure that one missing variable doesn't stop anything from showing up.

Another common scenario is needing to have a 'bridge' element appear, but only if both elements were entered by a user. A typical example is that the user may wish to have a bullet appear between two phone numbers, but only if BOTH phone numbers were entered. If only one or the other phone number was shown, then only show that number.

This is a little tricker and cannot easily be handled using IF, so PageDNA developed the JOIN3 construct, which lets you - as you might guess - join three elements together. If both of the 'outer' elements exist, the middle element will appear between the two outer elements. Let's look at an example:

F4, CENTER, JOIN3(Phone1Word, bullet2, Phone2Word), NEWLINE,

In the above example, the two outer elements being JOIN3ed are Phone 1 and Phone 2. The middle element - the bridge element - is the standard PageDNA variable for a bullet surrounded by a single space on each side - namely, bullet2.

If both phones appear, then JOIN3 will insert a spaced bullet in the middle. Otherwise, only one of the phones would appear. In this example, using IFs may have left a space in front of Phone2 or at the end of Phone1, pushing that line slightly out of center alignment. JOIN3 saved the day.

Lastly, you can 'nest' JOIN3s inside one another for dealing with multiple possibilities, such as bullets between any of 3 optional phones, shown below:

F4, CENTER, JOIN3(JOIN3(Phone1Word, bullet2, Phone2Word), bullet2, Phone3Word), NEWLINE,

In the above example the three things joined are the Phone1/bullet/Phone2 construct, the bridge of the spaced bullet, and then Phone 3. No matter what combination of Phone 1, 2 or 3 exist, this will show the bullet in the right spot.

There are many cases where the type on a product is limited by the amount of vertical room available. Following are examples to guide you through various ways you can handle this using VIPER.

F4, CENTER, name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ', 
name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
F3, card_title1, NEWLINE,
card_title2, NEWLINE,
card_division

F4, CENTER, name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
F3, card_title1, NEWLINE,
card_title2, NEWLINE,
card_title3, NEWLINE,
card_division


if len(NameBlock.lines) > 3:
  NameBlock.adjust(leading=-1)

if len(NameBlock.lines) == 3:
  NameBlock.adjust(leading=-1)
elif len(NameBlock.lines) >= 4:
  NameBlock.adjust(leading=-1.5)

totallines = len(NameBlock.lines) + len(AddressBlock.lines)

PhoneLines = DWIMLINES([F4,
        IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph5_label, ' ', Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph6_label, ' ', Phone6Word), NEWLINE,
])

vertical_pad = VSPACER(9)

if len(PhoneLines) > 3:
  vertical_pad = VSPACER(6)

F4,
IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
vertical_pad,
IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
vertical_pad,
IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
vertical_pad,
IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
vertical_pad,
IF(ph5_label, ' ', Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
vertical_pad,
IF(ph6_label, ' ', Phone6Word), NEWLINE,

PhoneLines = DWIMLINES([F1,
        IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph5_label, ' ', Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph6_label, ' ', Phone6Word), NEWLINE,
])

contact_font = F1
if len(PhoneLines) > 3:
  contact_font = F2

Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(contact_font, (ph11, ph12, ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '*.*.* * *')
Phone2Word = PHONEWORD(contact_font, (ph21, ph22, ph23, ph2_ext_lbl, ph24), '*.*.* * *')

  ...etc...(you need to redefine all six phone words)

contact_font,
IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
IF(ph5_label, ' ', Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
IF(ph6_label, ' ', Phone6Word), NEWLINE,

F1, WRAP, your_big_field, NEWLINE

F1, LINEWRAP, card_street1, NEWLINE,
card_street2, NEWLINE,
card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
card_country, NEWLINE,
' ', NEWLINE,
letter_body_text, ' ', NEWLINE,
letter_salutation, ' ', NEWLINE,
name_first, ' ', name_last

In many cases, there is a limited amount of horizontal room on a design or part of a design, requiring a change in behavior for the layout to work properly (or giving the user an error message). Following are the most common ways this is dealt with using PageDNA’s VIPER:

F1, RIGHT, Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
card_email

    
if F1.stringwidth(card_title1) > 120:
  COND("Your first title line is too long.  Please re-format and try again.")
      
  

    
if max(map(F1.stringwidth,[card_title1,card_title2,card_title3,card_title4])) > 120:
  COND("One or more of your title lines is too long.  Please re-format these fields and try again.")
      
  

F2, LEFT, card_street1, IF(', ', card_street2), NEWLINE,
card_street3, NEWLINE,
card_city, ', ', card_state, 
' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
IF(ph1_label,' ',Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
IF(ph2_label,' ',Phone2Word)

F1, LEFT, WRAP, card_company, NEWLINE,
card_street1, NEWLINE,
card_street2, NEWLINE,
card_city, ' ', card_state, ' ', card_zip

LEFT, WRAP, F1, 'To reserve tickets for you and your guest, please call ',
rsvp_phone, ' by ', rsvp_day, ', ', rsvp_mo, ' ', rsvp_dy, ', ', rsvp_yr, NEWLINE,

F2, WRAP, card_division, NEWLINE,
card_street1, NEWLINE,
card_street2, NEWLINE,
card_street3, NEWLINE,
card_city, IF(', ', card_state), ' ', card_zip

NameTitleBlock:

F2, WRAP,
name_first, IF(' ', name_last), NEWLINE,
card_title1, NEWLINE,
card_title2, NEWLINE,
card_title3, NEWLINE,
card_title4, NEWLINE,
card_title5, NEWLINE,

                       
if card_title1:
  title1_line = LINES(card_title1, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title1_line = ''
if card_title2:
  title2_line = LINES(card_title2, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title2_line = ''
if card_title3:
  title3_line = LINES(card_title3, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title3_line = ''
if card_title4:
  title4_line = LINES(card_title4, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title4_line = ''
if card_title5:
  title5_line = LINES(card_title5, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title5_line = ''

The following lines are the block content, the bold lines are added variables.

F2, WRAP,
name_first, IF(' ', name_last), NEWLINE,
title1_line, NEWLINE,
title2_line, NEWLINE,
title3_line, NEWLINE,
title4_line, NEWLINE,
title5_line, NEWLINE,

Make sure you set the tabs in the settings window:
tabs=[20]

card_title1_1=''
card_title1_2=''

if card_title1 == 'Marketing Program Coordinator, Certified Consumer Credit Counselor':
  card_title1_1 = 'Marketing Program Coordinator'
  card_title1_2 = 'Certified Consumer Credit Counselor'
elif card_title1 == 'Aging Specialist, Social Worker':
  card_title1_1 = 'Aging Specialist'
  card_title1_2 = 'Social Worker'
elif card_title1 == 'Another Sample Title, Social Worker':
  card_title1_1 = 'Another Sample Title'
  card_title1_2 = 'Social Worker'
else:
  card_title1_1 = card_title1

  
LEFT,
F1, IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '), name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
F2, card_title1_1, NEWLINE,
card_title1_2

F2, WRAP, card_division, NEWLINE,
card_street1, NEWLINE,
card_street2, NEWLINE,
card_street3, NEWLINE,
NOWRAP, card_city, IF(', ', card_state), ' ', card_zip

Using a Tabbed Leader

If using phone numbers with a tabbed leader, please see below for an example with a phone number.

Use a tabbed leader when you need the text to appear as follows:

Introduction ..................... Page 1

Chapter 1 ........................ Page 5

In the "Pre-blocks" section in Visual Style Editor, or at the top of the Blocks section in Style Editor Gold, add this code for static text:

def contentsline(font, content, page, width):			
  leftover = width - font.stringwidth(content + page)
  ndots, gap = divmod(leftover, font.stringwidth('.'))
  return [font, content, SPACER(gap/2), '.' * int(ndots), SPACER(gap/2), page]

Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([
       contentsline(F1, 'Introduction', 'Page 1', 108), NEWLINE, 
       contentsline(F1, 'Chapter 1', 'Page 5', 108), NEWLINE, 
       ], (206, 710), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE))

def contentsline: the variable contentsline can be changed to fit your needs. The definition of contentsline includes font, the left variable, the right variable and the overall width of a line.

leftover: change content and page to match your variables.

ndots: The only thing you may need to change in this line would be the '.' if you are using something else as the tabbed leader

return: change the variables content and page to match yours. You can change the leader from '.' to whatever you need as a tabbed leader.

For each line in the block, the font, text on the left, text on the right and the maximum width of the line of text is specified.

Another example using variable text

Figure 9.1. Tabbed Leader Using a Date

def daytimeline(font, day, time, width):
  leftover = width - font.stringwidth(day + time)
  ndots, gap = divmod(leftover, font.stringwidth('.'))
  return [font, day, SPACER(gap/2), '.' * int(ndots), SPACER(gap/2), time]

time1 = [time11_1, ' ', time11_2] + list(IF('–', time12_1, ' ',  time12_2))
time1 = ''.join(time1)

time2 = [time21_1, ' ', time21_2] + list(IF('–', time22_1, ' ',  time22_2))
time2 = ''.join(time2)

day1 = (day1mo + ' ' + day1dy + ', '+day1yr)

day2 = (day2mo + ' ' + day2dy + ', ' + day2yr)

if not day1mo:
  day1 = ''

if not day2mo:
  day2 = ''

Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
       daytimeline(F2, day1, time1, 300), NEWLINE, 
       daytimeline(F2, day2, time2, 300), NEWLINE, 
       ], (32, 95), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE))

def daytimeline: the variable daytimeline can be changed to fit your needs. The definition of daytimeline includes font, the left variable, the right variable and the overall width of a line.

leftover: change day and time to match your variables.

ndots: The only thing you may need to change in this line would be the '.' if you are using something else as the tabbed leader

return: change the variables day and time to match yours. You can change the leader from '.' to whatever you need as a tabbed leader.

time11_2, time12_2, time21_2 and time22_2 represent "am" and "pm"

The first "line" of the definition of each of the times sets the starting and ending times. The second line joins the starting and ending times together in one variable so it can be easily set in the block as a single variable.

The If statements for day1mo and day2mo are designed to prevent the separators between the month, day and year from printing if either of the dates is missing.

For each line in the block, the font, text on the left, text on the right and the maximum width of the line of text is specified.

An example that prevents the tabbed leader from appearing if there is no data

Figure 9.2. Tabbed Leader Label

def analysisline(font, analysis, percent, width): 
  if not (analysis or percent):
    return[]
  leftover = width - font.stringwidth(analysis + percent)
  ndots, gap = divmod(leftover, font.stringwidth('.'))
  return [font, analysis, SPACER(gap/2), '.' * int(ndots), SPACER(gap/2), percent] 

Block1 = DWIMBLOCK([ CENTER, LINEWRAP, 
         F1, CASE('upper'), IF(prod_name),VSPACER(5), NEWLINE,
         F2, IF(prod_subname), VSPACER(5), NEWLINE,
         F3, CASE(None), IF('DESCRIPTION', VSPACER(2), NEWLINE, 
         F5, descrip), VSPACER(5), NEWLINE,
         IF(F3, 'GUARANTEED ANALYSIS', VSPACER(2),NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l1, analy_r1, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l2, analy_r2, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l3, analy_r3, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l4, analy_r4, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l5, analy_r5, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l6, analy_r6, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l7, analy_r7, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l8, analy_r8, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l9, analy_r9, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l10, analy_r10, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l11, analy_r11, 216)), NEWLINE,
         IF(priceline(F4, analy_l12, analy_r12, 216))), NEWLINE,
         ], (149.6, 192), (CENTER, CENTER),(266,324))

The definition of analysisline is similar to the examples above for what should be changed.

In Block1, we start by collecting variable information above the lines showing the composition of the product that have the tabbed leader.

There can be up to 12 lines with a tabbed leader. These are the lines that begin with "IF(priceline" where each line contains the font, the first variable, second variable and the maximum length of the line.

In this example there is both a length limit of 266 points and a height limit of 324 points for the block.

Tabbed Leader with Phones

Figure 9.3. Tabbed Leader Using Phones

def phoneline(font, phone, label, width): 
  if not (phone or label):
    return[]
  leftover = width - (phone.width + font.stringwidth(label))
  ndots, gap = divmod(leftover, font.stringwidth('.'))
  return [font, phone, SPACER(gap/2), '.' * int(ndots), SPACER(gap/2), label] 

Block2 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT, LINEWRAP, 
         F6, card_company, NEWLINE,
         card_street1, NEWLINE,
         card_street2, NEWLINE,
         card_city, ' ', card_state, ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
         SPACER(15), phoneline(F8, Phone1Word, ph1_label, 105), NEWLINE,
         SPACER(15), phoneline(F8, Phone2Word, ph2_label, 105), NEWLINE,
         IF(SPACER(15),card_email), NEWLINE,
         F2, IF(SPACER(15), card_www), NEWLINE,
        ], (10, 202), (LEFT,TOP_BASELINE))

In this example, we need to determine the width of the phone number differently because the PhoneWord is an object. So, the line that begins with leftover shows this change in bold.

To indent, the simplest method is to add a SPACER command to the beginning of the line. The SPACER will have no affect if the line is empty due to "return[]".

However, the SPACER before card_email and card_www needs to be enclosed in an IF statement to prevent the SPACER from appearing and activating the NEWLINE command, which would result in a blank line.

Everything else is similar to the other examples given above.

PageDNA offers robust support for scaling and cropping images - whether user uploaded or chosen from a list of pre-loaded assets. Read on to learn how these features work.

Setting up a user photo or file upload field

You can set up an item which allows the user to upload a logo, photo, or any other files you may wish to receive.

For information on setting up custom items where you want the user to upload the entire piece as finished artwork, please see Special Request Items.

For information on setting up custom items with real-time estimation tools, please see Quotes and Quotes Plus.

First, a form needs to be created or edited to include an upload field. Upload fields can be added to Form Editor and Shared Item forms. There are two upload fields. The File Upload to Style Button is simplest, and you may find it adequate. It is found under the Upload section when adding a new field. The File Upload Button field is more complex. It allows for greater control, especially regarding file types and color space, and allows user cropping to be disabled. When adding a new field, it is found under the Advanced section.

File Upload To Style Button Field

	Important
	If you need to not allow cropping for an uploaded image, you will need to use the File Upload Button field, described below.

Figure 9.5. File Upload To Style Button Field

First, configure an image upload input: In your item form, add a new field. Expand the Upload section, and select File Upload To Style Button for the field type.

• Variable Name: Enter a variable name, e.g. upload_file. This will be used in the style when you create a new Photo Block.

  Variable Names can be shared on a site as long as the site is using the multi-imprint (shopping basket) feature.

• Field Label: This will appear beside the field for the user, e.g. "Upload File:"

• File Conversion: Enable the Original Color or Black and White radio button as needed.

• Aspect Ratio Checking - EPSWORD Width: Enter the minimum size in points. There are 72 points per inch.

• Aspect Ratio Checking - EPSWORD Height: Enter the minimum height in points.

• Aspect Ratio Checking - Minimum Resolution: Enter the minimum resolution you are willing to print this image, e.g. 300 (for 300 dpi).

Note

The user will be able to crop the uploaded image if cropping has been enabled on the site. This is done in the menu in Web Templates > File Upload Popup only when using the Flash-based File Uploader. If you specify both the width and height, the user will be presented with a single slider to adjust the size of the cropped area. The aspect ratio will be maintained as the area to be cropped is adjusted. The user will not be able to crop to less than the minimum dimensions specified. If you specify only one dimension, the user will be presented with two sliders to adjust the cropped area's height and width. They will not be able to crop to less than the minimum dimension specified. The user can drag the cropped area around to capture the part of the image they need. After cropping, there is a Crop button on the form. So, the user can re-crop the image after proofing.

File Upload Button Field

Figure 9.6. File Upload Button Field

As mentioned above, the File Upload Button field allows for more control of file types and color space. If you need to disable cropping, you will need to use this field type.

• Variable Name: Variable associated with style.

• Label: What you want to show on the in form for the field name.

• Required: Check to make this a required field.

• Use Popup Window: This creates a separate popup window which is used to upload the file.

• Allow user to remove image after upload: As described.

• Attach to Emails: Use these to select which email(s) will have this image attached.

• Convert to EPS: In order for an item to proof with the uploaded image, a conversion method must be selected.

• Dimension Checking: The system will check the dimensions of the file being uploaded. It will present an error to the user if the minimums are not met.

• Aspect Ratio Checking: The system will check the aspect ratio of the file being uploaded. It will present an error to the user if the minimums are not met.

• Enable Cropping: This allows the use to use our crop tools to pictures uploaded in this field. The Flash based uploader must be used in order to use the cropping tools. For more information on cropping, see User Controlled Image Cropping.

• File Format Checking: The system will check the uploaded files to ensure that they are one of the checked File Types and Colorspaces. To not put any limitations on what can be uploaded, simply uncheck all boxes.

Second, a Photo Block needs to be added into the style. Multiple blocks can be added for multiple uploads.

Figure 9.7. Add Photo Block

• Block Name: The name of your block in the style. Don't use spaces in this name.

• Variable Name: This variable needs to match the one from your form.

• Filename Path: For uploaded images, leave this blank. A selection would only be made here if you were calling files already existing in a site directory, perhaps through a drop-down selection.

• Select File: Used to change or replace existing artwork in a style, not for user upload.

• Layer: Layer in which the uploaded art sits. For more information on Layers, see Stacking Image Layers.

• Scale: Lets you adjust the scale of image dimensions.

• Resize: Lets you set measurements that uploaded images will resize too.

• Preserve Aspect Ratio: This preserves the Aspect Ration of the original uploaded image, and it is recommended to leave this checked.

• Crop: This setting will auto-crop the image to allow it to fit into the defined picture area. Preserve Aspect Ratio is taken into account first by the system to prevent skewing of the uploaded image.

Once the new Photo Block is created, it will display as an empty block in the style, with the words No Image, and an arrow to show the orientation of the block.

Figure 9.8. Samples

If you need to display a photo or logo more than once on a style, you can do so. This is true if you are working in the blocks, preblocks, or postblocks tabs of the Visual Style Editor (VSE) or in the code window of Style Editor Gold (SEG). If you are using the blocks tab in the VSE and you build a photo block that calls for a photo that's already been called elsewhere in the style, you'll get a popup message notifying you of the duplication.

Photo/Logo Cropping and Scaling

Photo Cropping

A key selling point for any web-based solution is the ability to upload images or custom graphics as part of a business card, flyer, or brochure. However, users don't want to give up control over how images appear and are placed in a document. The PageDNA system contains tools which help control both quality and placement of images uploaded by the user into any variable print item.

Note: This section of the documentation explains how to use photos in the newer "Visual Style Editor" interface which is much easier to use than Style Editor Gold. For help with older styles using "Style Editor Gold", please Photo/Logo Cropping and Scaling - Style Editor Gold

In this example, we have a business card which will have an uploaded photo placed upon it. The base style looks like this:

Figure 9.9. Style shown with empty Photo Block added

A "block" for the photo has been added to this style (Cyan rectangle with "no image" within it) as is own block by clicking the add photo block icon (the mountains with a green plus sign) from the button bar. A block is essentially a container for either text or images.

Figure 9.10. Editing Photo Block attributes

The Edit Block (Pencil) tool shows the attributes of the image block as well as some information about how the image is going to behave when placed into it.

Note that "Scale" and "Resize" are exclusive - meaning that if a value is entered in Resize, then Scale is ignored. In the above example the maximum width of the window is 54 points while the maximum height is 81 points.

There are 2 other settings which control the re-sizing of an image and which can affect the outcome dramatically - "Preserve aspect ratio" and "Crop".

Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height of the image. In the example the photo is about 50% taller than it is wide which makes the aspect ratio 1.5, or width x 1.5 = height. For a photo, you almost always want width to change when height changes, and vice versa. If this box is unchecked, the following "Too Wide" or "Too Narrow" could occur:

Figure 9.11. Aspect ratio examples

The Preserve aspect ratio command when used in conjunction with resize will fit the entire image into the defined picture window by sizing the entire image down so the longest dimension fits within the window. This command does not crop any portion of the uploaded image. It produces an image which looks like this:

Figure 9.12. Preserve Aspect Ratio results

Note that the width of the image is actually narrower than the block.

Figure 9.13. Preserve Aspect Ratio results

Enabling the Crop option will shrink the image until the narrowest dimension fits within the block, and the longer dimension will be trimmed. Above is an example of a cropped image. In this case, the width has been matched to that of the block, and the top and bottom of the image have been trimmed accordingly.

Let's look at the "Preserve Aspect Ratio" and "Crop" commands on a sample business card.

Figure 9.14. Crop + Preserve Aspect Ratio Results

In the above example, the photo has been scaled to fully fit within the defined window. In this case, it works well is because the aspect ratio of the uploaded image is roughly that of the defined window.

Figure 9.15. Crop + Preserve Aspect Ratio Results - wide photo

However, In this example, a "landscape" image (wider than it is tall) gives unexpected results. To allow the width to fit, the height was reduced considerably and is now a bit too small.

The above demonstrates one of the reasons why it is important to use the "pre-flightng" tools available in the options for uploading an image, shown here for the two supported file upload buttons: the File Upload To Style Button field, found under the Upload section when adding a new field, and the File Upload Button field, found under the Advanced section.

First, a form needs to be created or edited to include an upload field. Upload fields can be added to Form Editor and Shared Item forms. There are two upload fields. The File Upload to Style Button is simplest, and you may find it adequate. It is found under the Upload section when adding a new field. The File Upload Button field is more complex. It allows for greater control, especially regarding file types and color space, and allows user cropping to be disabled. When adding a new field, the File Upload To Style Button field is located under the Upload section and the File Upload Button field is located under the Advanced section.

File Upload To Style Button Field

Figure 9.16. File Upload To Style Button Field

• Aspect Ratio Checking - EPSWORD Width: Enter the minimum size in points. There are 72 points per inch.

• Aspect Ratio Checking - EPSWORD Height: Enter the minimum height in points.

• Aspect Ratio Checking - Minimum Resolution: Enter the minimum resolution you are willing to print this image, e.g. 300 (for 300 dpi).

Note

The user will be able to crop the uploaded image if cropping has been enabled on the site. This is done in the menu in Web Templates > File Upload Popup only when using the Flash-based File Uploader. If you specify both the width and height, the user will be presented with a single slider to adjust the size of the cropped area. The aspect ratio will be maintained as the area to be cropped is adjusted. The user will not be able to crop to less than the minimum dimensions specified. If you specify only one dimension, the user will be presented with two sliders to adjust the cropped area's height and width. They will not be able to crop to less than the minimum dimension specified. The user can drag the cropped area around to capture the part of the image they need. After cropping, there is a Crop button on the form. So, the user can re-crop the image after proofing.

File Upload Button Field

Figure 9.17. File Upload Button Preflight Photo Controls

By specifying an aspect ratio, you can prevent images from being uploaded that won't "work" with the layout. To allow either "portrait" (tall) OR "landscape" (wide) images, it's best to use a square frame.

Figure 9.18. Photo block with Crop enabled

In the box above, the "Crop" command has been enabled. When used in conjunction with the preserve aspect ratio and resize commands, the crop command will fill the defined picture window with the narrowest dimension of the image, centering the image in the window, and cropping off the "extra" content of the longer dimension.

With the crop command turned on, our first image looks basically the same:

Figure 9.19. Tall photo with cropping

Although close inspection will show that the image is now slightly taller and the subject's shoulders have been slightly cropped out of the frame. This photo matches the original design spec very well.

But what happens when a photo which does not conform to the best aspect range is used?

Figure 9.20. Wide photo with cropping

The image is filling the full height of the frame, but since the subjects are wider than the window allows, their features are being cut out of the frame.

The issues above highlight why we recommend that any uploaded image also be attached to the vender email. Subjects which are out of center in the original or which are too wide or tall in general may be fixable by pre-press after the order is placed.

In all the examples so far the photo block has ben anchored in the center of the image, which is the recommended setting. However some designs will call for a photo to bleed. Photo or image blocks function in the same way that al other blocks function the anchors can be changed to accommodate bleeds or other design needs. In the following example the anchor has been moved to the top right to ensure that the image bleeds off the card.

Figure 9.21. Photo block with bleed

Enable User Controlled Image Cropping

The Image Cropping feature found within the File Uploader can be a quick and easy way for users to upload their own photograph and crop it to display how they'd like it to shown in their final product. It gives them the ability to crop, resize, and change aspect ratio on any photo they upload. However, any aspect ratio that you've defined within the style will be enforced upon the final edited version of the photo that the users submit.

This feature is only available for new photos as they are added to the system. Photos that are currently stored in profiles cannot utilize this tool at this time.

To provide this feature, you'll need to enable settings at both the site and item level.

First you'll need to make this feature available from the site's Main Menu. Select the File Upload Popup option under the Web Page Templates section of the Main Menu and then select the 'Use Flash-based File Uploader' button. Also check the checkbox labeled 'Allow User Image Cropping on this Site'.

Figure 9.22. File Upload Popup

Note

If the File Upload To Style Button field is used, and cropping is enabled on the site, the user will be able to crop their image. There is no option to disable cropping when using the File Upload To Style Button field. This field is found under the Upload section when adding a new field with the Form Editor. The rest of this document deals with the File Upload Button field, found under the Advanced section when adding a new field in the Form Editor.

Next the cropping feature needs to be enabled on each item that you want to have offer User Image Cropping. This can be done in either the Form Editor when using the File Upload Button field or the Generic Gold form. Cropping cannot be disabled for an individual field when using the File Upload To Style Button field.

If you are using the File Upload Button field, found under the Advanced section when adding a field, then you will need to check the 'Enable Cropping' checkbox when you are setting the options of the File Upload section.

Figure 9.23. File_upload_options

If you are using the Generic Gold form then you will need to select the checkbox labeled 'Enable Image Cropping' found at the end of the File Upload section.

Figure 9.24. Generic Gold File Options

Now that this feature has been enabled users will be presented with cropping and resizing tools when they upload their photo.  The tools provided are a size control slider and, if you've not enforced an aspect ratio, a height/width slider.  Additionally users can move the selection box around simply by clicking and dragging it to the area of the photo they want displayed.

Figure 9.25. Cropping Tool

Once a user is satisfied with their editing choices they can click the Crop Image button and proof their item before they continue with placing their order.

Figure 9.26. Cropping Fnished

There are cases where you want to move blocks around on a design, based on a variety of different conditions. VIPER supports the following common examples of ways to have blocks move around dynamically.

 

NameBlock:
  F1, name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
  name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
  F2, card_title1, NEWLINE,
  card_title2

NameBlock is aligned (LEFT, TOP) at (12,70)


AddressBlock:
  F2, card_division, NEWLINE,
  card_street1, NEWLINE,
  card_street2, NEWLINE,
  card_street3, NEWLINE,
  card_city, IF(', ', card_state), ' ', card_zip
 
AddressBlock is aligned (LEFT, BOTTOM) at (12,12)


Put this code in the "Postblocks" tab:
if len(AddressBlock.lines) == 5:
  NameBlock.move(0, 10)
elif len(AddressBlock.lines) >= 6:
  NameBlock.move(0, 20)

Block Centered Between Two Other Blocks

	Warning
	Note: the following in this section is currently not possible with the VSE in the "Blocks" tab. However you can use this example in the "Preblocks" tab. We probably will add functionality in a future version to make this possible from the "Blocks" tab.

You may need to create a style wherein a block of text 'floats' between two other blocks on the card, with the whitespace between this item and the other blocks even above and below. This is quite easy to accommodate with our system:

For the following example you will need to have the "Preblocks" and "Postblocks" tabs enabled. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs.

First, define the blocks that will reside above and below this block of text. Lets say - for this example - that the top block is the NameBlock, and it grows down from the top of the item; the bottom block is the AddressBlock, and grows from the bottom up. We will have a third block, called WebEmailBlock, floating evenly between these two blocks. Note: all of the example goes in the text area on the "Preblocks" tab.

 

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1, name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
                       name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
                       F2, card_title1, NEWLINE,
                       card_title2], (12,240), (LEFT, TOP))

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, IF(', ', card_state), 
                        ' ', card_zip], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

Next, we will draw the middle block (WebEmailBlock), but center it between the two blocks by specifying a Y (height) anchor point using the HCENTER in the block anchor point definition, as shown below:

# HCENTER(TopBlock,BottomBlock)
# so the example will be like below

EmailWebBlock = DWIMBLOCK([
                F1, card_email, NEWLINE,
                'www.nationsprint.com'], 
(12,HCENTER(NameBlock,AddressBlock)), (LEFT, MIDDLE))

The HCENTER command automatically finds the 'middle' of these two blocks and returns the appropriate y-height for this coordinate. Telling our middle block (EmailWebBlock) to grow from the MIDDLE ensures that the whitespace will be equalized on top and bottom. It is critical that the blocks above and below the middle block are 'drawn' first so that HCENTER knows how to find the middle, so the sequence of blocks does matter in this regard.

A similar command exists for finding the x-coordinate for the middle of two blocks. In this case, you use VCENTER, and would replace the x-coordinate in your block anchor definition.

Growing Blocks off Other Blocks

	Warning
	Note: the following in this section is currently not possible on the VSE's "Blocks" tab. However you can use this example on the "Preblocks" tab. We probably will add functionality in a future version to make this possible.

Occasionally you will need to have a block of text 'grow off' the end point of another block.

For the example below, we have two blocks of text. The block on the left side of the item (LeftBlock) grows from the bottom of the product, upward. The second block of text (RightBlock) grows from the top downward, but the top line of this block needs to be aligned with the top of the LeftBlock, regardless of how few or how many lines are in the LeftBlock. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs.

This is easy with VIPER. First, setup the LeftBlock with the BOTTOM anchor - make sure this is listed first in your style. After this, add your next block that will grow from the TOP down, with the anchor point set to the top of the first block per the example shown below. The following goes in the text area of the "Preblocks" tab:

 

    LeftBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, LEFT,
         card_street1, NEWLINE,
         card_street2, NEWLINE,
         card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
         card_email, NEWLINE,
         card_www,
     ], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), (110, 0))

    RightBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, RIGHT,
         mail_street1, NEWLINE,
         mail_street2, NEWLINE,
         mail_city, ', ', mail_state, ' ', mail_zip, NEWLINE,
         card_email2, NEWLINE,
         card_www2,
     ], (240,LeftBlock.calc_top()[1]-3.0), (RIGHT, TOP), (110, 0))

Note how we have replaced a traditional anchor point (an integer) with a function:

 

    LeftBlock.calc_top()[1]-3.0

Let's break this function down a bit. The first part:

 

    LeftBlock.calc_top()[1]

...gives you the _approximate_ Y coordinate (height) for the top baseline of this block - depending on how many lines are on this particular order, this will change to reflect the actual height for that particular imprint.

In our experience, it is necessary to adjust this with an 'adjustment factor' to get things to line up perfectly... in the case above, we are subtracting 3 points from the calculated value to get the actual "top" of the block:

 

    LeftBlock.calc_top()[1]-3

The best way to find the 'adjustment factor' is to open actual artwork generated by the style and measure how far off the block is in Illustrator, then adjust the number and test again until you are dead-on. The top of both blocks will from this point forward stay locked together 100% accurately.

Make sure your block names are updated from the examples above - for example, if your block is not called "LeftBlock", you would need to change that name in the calculate statement above.

If you need to find the bottom of a block, the function to use to find the bottom of a block is:

 

    LeftBlock.calc_lower_left()[1]

Once more, you can adjust this by adding or subtracting points, if needed, such as:

 

    LeftBlock.calc_lower_left()[1]-15

There are four other block methods you can use: _get_top(), _get_right(), _get_left(), _get_bottom(). Each method gets that edge (top, right, left, or bottom) of the block. Here is an example how it would look:

 

    LeftBlock._get_right()
or
    LeftBlock._get_right()+15

This is useful if you want to grow the right block off the right edge of the left block, for example.

Rotating Blocks

	Warning
	To rotate a block in Visual Style Editor, you will need to set the block entirely in either the Preblocks or Postblocks tabs. The Blocks tab does not support the ANGLE command.

Scenario: Some of the blocks of text on an item are rotated on the item.

Solutions: Use the ANGLE command to rotate the block an appropriate number of degrees.

First, create your block as you would normally in SEG. Below is a simple block with only a single field - a hard coded website address:

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
'www.yourwebsite.com'
], (126,75), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE))

Now, all we need to do is wrap this block with the ANGLE command, specifying how many degrees we wish to have this block rotated. In this case, we are going to rotate the block upside down - 180 degrees:

NameBlock = ANGLE(DWIMBLOCK([F1,
'www.yourwebsite.com'
], (126,75), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE)), 180)

Note: the code above goes in the "Preblocks" tab. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs.

Drawing Lines with Dynamic Length

Warning

Note: the following in this section is currently not possible on the VSE's "Blocks" tab. However you can use this example on the "Preblocks" tab. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs. We might add functionality in a future version to make this possible.

Scenario: Need to draw a line that varies by the height of a block it is next to.

Solutions: See below

In the example code below a vertical line was required to separate phone designations from phone numbers. The length of the line needed to vary depending on the number of phone lines used. In order to achieve this the real height of the block must be calculated and the line must be added as a separate block from the phone words.

Block2 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
        IF(F5, ph1_label, '  ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(F5, ph2_label, '  ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(F5, ph3_label, '  ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(F5, ph4_label, '  ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
        ], (18.5, 10.2), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

x = (Block2.height-3.7)

Line = DWIMBLOCK([VLINEWORD( .90, x, .90, x, color=BLACK), ], (122.6,
 Block2.calc_lower_left()[1]-.1), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

First set the main block of type in position on the item.

Second figure out how tall that block of type is and how tall to make the line. ( Block2.height-3.7) reads - calculate the total height of Block2 and subtract 3.7 points from the total. Making a line which is shorter than the block. Change (Block2.height-3.7) to (Block.height+3.7) to make a line which is taller than the block.

Third start to draw the line using the VLINEWORD command. VLINEWORD( .90, x, .90, x, color=BLACK) VLINEWORDIn the example below the line has a stroke weight of .9 points while it's height is x or the height of Block2-3.7 points

Fourth, position the line block so that it falls in the correct position in relation to the phone designations and numbers.

Warning

Note: the following in this section is currently not possible on the VSE's "Blocks" tab. However you can use this example on the "Preblocks" tab. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs. We might add functionality in a future version to make this possible.

	Tip
	The method described below may be achieved more easily with Sub Logo Setup in the menu and a Sublogo Selection field in an Item Form. Please see the documentation for sublogo - Sublogo Selection Field.

Let's assume for the sake of demonstration that you have a business card which can optionally include 1, 2 or 3 'sublogos', depending on user selection while ordering. These logos need to be placed such that they do not write over each other.

To further illustrate the power of programming in styles, we are additionally going to show an example where these sublogos are required to higher on the card if the user has additional title lines - so as to keep consistent white-space between the name and title block and these sublogos:

The below example illustrates our goal:

Figure 9.27. Desired Behavior of Example Style

First, we need to prepare our sublogos. Save sublogos in EPS format, making sure the bounding box around the sublogo is tight and consistent between multiple sublogos. Save your sublogos with simple, memorable filenames lacking spaces or 'funny characters'.

In this example, we will have three possible sublogos: 1) CCIE.eps 2) CCDP.eps 3) CCNP.eps - save your sublogos to a location on your computer you can remember later when we enter Style Editor Gold and upload the files.

In the 'Edit Items' interface, activate the 'sublogo' item form for your item by selecting 'sublogo' from the item_form option (shown below) and then Save your item.

Figure 9.28. Activate the Sublogo Form

Now return to the Menu and locate your item form, which will appear in a new Menu section titled "Item Form Templates". The menu item will have the 'tag' of your style in the name. In this example, we are editing a style with a tag of "bc_1", so the menu item appears as follows:

Figure 9.29. Locate Sublogo Form in Menu

Click this link to open the sublogo form configuration interface. For our example, we will configure our form to have Check boxes and three sublogo options. We will opt to have the products' tag appended to the field name, in case we wish to add sublogo forms to other items on the site later.

Figure 9.30. Configure Sublogo Form

Upload your EPS files to the site using Style Editor Gold. Click the "Upload" button for your style (in our case, 'bc_1.sty') and then un-check the "Make EPS word/preview block" option. We un-select this option each time we upload because we are going to create our blocks manually later - right now we simply want to upload the EPS files to the /con directory on the site for later reference.

Figure 9.31. Upload EPS to /con directory

Upload all EPS files, one at at time, and then click on the 'Blocks' tab. First we need to insert some code into our style to force the user input into a 'list', no matter what the user submitted:

 

import notions
try:
  bc_1_sublogos = notions.force_list(bc_1_sublogos)
except:
  bc_1_sublogos = []
notions = None

This code ensures that the list of sublogos is in a list format.

Now we will set default x and y positions for the three possible sublogo blocks:

sublogo_1x = 25
sublogo_1y = 35

sublogo_2x = 25
sublogo_2y = 35

sublogo_3x = 25
sublogo_3y = 35

Now count how many sublogos we have in total.

sublogo_count = 0

if 'CCIE.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  sublogo_count = sublogo_count + 1 
if 'CCDP.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  sublogo_count = sublogo_count + 1 
if 'CCNP.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  sublogo_count = sublogo_count + 1 

In the situation where we have a single block, the block will be in the correct position based on our default x, y positions. However, if we have 2 or 3 sublogos, we need to move some of the sublogos around so that the sublogos are not on top of each other:

if sublogo_count == 2:
  if 'CCIE.eps' not in bc_1_sublogos:
    sublogo_3x = sublogo_3x + 17
  else:
    if 'CCDP.eps' not in bc_1_sublogos:
      sublogo_3x = sublogo_3x + 17
    if 'CCNP.eps' not in bc_1_sublogos:
      sublogo_2x = sublogo_2x + 17

if sublogo_count == 3:
  sublogo_1x = sublogo_1x + 17
  sublogo_2x = sublogo_2x + 34

Now we need to move the blocks around if the user has more titles, as these titles would bump against the sublogos if we didn't move them. This may or may not be necessary based on your style.

if card_title1 != '':
  sublogo_1y = sublogo_1y + 10
  sublogo_2y = sublogo_2y + 10
  sublogo_3y = sublogo_3y + 10

if card_title2 != '':
  sublogo_1y = sublogo_1y + 10
  sublogo_2y = sublogo_2y + 10
  sublogo_3y = sublogo_3y + 10

if card_title3 != '':
  sublogo_1y = sublogo_1y + 10
  sublogo_2y = sublogo_2y + 10
  sublogo_3y = sublogo_3y + 10

Lastly, we write the blocks themselves, but only if the user checked that particular checkbox. Note that each blocks under the "if" statements begin indented in two spaces from the left margin:

if 'CCIE.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  SublogoBlock1 = DWIMBLOCK([
      EPSWORD('con/CCIE.eps'),
      ],
      (sublogo_1x, sublogo_1y),
      (LEFT, BOTTOM), layer=-1)

if 'CCDP.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  SublogoBlock2 = DWIMBLOCK([
      EPSWORD('con/CCDP.eps'),
      ],
      (sublogo_2x, sublogo_2y),
      (LEFT, BOTTOM), layer=-1)

if 'CCNP.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  SublogoBlock3 = DWIMBLOCK([
      EPSWORD('con/CCNP.eps'),
      ],
      (sublogo_3x, sublogo_3y),
      (LEFT, BOTTOM), layer=-1)

Warning

Note: the following in this section is currently not possible on the VSE's "Blocks" tab. However you can use this example on the "Preblocks" tab. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs. We might add functionality in a future version to make this possible.

There are cases where you want to change color shown in a style file dynamically based on user input. Following is one way to configure this. There are two steps: configuring a form to allow user color selection, and then style logic to change the color in the layout.

STEP 1: CONFIGURE GENERIC GOLD FORM:

To control a color in a style dynamically from a user input, the first step is to build the custom Drop-Down list using a "Generic Gold" form input. In this case, let's say that the two PMS colors we want to allow are:

    PANTONE 7455 C (blue)
    PANTONE 149 C (peach).

You would want your drop-down to present something human-understandable to the users (such as a color name) so we will use the following for our Generic Gold drop-down list values:

    7455|Blue
    149|Peach (light orange)

When using this format, the code to the left of the vertical bar will be sent to the style - the name to the right of the vertical bar will be displayed to users. In this case we are using the fieldname "bc_color" for the drop-down list:

Figure 9.32. Create "Generic_Gold" drop-down input for colors

STEP 2: CONFIGURE STYLE LOGIC

One way to define colors in PageDNA’s system is the CUSTOMCOLOR command.

In most cases colors are defined in the 'fonts' tab and are given a code (eg: C1) that is referred to later - for example, when defining a font. A custom color definition looks like the following:

C1 = CUSTOMCOLOR('PANTONE 7455 C', 0.86, 0.73, 0.01, 0.00)

The four numbers shown after the formal Pantone name define the cyan, magenta, yellow and black percentages... for the above font, these are:

c: 86%
m: 73%
y: 1%
k: 0%

This happens to be a medium blue color. You can get these out of Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop using the "custom" and "picker" color palettes.

Next, at the top of the fonts tab we need to add the following logic to test the value selected by the user and change the custom color definition dynamically. Depending on what is chosen, one of two possible colors is set to be 'C1' for this proof:

if bc_color == '7455':
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.86, 0.73, 0.01, 0.00, 'PANTONE 7455 C'
else:
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.02, 0.25, 0.51, 0.00, 'PANTONE 149 C'

C1 = PROCESSCOLOR(color1_name, float(color1_c), float(color1_m), float(color1_y), float(color1_k))

Note that the section where we assign the CMYK and font color values are indented two spaces - this is important for the code to work right. If you need more than two colors, use the 'elif' term to add as many as needed:

if bc_color == '7455':
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.86, 0.73, 0.01, 0.00, 'PANTONE 7455 C'
elif bc_color == '149':
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.91, 0.73, 0.03, 0.00, 'PANTONE 100 U'
else:
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.02, 0.25, 0.51, 0.00, 'PANTONE 149 C'

C1 = PROCESSCOLOR(color1_name, float(color1_c), float(color1_m), float(color1_y), float(color1_k))

It is recommended that you always have an 'else' logic test as the final test to catch any possible exception so the user does not ever see a "fatal error" when proofing.

Lastly, just below this login, simply define your font or fonts using the C1 color definition:

F1 = FONT('Univers-CondensedOblique', 8, 1, -.15, color=C1)

Whichever C1 is currently selected by the end-user would be used for that artwork proof.

Warning

Note: the following in this section is currently not possible on the VSE's "Blocks" tab. However you can use this example on the "Preblocks" tab. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs. We might add functionality in a future version to make this possible more directly.

There are cases where you want your users to be able to change the font on a product. PageDNA supports this.

One way to configure this is to give the user a drop-down list of fonts. In this approach, there are two steps: first configuring a form to allow font selection, and then changing the fonts in your style to "listen" for the input your user chose.

STEP 1: CONFIGURE GENERIC GOLD FORM:

To control a user in a style dynamically from a drop-down list, the first step is to build a custom item form. Edit your item in the "Item Editor". Click on the "custom" tab and look at the item form - if not already enabled, add a "generic_gold" form. Upon saving, you will see a new link to edit the "item form". Click this and scroll down to configure your first input (Below the first "Jump Bar").

In your generic_gold form, create a custom "drop down list" and enter one font name your users will be allowed, per line. You will need to know the official font name for each font you use. Provided you own a copy of the font you select, you can get the PostScript names of your uploaded fonts at http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/font/showfonts.cgi?text=1

Times-ExtraBold
Times-Semibold
Times-SemiboldItalic

The above format shows how the exact spelling and capitalization was copied from the list of installed fonts. This is important because without the exact spelling, the font will not work. You usually will want your drop-down to present something human-understandable to the users (such as a color name) so we will use the following for our Generic Gold drop-down list values:

Times-ExtraBold|Extra Bold
Times-Semibold|Semi-Bold
Times-SemiboldItalic|Semi-Bold Italic

When using this format, the code to the left of the vertical bar will be sent to the style - the name to the right of the vertical bar will be displayed to users. In this case we are using the fieldname "bc_font" for the drop-down list:

Figure 9.33. Create "Generic_Gold" drop-down input for font

STEP 2: CONFIGURE STYLE LOGIC

Now that we have the font selection from the user, we need to add it to some or all fonts on the product. When you are using VSE this is done in the "Preblocks" tab of the style, not on the "Fonts" tab. Visit the Item Editor and edit your item. Once editing your item, click the name of the style - it will appear similar to 'bc.sty'. Two sided items will have two styles - each style may need to be edited. Again, if you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs.

A normal font definition, as you would use in the SEG with unconverted styles, looks like this:

F1 = FONT('HelveticaNeue-Bold', 6.0, 0.0, 0.0)

As you can see, the font name is 'hardcoded' in quote marks. To activate the font, we simply pass in the field name from the custom form we just created. In the example above, I used bc_font. If I wished to activate the font above, I would merely change the definition to:

F1 = FONT(bc_font, 6.0, 0.0, 0.0)

So these are the steps you do in VSE:

Voila! The font is changed to whatever the user selected. Be sure to always give a unique field name for every drop-down list, so the inputs don't "collide".

You can use form editor drop-down lists to allow the user to select the specific font, color and size for any given font in a style. The information below will allow you to create and adjust the F1 font based on user selection.

Setting up the form:

A basic form with 3 choices would look like this when editing:

Figure 9.34. Font options

Make sure your drop-down choices match the lists in your style, like this:

Figure 9.35. List options

Setting Up The Style:

If you are using VSE, be sure to visit the Variables tab and add the variables used in your form. Any colors you are using will need to be added to the Colors tab.

It is important when using VSE that you do NOT define the variable for the font in the Fonts tab. In the example here, the variable is font_sel_1. It needs to be defined in the Preblocks tab

Add this text Preblocks tab of VSE(descriptive notes are marked with a #):

#This text maps the drop-down choices in the form for font_sel_1. The font name to the  
#right of the colon is the exact font name as listed in Installed Fonts in our system.
font_map = {
  'Comic Sans':'ComicSansMS-Bold',
  'Helvetica':'Helvetica-Black',
  'Bauhaus':'Bauhaus-Medium',
}

font_default = 'TimesNewRoman-Bold'
        
#This text maps the drop-down choices in the form for font_size_1. The number to the 
#right of the colon is the exact point size of your font.  This should match the left 
#hand side values exactly.
font_size = {
  '10':10,
  '12':12,
  '14':14,
}

font_size_default = 12
        
#This text maps the drop-down choices in the form for font_color_1.  The color name
#to the right of the colon is the color as defined in the colors tab of VSE, 
#or Fonts tab of SEG.
color_map = {
  'Green':C1,
  'Red':C2,
  'Blue':C3,
  'Black':C4,
}

color_default = C4
        
#This is the definition of F1.  It is comprised of our variables.  The 2,0 in the middle 
#line sets the leading and tracking of the font.
F1 = FONT(font_map.get(font_sel_1, font_default),
font_size.get(font_size_1, font_size_default),2,0,
color_map.get(font_color_1, color_default))
F1.scalemethod = 'hscale'
        
#This is the definition of F2.  Notice, in this sample, how we're using the same  
#variables for font selection and color selection.  This means that one selection   
#on the form will change the font and color of both fonts. In this example, the size,
#leading, and tracking are preset in the middle line.
F2 = FONT(font_map.get(font_sel_1, font_default), 8,2,0, color_map.get(font_color_1, color_default))

Troubleshooting:

If you are having issues making this work, try these troubleshooting tips:

Make sure your variables in the form match your variables in the style.

Make sure your choices in the drop-down lists match exactly, including case, with the choices in your style.

Make sure you have all of your colors defined in the Colors tab.

Make sure you're calling the F1 font in your Block.

Dingbats and Wingdings are types of fonts that fall outside the "normal" definitions. In order for the font to work you need to select NONISOFONT from the drop list of types in the fonts tab when you create the font. You can also change the font type after you have created the font. By default the Change Type drop-down list is set to FONT.

Phones are a bit of a different story. US style phones are made up of up to 6 different inputs. these are the ones associated with Phone 1:

Normally a PhoneWord handles the formatting for you. In this case the need to use a special character as a separator removes the PhoneWord as a good option.

First, you need to define your Dingbat or Wingding as its own variable:

dingbat = [FX, ' D ', FY]
      

Where FX is the font that uses the dingbat font and FY is the font for the rest of the phone number and the string "space bar D space bar" is a leading and trailing space with the correct character to make the symbol you need.

You can set a phone number up in a regular block with a little effort. The following statement would work if the first phone number always had to have a label and an extension.

IF(ph1_label, ' ', ph11, dingbat, ph12, dingbat, ph13, ' ', ph1_ext_lbl, ' ', ph14)
      

If not, you need some code to set the phones even if some parts are missing and to remove the phone label if the phone is missing.

If you are using Visual Style Editor (VSE), Enable Block Logic for VSE by clicking the Enable Block Logic checkbox in the Other tab of your style or enable it in the Page tool in the grey toolbar in the Blocks tab. This will add two new tabs to your style: Preblocks and Postblocks.

In the Preblocks tab, the following logic,which needs to be done for each phone number, will print the extension label only if there is an extension number:

if not ph14:
  ph1_ext_lbl = ''
else:
  ph1_ext_lbl = (' '+ph1_ext_lbl+' ')
      

That will set the extension label to either nothing or it will append a leading and trailing space bar to the label if there is an extension.

And the following logic, which must also be done for each phone, will prevent the phone label from printing if the phone prefix is missing:

if not ph12:
  ph1_label = ''
      

Now a JOIN3 statement will work in your block to join the elements comprising the phone number with the separating character:

LEFT, F1, JOIN3(ph1_label, ' ', JOIN3(ph11, dingbat, JOIN3(ph12, dingbat, JOIN3(ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14)))), NEWLINE
      

This will result in something like this:

Figure 9.36. Dingbat Used as a Separator in a Phone Number

You can use commands in a block instead of adding a font to the style's Fonts tab to print a barcode in black. (This does not preclude the need for you to own the font.) Clicking on the commands for the supported fonts below will take you to their documentation in the Style Command Reference Guide. The commands for the supported fonts are:

Additional documentation for QRCODE and how to apply it can be found here.

	Important
	You will need to enable Block Logic in VSE to use the barcode commands. The block will need to be placed in either the Preblocks tab or Postblocks tab.

You can use the scalefactor command to uniformly scale the barcode, or you can specify the height and width of the barcode.

Change the Color and/or Background Color of a Barcode:

You can change the color of a barcode by defining a color in the Colors tab of Visual Style Editor and calling it following the barcode command. Please refer to the barcode's documentation and/or the barcode scanner's documentation to make sure the color is supported. This is the correct method because barcode commands above are not a font. For example:

To set the barcode in a color other than black:

        QRCODE('text', color=C1)        
      

You can add a background color as follows:

        QRCODE('text', backgroundcolor=C2)        
      

Combined, they would look like this:

        QRCODE('text', color=C1, backgroundcolor=C2)        
      

Here is an example using scalefactor with the CODE128 barcode command applied to the numbers 0-9:

Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([CENTER,
        CODE128('0123456789', scalefactor=.5), NEWLINE,
        ], (126, 9), (CENTER, BOTTOM))

Figure 9.37. Barcode Using a Scalefactor

Here is an example resizing the barcode to 72 points wide by 48 points tall:

Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([CENTER,
        CODE128('0123456789', 72, 48), NEWLINE,
        ], (126, 9), (CENTER, BOTTOM))
      

Figure 9.38. Barcode with Size Restricitons

Sometimes it is desirable to add a company's URL, or any other line of type to their product (say, a business card) but only if there is enough room. The following example adds a company website to an address block, but only if there are 5 or fewer phones and email adddresses on the card.

The folowing code can be placed in preblocks or at the top of the Blocks section if using SEG.

Set a balnk default url and the counter to zero

my_url = '' my_counter = 0

Then add the counting. For each line which is true add 1 to the main count.

        if Phone1Word:  my_counter += 1
        if Phone2Word:  my_counter += 1
        if Phone3Word:  my_counter += 1
        if Phone4Word:  my_counter += 1
        if Phone5Word:  my_counter += 1
        if card_email:  my_counter += 1
      

Then find out if the total is low enough to add the extra line of type.

        if my_counter less than or = 5:
          my_url = 'www.yourdomain.com'
      

The last thing to do is set you block using the variable my_url. It will either be nothing or get set tot he correct value based on their beign 5 or less lines of type used for fones and email.

In this example the user is required to select 1 of 2 choices in 2 different locations. They must pick at least one and may not select more than 1. For this example the h1_type_headline is a free entry text field and h1_headline is a list of choices with an option to choose other to free ly enter into h1_type_headline. To accomplish this a concept called exclusive-or is used.

        if bool(h1_type_headline) ^ bool(h1_headline):
          COND ('You cannot use two headlines. Pick one WildBlue headline  
        OR type a headline of your own.')
      

The bool() means whatever is inside is either true or false ('' would be false, 'This is a test' would be true). The ^ means 'exclusive-or'.

As outlined earlier in the "Gathering Specs" portion of this document, following are examples of custom typesetting situations, including an explaination of how you would accommodate these situations programmatically within a style file.

This document illustrations some of the 'trickier' situations you may encounter with your variable imprint items. We are constantly adding to this section of our documentation to help you in your style building tasks.

Below are some very simple IF logic statements, highlighted inside a sample block for the name and title. We wish to show a space between the first and middle names but only if the user entered a middle name. We also want to show a comma and space between the users last name and their suffix (ie, 'Ph.D'), but only if they have a suffix for this order.

      NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F4, CENTER,
         name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
         name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
         F3, card_title1, NEWLINE,
         card_title2, NEWLINE,
         card_division], (126,75), (CENTER, TOP_BASELINE))

The IF statements above look at everything inside their parenthesis and do a test. If there is a value in each element separated by commas in its list, it will show everything. Otherwise, it will show NOTHING at all. It is important for this reason to keep IFs surrounding as few items as possible, to ensure that one missing variable doesn't stop anything from showing up.

Another common scenario is needing to have a 'bridge' element appear, but only if both elements were entered by a user. A typical example is that the user may wish to have a bullet appear between two phone numbers, but only if BOTH phone numbers were entered. If only one or the other phone number was shown, then only show that number.

This is a little tricker and cannot easily be handled using IF, so PageDNA developed the JOIN3 construct, which lets you - as you might guess - join three elements together. If both of the 'outer' elements exist, the middle element will appear between the two outer elements. Let's look at an example:

      PhoneBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F4, CENTER,
         JOIN3(
           Phone1Word,
           bullet2,
           Phone2Word,
         ), NEWLINE,
         ], (126,30), (CENTER, BOTTOM))

In the above example, the two outer elements being JOIN3ed are Phone 1 and Phone 2. The middle element - the bridge element - is the standard PageDNA variable for a bullet surrounded by a single space on each side - namely, bullet2.

If both phones appear, then JOIN3 will insert a spaced bullet in the middle. Otherwise, only one of the phones would appear. In this example, using IFs may have left a space in front of Phone2 or at the end of Phone1, pushing that line slightly out of center alignment. JOIN3 saved the day.

Lastly, you can 'nest' JOIN3s inside one another for dealing with multiple possibilities, such as bullets between any of 3 optional phones, shown below:

      PhoneBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F4, CENTER,
         JOIN3(
           JOIN3(
             Phone1Word,
             bullet2,
             Phone2Word,
           ),
           bullet2,
           Phone3Word,
         ), NEWLINE,
         ], (126,30), (CENTER, BOTTOM))

In the above example the three things joined are the Phone1/bullet/Phone2 construct, the bridge of the spaced bullet, and then Phone 3. No matter what combination of Phone 1, 2 or 3 exist, this will show the bullet in the right spot.

There are many cases where the type on a product is limited by the amount of vertical room available. Following are examples to guide you through various ways you can handle this using VIPER.

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F4, CENTER,
                       name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
                       name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
                       F3, card_title1, NEWLINE,
                       card_title2, NEWLINE,
                       card_division], (126,75), (CENTER, TOP_BASELINE),
                       maxlines=(3), maxmsg=('You have too many lines in your
                       name/title.  You can only have 3 total lines.'))

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F4, CENTER,
                       name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
                       name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
                       F3, card_title1, NEWLINE,
                       card_title2, NEWLINE,
                       card_title3, NEWLINE,
                       card_division], (126,75), (CENTER, TOP_BASELINE))


if len(NameBlock.lines) > 3:
  NameBlock.adjust(leading=-1)

if len(NameBlock.lines) == 3:
  NameBlock.adjust(leading=-1)
elif len(NameBlock.lines) >= 4:
  NameBlock.adjust(leading=-1.5)

totallines = len(NameBlock.lines) + len(AddressBlock.lines)

PhoneLines = DWIMLINES([F4,
        IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph5_label, ' ', Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph6_label, ' ', Phone6Word), NEWLINE,
])

vertical_pad = VSPACER(9)

if len(PhoneLines) > 3:
  vertical_pad = VSPACER(6)

PhonesBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F4,
        IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
        vertical_pad,
        IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
        vertical_pad,
        IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
        vertical_pad,
        IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
        vertical_pad,
        IF(ph5_label, ' ', Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
        vertical_pad,
        IF(ph6_label, ' ', Phone6Word), NEWLINE,
        ], (20,20), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

PhoneLines = DWIMLINES([F1,
        IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph5_label, ' ', Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph6_label, ' ', Phone6Word), NEWLINE,
])

contact_font = F1
if len(PhoneLines) > 3:
  contact_font = F2

  Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(contact_font, (ph11, ph12, ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '*.*.* * *')
  Phone2Word = PHONEWORD(contact_font, (ph21, ph22, ph23, ph2_ext_lbl, ph24), '*.*.* * *')

  ...etc...

PhonesBlock = DWIMBLOCK([contact_font,
        IF(ph1_label, ' ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph2_label, ' ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph3_label, ' ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph4_label, ' ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph5_label, ' ', Phone5Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(ph6_label, ' ', Phone6Word), NEWLINE,
        ], (20,20), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

BigTextBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1, WRAP, LINES(your_big_field, wrap=220, font=F1, maxheight=50),
        ], (20,20), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE), (220, 0))

letter_text = LINES(JOIN([
card_street1, NEWLINE,
card_street2, NEWLINE,
card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
card_country, NEWLINE,
' ', NEWLINE,
letter_body_text,
' ', NEWLINE,
letter_salutation,
' ', NEWLINE,
name_first, ' ', name_last
]), wrap=500, font=F1, maxheight=400, wrap_lf=1)

LetterBlock = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
        letter_text, NEWLINE
        ], (20,20), (LEFT,BOTTOM))

In many cases, there is a limited amount of horizontal room on a design or part of a design, requiring a change in behavior for the layout to work properly (or giving the user an error message). Following are the most common ways this is dealt with using PageDNA’s VIPER:

PhoneEmailBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1, RIGHT, 
                       Phone1Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone2Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone3Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone4Word, NEWLINE,
                       Phone5Word, NEWLINE,
                       card_email], (240,14), 
                       (RIGHT, BOTTOM), (150, 0))

    
      F1.scalemethod = 'hscale'
      
  

    
if F1.stringwidth(card_title1) > 120:
  COND("Your first title line is too long.  Please re-format and try again.").
      
  

    
if max(map(F1.stringwidth,[card_title1,card_title2,card_title3,card_title4])) > 120:
  COND("One or more of your title lines is too long.  Please re-format these fields and try again.").
      
  

AddressPhoneBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, LEFT,
                       card_street1, IF(', ', card_street2), NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ', ', card_state, 
                       ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
                       IF(ph1_label,' ',Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
                       IF(ph2_label,' ',Phone2Word)], (459, 649),
                       (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE), (124, 0), uniform_linescale=1)

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1, LEFT, WRAP,
                       card_company, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, ' ', card_state, ' ', card_zip
                       ], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), (120, 0))

RSVPBlock = DWIMBLOCK([ LEFT, WRAP,
F1, 'To reserve tickets for you and your guest, please call ', rsvp_phone,
' by ', rsvp_day, ', ', rsvp_mo, ' ', rsvp_dy, ', ', rsvp_yr, NEWLINE,
], (25,25), (LEFT, BOTTOM), (372, 0))

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, WRAP,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, IF(', ', card_state), 
                        ' ', card_zip], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), (100, 0))

NameTitleBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, WRAP,
                       name_first, IF(' ', name_last), NEWLINE,
                       card_title1, NEWLINE,
                       card_title2, NEWLINE,
                       card_title3, NEWLINE,
                       card_title4, NEWLINE,
                       card_title5, NEWLINE,
], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), (100, 0))

                       
if card_title1:
  title1_line = LINES(card_title1, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title1_line = ''
if card_title2:
  title2_line = LINES(card_title2, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title2_line = ''
if card_title3:
  title3_line = LINES(card_title3, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title3_line = ''
if card_title4:
  title4_line = LINES(card_title4, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title4_line = ''
if card_title5:
  title5_line = LINES(card_title5, font=F2, wrap=100, align=LEFT, newline=[NEWLINE,TAB])
else: title5_line = ''


NameTitleBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, WRAP,
                       name_first, IF(' ', name_last), NEWLINE,
                       title1_line, NEWLINE,
                       title2_line, NEWLINE,
                       title3_line, NEWLINE,
                       title4_line, NEWLINE,
                       title5_line, NEWLINE,
], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), (100, 0), tabs=[20])

card_title1_1=''
card_title1_2=''

if card_title1 == 'Marketing Program Coordinator, Certified Consumer Credit Counselor':
  card_title1_1 = 'Marketing Program Coordinator'
  card_title1_2 = 'Certified Consumer Credit Counselor'
elif card_title1 == 'Aging Specialist, Social Worker':
  card_title1_1 = 'Aging Specialist'
  card_title1_2 = 'Social Worker'
elif card_title1 == 'Another Sample Title, Social Worker':
  card_title1_1 = 'Another Sample Title'
  card_title1_2 = 'Social Worker'
else:
  card_title1_1 = card_title1

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
        F1, IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '), name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
        F2, card_title1_1, NEWLINE,
        card_title1_2
        ], (104.1, 117.0), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE))

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, WRAP,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       NOWRAP, card_city, IF(', ', card_state),
                        ' ', card_zip], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), (100, 0))

Using a Tabbed Leader

If using phone numbers with a tabbed leader, please see below for an example with a phone number.

Use a tabbed leader when you need the text to appear as follows:

Introduction ..................... Page 1

Chapter 1 ........................ Page 5

In the "Pre-blocks" section in Visual Style Editor, or at the top of the Blocks section in Style Editor Gold, add this code for static text:

def contentsline(font, content, page, width):			
            leftover = width - font.stringwidth(content + page)
            ndots, gap = divmod(leftover, font.stringwidth('.'))
            return [font, content, SPACER(gap/2), '.' * int(ndots), SPACER(gap/2), page]
            
            Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([
            contentsline(F1, 'Introduction', 'Page 1', 108), NEWLINE, 
            contentsline(F1, 'Chapter 1', 'Page 5', 108), NEWLINE, 
            ], (206, 710), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE))
          

def contentsline: the variable contentsline can be changed to fit your needs. The definition of contentsline includes font, the left variable, the right variable and the overall width of a line.

leftover: change content and page to match your variables.

ndots: The only thing you may need to change in this line would be the '.' if you are using something else as the tabbed leader

return: change the variables content and page to match yours. You can change the leader from '.' to whatever you need as a tabbed leader.

For each line in the block, the font, text on the left, text on the right and the maximum width of the line of text is specified.

Another example using variable text

Figure 10.1. Tabbed Leader Using Phones

def daytimeline(font, day, time, width):
            leftover = width - font.stringwidth(day + time)
            ndots, gap = divmod(leftover, font.stringwidth('.'))
            return [font, day, SPACER(gap/2), '.' * int(ndots), SPACER(gap/2), time]
            
            time1 = [time11_1, ' ', time11_2] + list(IF('–', time12_1, ' ',  time12_2))
            time1 = ''.join(time1)
            
            time2 = [time21_1, ' ', time21_2] + list(IF('–', time22_1, ' ',  time22_2))
            time2 = ''.join(time2)
            
            day1 = (day1mo + ' ' + day1dy + ', '+day1yr)
            
            day2 = (day2mo + ' ' + day2dy + ', ' + day2yr)
            
            if not day1mo:
            day1 = ''
            
            if not day2mo:
            day2 = ''
            
            Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
            daytimeline(F2, day1, time1, 300), NEWLINE, 
            daytimeline(F2, day2, time2, 300), NEWLINE, 
            ], (32, 95), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE))

def daytimeline: the variable daytimeline can be changed to fit your needs. The definition of daytimeline includes font, the left variable, the right variable and the overall width of a line.

leftover: change day and time to match your variables.

ndots: The only thing you may need to change in this line would be the '.' if you are using something else as the tabbed leader

return: change the variables day and time to match yours. You can change the leader from '.' to whatever you need as a tabbed leader.

time11_2, time12_2, time21_2 and time22_2 represent "am" and "pm"

The first "line" of the definition of each of the times sets the starting and ending times. The second line joins the starting and ending times together in one variable so it can be easily set in the block as a single variable.

The If statements for day1mo and day2mo are designed to prevent the separators between the month, day and year from printing if either of the dates is missing.

For each line in the block, the font, text on the left, text on the right and the maximum width of the line of text is specified.

An example that prevents the tabbed leader from appearing if there is no data

Figure 10.2. Tabbed Leader Using Phones

def analysisline(font, analysis, percent, width): 
            if not (analysis or percent):
            return[]
            leftover = width - font.stringwidth(analysis + percent)
            ndots, gap = divmod(leftover, font.stringwidth('.'))
            return [font, analysis, SPACER(gap/2), '.' * int(ndots), SPACER(gap/2), percent] 
            
            Block1 = DWIMBLOCK([ CENTER, LINEWRAP, 
            F1, CASE('upper'), IF(prod_name),VSPACER(5), NEWLINE,
            F2, IF(prod_subname), VSPACER(5), NEWLINE,
            F3, CASE(None), IF('DESCRIPTION', VSPACER(2), NEWLINE, 
            F5, descrip), VSPACER(5), NEWLINE,
            IF(F3, 'GUARANTEED ANALYSIS', VSPACER(2),NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l1, analy_r1, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l2, analy_r2, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l3, analy_r3, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l4, analy_r4, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l5, analy_r5, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l6, analy_r6, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l7, analy_r7, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l8, analy_r8, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l9, analy_r9, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l10, analy_r10, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l11, analy_r11, 216)), NEWLINE,
            IF(priceline(F4, analy_l12, analy_r12, 216))), NEWLINE,
            ], (149.6, 192), (CENTER, CENTER),(266,324))

The definition of analysisline is similar to the examples above for what should be changed.

In Block1, we start by collecting variable information above the lines showing the composition of the product that have the tabbed leader.

There can be up to 12 lines with a tabbed leader. These are the lines that begin with "IF(priceline" where each line contains the font, the first variable, second variable and the maximum length of the line.

In this example there is both a length limit of 266 points and a height limit of 324 points for the block.

Tabbed Leader with Phones

Figure 10.3. Tabbed Leader Using Phones

def phoneline(font, phone, label, width): 
            if not (phone or label):
            return[]
            leftover = width - (phone.width + font.stringwidth(label))
            ndots, gap = divmod(leftover, font.stringwidth('.'))
            return [font, phone, SPACER(gap/2), '.' * int(ndots), SPACER(gap/2), label] 
            
            Block2 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT, LINEWRAP, 
            F6, card_company, NEWLINE,
            card_street1, NEWLINE,
            card_street2, NEWLINE,
            card_city, ' ', card_state, ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
            SPACER(15), phoneline(F8, Phone1Word, ph1_label, 105), NEWLINE,
            SPACER(15), phoneline(F8, Phone2Word, ph2_label, 105), NEWLINE,
            IF(SPACER(15),card_email), NEWLINE,
            F2, IF(SPACER(15), card_www), NEWLINE,
            ], (10, 202), (LEFT,TOP_BASELINE))

In this example, we need to determine the width of the phone number differently because the PhoneWord is an object. So, the line that begins with leftover shows this change in bold.

To indent, the simplest method is to add a SPACER command to the beginning of the line. The SPACER will have no affect if the line is empty due to "return[]".

However, the SPACER before card_email and card_www needs to be enclosed in an IF statement to prevent the SPACER from appearing and activating the NEWLINE command, which would result in a blank line.

Everything else is similar to the other examples given above.

PageDNA offers robust support for scaling and cropping images - whether user uploaded or chosen from a list of pre-loaded assets. Read on to learn how these features work in the "Style Editor Gold" (older, code-based) interface.

Note: You are currently in the section of our documentation that explains the older style editor, "Style Editor Gold". Photos and logos are much easier to edit using the "Visual Style Editor". If you are tired of looking at all the code examples below (and in your style), please read the section Working with Photos and Logos - VSE

Photo/Logo Cropping and Scaling - Style Editor Gold

Photo Cropping

A key selling point for any web-based solution is the ability to upload images or custom graphics as part of a business card, flyer, or brochure. However, users don't want to give up control over how images appear and are placed in a document. The PageDNA system contains tools which help control both quality and placement of images uploaded by the user into any variable print item.

In this example, we have a business card which will have an uploaded photo placed upon it. The base style code, with the Photo block highlighted for emphasis, looks like this:

Figure 10.4. Style shown with Photo Block added

A "block" for the photo has been added to this style. Lets look more closely at this photo block and learn how the code works:

UploadedPhotoBlock= DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD(upload_photo, resize=(54, 81), aspect=1)],
   (213.9,  106), (CENTER, MIDDLE), layer=-1)

Every block in a style needs to have a unique name. Highlighted above you can see that we have given this block the name "UploadedPhotoBlock".

UploadedPhotoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD(upload_photo, resize=(54, 81), aspect=1)],
   (213.9,  106), (CENTER, MIDDLE), layer=-1)

Highlighted above is the "variable name" for the photo that will be uploaded to fill this spot - namely, 'upload_photo'. See below to learn how to create the form that will populate "upload_photo" with the user's photo.

UploadedPhotoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD(upload_photo, resize=(54, 81), aspect=1)],
   (213.9,  106), (CENTER, MIDDLE), layer=-1)

Next up is the "resize" command, which is telling the system to fit the photo into a maximum "picture frame" of 54 wide by 81 points tall (points are the only supported unit). While it is possible to have a photo block without a resize command in place, the results would cause major problems and therefore in almost all instances you want a resize command in place. Specifically, without resize parameters defined, the photo would be displayed at the size (scale) the user uploaded - which is almost certain to be the wrong size - a large photo could block display of the entire proof..

UploadedPhotoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD(upload_photo, resize=(54, 81), aspect=1)],
   (213.9,  106), (CENTER, MIDDLE), layer=-1)

The 'aspect' command says to use uniform aspect ratio when scaling this photo to fit. This is the most common setting and will ensure that the photo is not "squished" when scaled. See below for more options.

Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height of the image. In the example the photo is about 50% taller than it is wide which makes the aspect ratio 1.5, or width x 1.5 = height. For a photo, you almost always want width to change when height changes, and vice versa. If this box is unchecked, the following "Too Wide" or "Too Narrow" could occur:

Figure 10.5. Aspect ratio examples

The Preserve aspect ratio command (aspect=1, as shown above)when used in conjunction with resize will fit the entire image into the defined picture window by sizing the entire image down so the longest dimension fits within the window. This command does not crop any portion of the uploaded image. It produces an image which looks like this:

Figure 10.6. Preserve Aspect Ratio results

Note that the width of the image is actually narrower than the block.

Figure 10.7. Preserve Aspect Ratio results

UploadedPhotoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD(upload_photo, resize=(54, 81), aspect=1)],
   (213.9,  106), (CENTER, MIDDLE), layer=-1)

Now we are on to the "block anchor point" for the photo. In this case, the photo "anchor" (fixed point where photo is placed) is defined to be 213.9 points over from the left side of the business card, and 106 points up. This is only half of the position definition, however. The second half is the block alignment:

UploadedPhotoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD(upload_photo, resize=(54, 81), aspect=1)],
   (213.9,  106), (CENTER, MIDDLE), layer=-1)

The highlighted "block alignment" above indicates that the anchor measurements (highlighted above) define in this case the CENTER (horizontal) and MIDDLE (vertical) of the photo. In other words, the photo will be centered around the anchor point. In other situations you will find yourself needing to anchor photos in different positions (eg, TOP and LEFT if a product has a photo anchored in the top left of the business card, so that in this case there will never be a gap if a photo is resized.

Horizontal alignment options are: LEFT, CENTER, or RIGHT

Vertical alignment options are: BOTTOM, MIDDLE, or TOP

UploadedPhotoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD(upload_photo, resize=(54, 81), aspect=1)],
   (213.9,  106), (CENTER, MIDDLE), layer=-1)

Lastly, this photo is being displayed in layer "-1"... not that this is above the logo layer ("PreviewBlock") which is found at layer -2... we want the photo to be floating above the background image / logo. The lower the negative number, the deeper in the stack that photo will appear. These layers can be used for creative layering effects (tiling photos, or even masking uploaded photos).

There is another setting you may wish to enable on a photo, not shown above: "Crop".

Enabling the Crop option will shrink the image until the narrowest dimension fits within the size defined by "resize" - the longer dimension will be trimmed. Above is an example of a cropped image. In this case, the width has been matched to that of the block, and the top and bottom of the image have been trimmed accordingly.

Let's look at the "Preserve Aspect Ratio" and "Crop" commands on a sample business card.

Figure 10.8. Crop + Preserve Aspect Ratio Results

In the above example, the photo has been scaled to fully fit within the defined window. In this case, it works well is because the aspect ratio of the uploaded image is roughly that of the defined window.

Figure 10.9. Crop + Preserve Aspect Ratio Results - wide photo

However, In this example, a "landscape" image (wider than it is tall) gives unexpected results. To allow the width to fit, the height was reduced considerably and is now a bit too small.

The above demonstrates one of the reasons why it is important to use the "pre-flightng" tools available in the options for uploading an image using the File Upload Button field, shown below.

First, a form needs to be created or edited to include an upload field. Upload fields can be added to Form Editor and Shared Item forms. There are two upload fields. The File Upload to Style Button is simplest, and you may find it adequate. It is found under the Upload section when adding a new field. The File Upload Button field is more complex. It allows for greater control, especially regarding file types and color space, and allows user cropping to be disabled. When adding a new field, the File Upload To Style Button field is located under the Upload section and the File Upload Button field is located under the Advanced section.

The cropping feature needs to be enabled on each item that you want to have offer User Image Cropping. This can be done in either the Form Editor when using the File Upload Button field or the Generic Gold form. Cropping cannot be disabled for an individual field when using the File Upload To Style Button field.

File Upload To Style Button Field

	Important
	If you need to not allow cropping for an uploaded image, you will need to use the File Upload Button field, described below.

Figure 10.10. File Upload To Style Button Field

First, configure an image upload input: In your item form, add a new field. Expand the Upload section, and select File Upload To Style Button for the field type.

• Variable Name: Enter a variable name, e.g. upload_file. This will be used in the style when you create a new Photo Block.

  Variable Names can be shared on a site as long as the site is using the multi-imprint (shopping basket) feature.

• Field Label: This will appear beside the field for the user, e.g. "Upload File:"

• File Conversion: Enable the Original Color or Black and White radio button as needed.

• Aspect Ratio Checking - EPSWORD Width: Enter the minimum size in points. There are 72 points per inch.

• Aspect Ratio Checking - EPSWORD Height: Enter the minimum height in points.

• Aspect Ratio Checking - Minimum Resolution: Enter the minimum resolution you are willing to print this image, e.g. 300 (for 300 dpi).

Note

The user will be able to crop the uploaded image if cropping has been enabled on the site. This is done in the menu in Web Templates > File Upload Popup only when using the Flash-based File Uploader. If you specify both the width and height, the user will be presented with a single slider to adjust the size of the cropped area. The aspect ratio will be maintained as the area to be cropped is adjusted. The user will not be able to crop to less than the minimum dimensions specified. If you specify only one dimension, the user will be presented with two sliders to adjust the cropped area's height and width. They will not be able to crop to less than the minimum dimension specified. The user can drag the cropped area around to capture the part of the image they need. After cropping, there is a Crop button on the form. So, the user can re-crop the image after proofing.

File Upload Button Field

If you are using the File Upload Button field, found under the Advanced section when adding a field, then you will need to check the 'Enable Cropping' checkbox when you are setting the options of the File Upload section.

Figure 10.11. File Upload Button Field Preflight Photo Controls

By specifying an aspect ratio, you can prevent images from being uploaded that won't "work" with the layout. To allow either "portrait" (tall) OR "landscape" (wide) images, it's best to use a square frame.

File Upload To Style Button Field

adasfd

In Style Editor Gold, crop is added as an additional parameter to the block definition:

UploadedPhotoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD(upload_photo, resize=(54, 81), aspect=1, crop=1)],
   (213.9,  106), (CENTER, MIDDLE), layer=-1)

Figure 10.12. Photo block with Crop enabled

In the box above, the "Crop" command has been enabled. When used in conjunction with the preserve aspect ratio and resize commands, the crop command will fill the defined picture window with the narrowest dimension of the image, centering the image in the window, and cropping off the "extra" content of the longer dimension.

With the crop command turned on, our first image looks basically the same:

Figure 10.13. Tall photo with cropping

Although close inspection will show that the image is now slightly taller and the subject's shoulders have been slightly cropped out of the frame. This photo matches the original design spec very well.

But what happens when a photo which does not conform to the best aspect range is used?

Figure 10.14. Wide photo with cropping

The image is filling the full height of the frame, but since the subjects are wider than the window allows, their features are being cut out of the frame.

The issues above highlight why we recommend that any uploaded image also be attached to the vender email. Subjects which are out of center in the original or which are too wide or tall in general may be fixable by pre-press after the order is placed by editing this raw photo.

In all the examples so far the photo block has ben anchored in the center of the image, which is the recommended setting. However some designs will call for a photo to bleed. Photo or image blocks function in the same way that al other blocks function the anchors can be changed to accommodate bleeds or other design needs. If you have a bleed and the photo flows off the trimmed dimensions, simply anchor the photo in the corner (of the full bleed).

There are cases where you want to move blocks around on a design, based on a variety of different conditions. VIPER supports the following common examples of ways to have blocks move around dynamically.

 

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1, name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
                       name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
                       F2, card_title1, NEWLINE,
                       card_title2], (12,70), (LEFT, TOP))

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, IF(', ', card_state), 
                        ' ', card_zip], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

if len(AddressBlock.lines) == 5:
  NameBlock.move(0, 10)
elif len(AddressBlock.lines) >= 6:
  NameBlock.move(0, 20)

 

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1, name_first, IF(' ', name_middle), ' ',
                       name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
                       F2, card_title1, NEWLINE,
                       card_title2], (12,240), (LEFT, TOP))

AddressBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2,
                       card_division, NEWLINE,
                       card_street1, NEWLINE,
                       card_street2, NEWLINE,
                       card_street3, NEWLINE,
                       card_city, IF(', ', card_state), 
                        ' ', card_zip], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

EmailWebBlock = DWIMBLOCK([
                F1, card_email, NEWLINE,
                'www.nationsprint.com'], 
(12,HCENTER(TopBlock,BottomBlock)), (LEFT, MIDDLE))

 

    LeftBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, LEFT,
         card_street1, NEWLINE,
         card_street2, NEWLINE,
         card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip, NEWLINE,
         card_email, NEWLINE,
         card_www,
     ], (12,12), (LEFT, BOTTOM), (110, 0))

    RightBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F2, RIGHT,
         mail_street1, NEWLINE,
         mail_street2, NEWLINE,
         mail_city, ', ', mail_state, ' ', mail_zip, NEWLINE,
         card_email2, NEWLINE,
         card_www2,
     ], (240,LeftBlock.calc_top()[1]-3.0), (RIGHT, TOP), (110, 0))

 

    LeftBlock.calc_top()[1]-3.0

 

    LeftBlock.calc_top()[1]

 

    LeftBlock.calc_top()[1]-3

 

    LeftBlock.calc_lower_left()[1]

 

    LeftBlock.calc_lower_left()[1]-15

 

    LeftBlock._get_right()
or
    LeftBlock._get_right()+15

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([F1,
'www.yourwebsite.com'
], (126,75), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE))

NameBlock = ANGLE(DWIMBLOCK([F1,
'www.yourwebsite.com'
], (126,75), (LEFT, TOP_BASELINE)), 180)

Block2 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
        IF(F5, ph1_label, '  ', Phone1Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(F5, ph2_label, '  ', Phone2Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(F5, ph3_label, '  ', Phone3Word), NEWLINE,
        IF(F5, ph4_label, '  ', Phone4Word), NEWLINE,
        ], (18.5, 10.2), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

x = (Block2.height-3.7)

Line = DWIMBLOCK([VLINEWORD( .90, x, .90, x, color=BLACK), ], (122.6,
 Block2.calc_lower_left()[1]-.1), (LEFT, BOTTOM))

	Tip
	The method described below may be achieved more easily with Sub Logo Setup in the menu and a Sublogo Selection field in an Item Form. Please see the documentation for sublogo - Sublogo Selection Field.

Let's assume for the sake of demonstration that you have a business card which can optionally include 1, 2 or 3 'sublogos', depending on user selection while ordering. These logos need to be placed such that they do not write over each other.

To further illustrate the power of programming in styles, we are additionally going to show an example where these sublogos are required to higher on the card if the user has additional title lines - so as to keep consistent white-space between the name and title block and these sublogos:

The below example illustrates our goal:

Figure 10.15. Desired Behavior of Example Style

First, we need to prepare our sublogos. Save sublogos in EPS format, making sure the bounding box around the sublogo is tight and consistent between multiple sublogos. Save your sublogos with simple, memorable filenames lacking spaces or 'funny characters'.

In this example, we will have three possible sublogos: 1) CCIE.eps 2) CCDP.eps 3) CCNP.eps - save your sublogos to a location on your computer you can remember later when we enter Style Editor Gold and upload the files.

In the 'Edit Items' interface, activate the 'sublogo' item form for your item by selecting 'sublogo' from the item_form option (shown below) and then Save your item.

Figure 10.16. Activate the Sublogo Form

Now return to the Menu and locate your item form, which will appear in a new Menu section titled "Item Form Templates". The menu item will have the 'tag' of your style in the name. In this example, we are editing a style with a tag of "bc_1", so the menu item appears as follows:

Figure 10.17. Locate Sublogo Form in Menu

Click this link to open the sublogo form configuration interface. For our example, we will configure our form to have Checkboxes and three sublogo options. We will opt to have the products' tag appended to the field name, in case we wish to add sublogo forms to other items on the site later.

Figure 10.18. Configure Sublogo Form

Upload your EPS files to the site using Style Editor Gold. Click the "Upload" button for your style (in our case, 'bc_1.sty') and then un-check the "Make EPS word/preview block" option. We un-select this option each time we upload because we are going to create our blocks manually later - right now we simply want to upload the EPS files to the /con directory on the site for later reference.

Figure 10.19. Upload EPS to /con directory

Upload all EPS files, one at at time, and then click on the 'Blocks' tab. First we need to insert some code into our style to force the user input into a 'list', no matter what the user submitted:

 

import notions
try:
  bc_1_sublogos = notions.force_list(bc_1_sublogos)
except:
  bc_1_sublogos = []
notions = None

This code ensures that the list of sublogos is in a list format.

Now we will set default x and y positions for the three possible sublogo blocks:

sublogo_1x = 25
sublogo_1y = 35

sublogo_2x = 25
sublogo_2y = 35

sublogo_3x = 25
sublogo_3y = 35

Now count how many sublogos we have in total.

sublogo_count = 0

if 'CCIE.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  sublogo_count = sublogo_count + 1 
if 'CCDP.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  sublogo_count = sublogo_count + 1 
if 'CCNP.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  sublogo_count = sublogo_count + 1 

In the situation where we have a single block, the block will be in the correct position based on our default x, y positions. However, if we have 2 or 3 sublogos, we need to move some of the sublogos around so that the sublogos are not on top of each other:

if sublogo_count == 2:
  if 'CCIE.eps' not in bc_1_sublogos:
    sublogo_3x = sublogo_3x + 17
  else:
    if 'CCDP.eps' not in bc_1_sublogos:
      sublogo_3x = sublogo_3x + 17
    if 'CCNP.eps' not in bc_1_sublogos:
      sublogo_2x = sublogo_2x + 17

if sublogo_count == 3:
  sublogo_1x = sublogo_1x + 17
  sublogo_2x = sublogo_2x + 34

Now we need to move the blocks around if the user has more titles, as these titles would bump against the sublogos if we didn't move them. This may or may not be necessary based on your style.

if card_title1 != '':
  sublogo_1y = sublogo_1y + 10
  sublogo_2y = sublogo_2y + 10
  sublogo_3y = sublogo_3y + 10

if card_title2 != '':
  sublogo_1y = sublogo_1y + 10
  sublogo_2y = sublogo_2y + 10
  sublogo_3y = sublogo_3y + 10

if card_title3 != '':
  sublogo_1y = sublogo_1y + 10
  sublogo_2y = sublogo_2y + 10
  sublogo_3y = sublogo_3y + 10

Lastly, we write the blocks themselves, but only if the user checked that particular checkbox. Note that each blocks under the "if" statements begin indented in two spaces from the left margin:

if 'CCIE.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  SublogoBlock1 = DWIMBLOCK([
      EPSWORD('con/CCIE.eps'),
      ],
      (sublogo_1x, sublogo_1y),
      (LEFT, BOTTOM), layer=-1)

if 'CCDP.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  SublogoBlock2 = DWIMBLOCK([
      EPSWORD('con/CCDP.eps'),
      ],
      (sublogo_2x, sublogo_2y),
      (LEFT, BOTTOM), layer=-1)

if 'CCNP.eps' in bc_1_sublogos:
  SublogoBlock3 = DWIMBLOCK([
      EPSWORD('con/CCNP.eps'),
      ],
      (sublogo_3x, sublogo_3y),
      (LEFT, BOTTOM), layer=-1)

There are cases where you want to change color shown in a style file dynamically based on user input. Following is one way to configure this. There are two steps: configuring a form to allow user color selection, and then style logic to change the color in the layout.

STEP 1: CONFIGURE GENERIC GOLD FORM:

To control a color in a style dynamically from a user input, the first step is to build the custom Drop-Down list using a "Generic Gold" form input. In this case, let's say that the two PMS colors we want to allow are:

    PANTONE 7455 C (blue)
    PANTONE 149 C (peach).

You would want your drop-down to present something human-understandable to the users (such as a color name) so we will use the following for our Generic Gold drop-down list values:

    7455|Blue
    149|Peach (light orange)

When using this format, the code to the left of the vertical bar will be sent to the style - the name to the right of the vertical bar will be displayed to users. In this case we are using the fieldname "bc_color" for the drop-down list:

Figure 10.20. Create "Generic_Gold" drop-down input for colors

STEP 2: CONFIGURE STYLE LOGIC

One way to define colors in PageDNA’s system is the CUSTOMCOLOR command.

In most cases colors are defined in the 'fonts' tab and are given a code (eg: C1) that is referred to later - for example, when defining a font. A custom color definition looks like the following:

C1 = CUSTOMCOLOR('PANTONE 7455 C', 0.86, 0.73, 0.01, 0.00)

The four numbers shown after the formal Pantone name define the cyan, magenta, yellow and black percentages... for the above font, these are:

c: 86%
m: 73%
y: 1%
k: 0%

This happens to be a medium blue color. You can get these out of Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop using the "custom" and "picker" color palettes.

Next, at the top of the fonts tab we need to add the following logic to test the value selected by the user and change the custom color definition dynamically. Depending on what is chosen, one of two possible colors is set to be 'C1' for this proof:

if bc_color == '7455':
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.86, 0.73, 0.01, 0.00, 'PANTONE 7455 C'
else:
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.02, 0.25, 0.51, 0.00, 'PANTONE 149 C'

C1 = PROCESSCOLOR(color1_name, float(color1_c), float(color1_m), float(color1_y), float(color1_k))

Note that the section where we assign the CMYK and font color values are indented two spaces - this is important for the code to work right. If you need more than two colors, use the 'elif' term to add as many as needed:

if bc_color == '7455':
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.86, 0.73, 0.01, 0.00, 'PANTONE 7455 C'
elif bc_color == '149':
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.91, 0.73, 0.03, 0.00, 'PANTONE 100 U'
else:
  color1_c, color1_m, color1_y, color1_k, color1_name = 0.02, 0.25, 0.51, 0.00, 'PANTONE 149 C'

C1 = PROCESSCOLOR(color1_name, float(color1_c), float(color1_m), float(color1_y), float(color1_k))

It is recommended that you always have an 'else' logic test as the final test to catch any possible exception so the user does not ever see a "fatal error" when proofing.

Lastly, just below this login, simply define your font or fonts using the C1 color definition:

F1 = FONT('Univers-CondensedOblique', 8, 1, -.15, color=C1)

Whichever C1 is currently selected by the end-user would be used for that artwork proof.

There are cases where you want your users to be able to change the font on a product. PageDNA supports this.

One way to configure this is to give the user a drop-down list of fonts. In this approach, there are two steps: first configuring a form to allow font selection, and then changing the fonts in your style to "listen" for the input your user chose.

STEP 1: CONFIGURE GENERIC GOLD FORM:

To control a user in a style dynamically from a drop-down list, the first step is to build a custom item form. Edit your item in the "Item Editor". Click on the "custom" tab and look at the item form - if not already enabled, add a "generic_gold" form. Upon saving, you will see a new link to edit the "item form". Click this and scroll down to configure your first input (Below the first "Jump Bar").

In your generic_gold form, create a custom "drop down list" and enter one font name your users will be allowed, per line. You will need to know the official font name for each font you use. Provided you own a copy of the font you select, you can get the PostScript names of your uploaded fonts at http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/font/showfonts.cgi?text=1

Times-ExtraBold
Times-Semibold
Times-SemiboldItalic

The above format shows how the exact spelling and capitalization was copied from the list of installed fonts. This is important because without the exact spelling, the font will not work. You usually will want your drop-down to present something human-understandable to the users (such as a color name) so we will use the following for our Generic Gold drop-down list values:

Times-ExtraBold|Extra Bold
Times-Semibold|Semi-Bold
Times-SemiboldItalic|Semi-Bold Italic

When using this format, the code to the left of the vertical bar will be sent to the style - the name to the right of the vertical bar will be displayed to users. In this case we are using the fieldname "bc_font" for the drop-down list:

Figure 10.21. Create "Generic_Gold" drop-down input for font

STEP 2: CONFIGURE STYLE LOGIC

Now that we have the font selection from the user, we need to add it to some or all fonts on the product. This is done in the "Fonts" tab of the style. Visit the Item Editor and edit your item. Once editing your item, click the name of the style - it will appear similar to 'bc.sty'. Two sided items will have two styles - each style may need to be edited.

A normal font definition looks like this:

F1 = FONT('HelveticaNeue-Bold', 6.0, 0.0, 0.0)

As you can see, the font name is 'hardcoded' in quote marks. To activate the font, we simply pass in the field name from the custom form we just created. In the example above, I used bc_font. If I wished to activate the font above, I would merely change the definition to:

F1 = FONT(bc_font, 6.0, 0.0, 0.0)

Voila! The font is changed to whatever the user selected. Be sure to always give a unique field name for every drop-down list, so the inputs don't "collide".

Dingbats and Wingdings are types of fonts that fall outside the "normal" definitions. In order for the font to work you need to select NONISOFONT from the drop list of types in the fonts tab when you create the font. You can also change the font type after you have created the font. By default the Change Type drop-down list is set to FONT.

Phones are a bit of a different story. US style phones are made up of up to 6 different inputs. these are the ones associated with Phone 1:

Normally a PhoneWord handles the formatting for you. In this case the need to use a special character as a separator removes the PhoneWord as a good option.

In SEG, all the following code needs to be placed before the block with the phone number.

First, you need to define your Dingbat or Wingding as its own variable:

dingbat = [FX, ' D ', FY]
      

Where FX is the font that uses the dingbat font and FY is the font for the rest of the phone number and the string "space bar D space bar" is a leading and trailing space with the correct character to make the symbol you need.

You can set a phone number up in a regular block with a little effort. The following statement would work if the first phone number always had to have a label and an extension.

IF(ph1_label, ' ', ph11, dingbat, ph12, dingbat, ph13, ' ', ph1_ext_lbl, ' ', ph14)
      

If not, you need some code to set the phones even if some parts are missing and to remove the phone label if the phone is missing.

The following logic, which needs to be done for each phone, will print the extension label only if there is an extension number:

if not ph14:
  ph1_ext_lbl = ''
else:
  ph1_ext_lbl = (' '+ph1_ext_lbl+' ')
      

This will set the extension label to either nothing or it will append a leading and trailing space bar to the label if there is an extension.

And the following logic, which must also be done for each phone, will prevent the phone label from printing if the phone prefix is missing:

if not ph12:
  ph1_label = ''
      

Now a JOIN3 statement will work in your block to join the elements comprising the phone number with the separating character:

Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT, 
     F1, JOIN3(ph1_label, ' ', 
           JOIN3(ph11, dingbat, 
             JOIN3(ph12, dingbat, 
               JOIN3(ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14)))), NEWLINE,
     ], (128.0, 32.3), (CENTER, TOP_BASELINE))
      

This will result in something like this:

Figure 10.22. Dingbat Used as a Separator in a Phone Number

You can use commands in a block instead of adding a font to the style's Fonts tab to print a barcode in black. (This does not preclude the need for you to own the font.) Clicking on the commands for the supported fonts below will take you to their documentation in the Style Command Reference Guide. The commands for the supported fonts are:

Additional documentation for QRCODE and how to apply it can be found here.

	Important
	If you are using VSE, you will need to enable Block Logic to use the barcode commands. The block will need to be placed in either the Preblocks tab or Postblocks tab.

You can use the scalefactor command to uniformly scale the barcode, or you can specify the height and width of the barcode.

Here is an example using scalefactor with the CODE128 barcode command applied to the numbers 0-9:

Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([CENTER,
         CODE128('0123456789', scalefactor=.5), NEWLINE,
         ], (126, 9), (CENTER, BOTTOM))

Figure 10.23. Barcode Using a Scalefactor

Here is an example resizing the barcode to 72 points wide by 48 points tall:

Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([CENTER,
         CODE128('0123456789', 72, 48), NEWLINE,
         ], (126, 9), (CENTER, BOTTOM))
      

Figure 10.24. Barcode with Size Restricitons

This portion of the documentation shows how to use PageDNA’s logic features when building styles. Logic in this case refers to using both built in PageDNA features as well as in some cases actually doing true programming in Python, our native programming language.

Anyone with experience in variable data template creation on any platformknows how important "logic" is to make sure that a template can handle various exceptions that may happen between orders run through said template. This document will start with some basic concepts used on almost every PageDNA style and then get into more rare situations.

Using IF in your Styles

An IF statement allows for some simple, yet powerful logic within a style.

Take the following street address as it might display on a printed item:

2055 Woodside Road
Suite 250
Redwood City, CA 94061

In a style, the code for this item would probably look something like this:

card_street1, NEWLINE,
card_street2, NEWLINE,
card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip

The above code would work just fine - provided the user always entered a state. Without a state for a particular imprint, the results would look like this:

2055 Woodside Road
Suite 250
Redwood City, 94061

Without a state or a zip code it would look like this:

2055 Woodside Road
Suite 250
Redwood City,

Without a city, state or zip code it would look like this, with the comma present:

2055 Woodside Road
Suite 250
,

In short, the problem is that the comma will always be included even if the city state and zip code are missing. A comma is something a user could easily overlook (thinking for example this is a smudge on their screen, or missing it entirely otherwise). This could lead to a request for a reprint and/or an otherwise unhappy customer.

While it is possible and in many cases desirable to make certain fields "required" in the form the user completes, in many cases we want to make the style behave more intelligently if these fields are not present. We can use an IF statement to prevent the comma from printing if the city is missing.

An IF statement has parenthesis, inside which are two or more style layout elements. IFs logic functions as follows: "If any one item between the parentheses is missing, NONE of the items within the parentheses will display on the imprint."

To prevent the comma from printing, we need to place it in an IF statement as shown below:

card_city, IF(', ', card_state), ' ', card_zip

This would appear as follows if the state were missing:

2055 Woodside Road
Suite 250
Redwood City 94061

Note that technically, you could also do this using the example that follows:

IF(card_city, ', '), card_state, ' ', card_zip

This would appear as follows if the state were missing for that particular imprint:

2055 Woodside Road
Suite 250
Redwood City, 94061

As noted above, PageDNA Support recommends the first approach - this second example could create a problem if the user had a city and ZIP code but no state - namely: a comma, a space and another space would be between the city and ZIP code. This example shows that you need to think through the combinations that will be possible before choosing a strategy.

Using an IF statement allows for fixing other types of situations such as a complex name:

Mr. Charles Emerson Winchester, III

If we didn't use IF statements, the style code would read:

name_prefix, ' ', name_first, ' ', name_middle, ' ', name_last, ', ', name_suffix

If the user left off the prefix, middle name, and suffix, the style would look like this:

Charles    Winchester,

Note the space before Charles, the two spaces between first and last names, and the comma and extra space at the end.

To prevent this, we add IF statements for the prefix, middle name, and suffix.

IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '), name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix)

In the first IF statement, the variable comes first and the "literal" text of a space follows. At the end of the line, the literal text (a comma and a space) appear first, and then the suffix variable.

Also worth nothing that an IF statement isn't limited to only two arguments.

IF('Tel: ', Phone1Word, bullet2)

If and only if the user had a phone number (Phone1Word) the above example would return,

Tel: (650) 555-1234 *

When isn't an IF statement needed?

Use of an IF statement is NOT needed to prevent a single argument, or variable, from printing in either of the following two examples:

card_street1, NEWLINE,
IF(card_street2), NEWLINE,
card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip

card_street1, NEWLINE,
IF(card_street2, NEWLINE),
card_city, ', ', card_state, ' ', card_zip

NEWLINE is "smart" enough not to leave a blank line if nothing appears on that line. So these IFs above are both superfluous and have no affect on the operation of the style. In other words, if the code was as follows:

card_street1, NEWLINE,
card_street2, NEWLINE,
card_city, IF(', ', card_state), ' ', card_zip

And card_street2 was missing, the result would still be:

2055 Woodside Road
Redwood City 94061

It would not matter how the block is aligned vertically (whether you set the block using TOP, TOP_BASELINE, MIDDLE or BOTTOM block anchoring) - NEWLINE always will ensure that block text "snugs up" all lines in a block together.

Using JOIN3 in your Styles

There are instances where IF isn't practical as it can only do one test. In particular, this approach would not work when combining three items - two phone numbers with a separator between them - with the separator appearing ONLY if BOTH of the phones are present:

Phone 650 555 8900 * Toll-Free 800 555 8901

What we'd want is a test that would ensure that whether the user entered one phone number OR the other, OR both, the results would look correct. If either phone number is entered singularly, we don't need the bullet; it's only when both are present that the bullet should be visible.

The temptation is to use an IF statement like this:

Phone1Word, IF(bullet2, Phone2Word)

This would work if Phone 1 was mandatory, and Phone 2 was optional. However, if the user omitted Phone 1 and only entered phone 2, the line would look like this:

* Toll-Free 800 555 8901

Not what we wanted.

For these cases, a different command is needed - JOIN3. JOIN3 does exactly what its name describes; it joins three elements together. Please note that JOIN3 requires that there be only three arguments, or elements. The contents of the parentheses are like this:

JOIN3(Item1, separator, Item2)

Item1 and Item2 are replaced with your code. In short, JOIN3 says if, and only if, both of the outer items (Item1 AND Item2) are present, only then should the separator be visible. If only one element is present it appears as normal in the style.

Setting the phone numbers with the bullet between in a JOIN3 should look like this:

JOIN3(Phone1Word, bullet2, Phone2Word)

Advanced Uses:

JOIN3 commands can also be "nested". For example, if we have the end of an address line consisting of a zip code, a bullet, and two phone numbers separated by a bullet:

2055 Woodside Road * Redwood City, CA * 94061 * 650 555 8900 * Toll-Free 800 555 8901

and the code to handle such a line might look like this:

CENTER, F2, card_street1, bullet2, IF(card_street2, bullet2), card_city, ', ', card_state, bullet2, card_zip, bullet2, JOIN3(Phone1Word, bullet2, Phone2Word), NEWLINE

The results, if all of the pieces were entered, would look like this:

2055 Woodside Road * Redwood City, CA * 94061 * 650 555 8900 * Toll-Free 800 555 8901

If the user omitted either of the two phone numbers, these would be the results:

2055 Woodside Road * Redwood City, CA * 94061 * Toll-Free 800 555 8901
2055 Woodside Road * Redwood City, CA * 94061 * 650 555 8900

A user could use both, or either, of the phone numbers. But if they left all phone numbers off, the results would leave a trailing bullet like this:

2055 Woodside Road * Redwood City, CA * 94061 *

To fix this, we can treat the last JOIN3 command as one of the items in another JOIN3, which we call a "nested JOIN3".

CENTER, F2, JOIN3(card_street1, bullet2, JOIN3(card_street2, bullet2, JOIN3(card_city, ', ', JOIN3(card_state, bullet2, JOIN3(card_zip, bullet2, JOIN3(Phone1Word, bullet2, Phone2Word)))))), NEWLINE

This may be shown so it can be seen more easily for educational purposes as:

CENTER, F2, JOIN3(card_street1, bullet2, 
            JOIN3(card_street2, bullet2, 
            JOIN3(card_city, ', ', 
            JOIN3(card_state, bullet2, 
            JOIN3(card_zip, bullet2, 
            JOIN3(Phone1Word, bullet2, Phone2Word)))))), NEWLINE

Note the following:

PageDNA Support recommends the following method to use JOIN3:

In our example above, the first JOIN3 would add the bullet only if card_street2 was present. card_street2 and its bullet form the third element or "test" for the first JOIN3.

In some cases, commands can be used in tandem.

Let's say you want two phone numbers joined with a comma, but only if both phones are present. The phones need to work so that if a phone number is missing, the label and space don't show up.

Here is the solution:

JOIN3(IF(Phone3Word,  ' ', ph3_label), ', ', IF(Phone4Word,  ' ',  
ph4_label))

Changing this graphically shows more clearly what's happening:

JOIN3(
	IF(Phone3Word,  ' ', ph3_label),
	', ',
	IF(Phone4Word,  ' ', ph4_label)
),

Note the two outer elements ("bookends", so to speak) are Phone3 and Phone4. IF they are both present, and only if they are both present, JOIN3 will add the middle "bridge" element - which is a comma and space inside quotes. Otherwise, Phone3 and/or Phone4 will flow through unscathed.

The IFs around the phoneWords, spaces and labels enforce that if a particular phone is not completed, nothing will be shown for that phone number... they work just fine inside JOIN3s.

However, JOIN3 does not always work well with an IF statement. This will become evident in testing because you will get undesirable results: either the style will not save without an error or what you are trying to prevent from printing by using an IF statement does not work. Below are two examples.

EXAMPLE #1: The example has the IF preceding the JOIN3 and includes the COL command to force the phone numbers into columns. The IF is meant to prevent the phone label "P" before Phone1Word from printing if Phone1Word and Phone4Word are missing. The problem is that if both are missing, the following returns the JOIN3 with a value and won't work with an IF statement:

JOIN3(Phone1Word, ' ', Phone4Word)

In a case such as this, using a debug command, DBG, will reveal whether one of the PhoneWords is returning a value even though the user does not enter a phone number. Documentation on the use of DBG can be found at http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/docs/html/StyleBuilding/using_dbg.html

So, in order to get the JOIN3 to work, we have to add something that will return a null value if both PhoneWords are missing

IF('P', ' ', COL, F2, JOIN3(Phone1Word, ' ', Phone4Word) or ''))

If both phone numbers are missing, the "or" comes into play and passes a null value for the IF statement so the "P" will not print.

EXAMPLE #2: This example is when you cannot use an IF statement inside of a JOIN3 command, as in the case of phone labels attached to phone numbers. This will become evident in testing and may be revealed by using the debug command, DBG, documentation for which can be found at http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/docs/html/StyleBuilding/using_dbg.html

In a case such as this, the phone label needs to be defined as part of the PhoneWord. In VSE it would be set in the Phones tab of your style as follows:

Figure 11.1. Phones Tab

If you are using SEG, you need to define each of the phone labels in the Words tab of your style, or if you are using VSE you can also define each of the phones in the Preblocks tab as follows:

Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph1_label, ph11, ph12, ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '* (*) *-* * *')

Note that an asterisk has been added as a representation or place holder for the phone label (marked in red).

This will allow you to write a JOIN3 without using IF and still prevent the phone labels from printing if the phone number is missing, for example:

JOIN3(Phone1Word, bullet2, Phone2Word)

This will print the phone labels and numbers only if the phone number is present if you have defined the PhoneWords to include the phone labels.

This portion of the documentation shows how to use PageDNA’s form and style features to allow a logo to vary based on which address was selected by a user when ordering.

Linking a Logo to a location

Scenario: Is there a way to tie the address list to a logo graphic or photo?

For example, we want to have- say 10 different distributors for a sell sheet that all want their logo and company address info on the sell sheet. With the address list, it’s easy to create a drop down menu with the 10 different choices for addresses, how can we also have a graphic linked to an address, flowing in automatically?

Solution: The answer is "yes, you can do this with PageDNA". Following are steps to link a logo to a location:

Changes in Style - Using Visual Style Editor (VSE)

Edit your style(s) - Using Visual Style Editor

If using the new "VSE" (Visual Style Editor) add a new "Photo Block" (image icon with a green "+") and give it a Variable name of "logo". Configure the block such that it is anchored in the lower left corner of the style, at 0, 0 (x,y coordinates). You will need to choose the "Filename Path : con/[variable]..." option on the right. This configures the block to look for a file in the "con" folder (Content).

Figure 12.6. Photo Block Example

Note that "No Image" will show up in the VSE as a placeholder - but will be populated with the selected image when you choose choose an address during an ordering session.

Figure 12.7. No Logo preview in VSE

Changes in Style - Using Style Editor Gold (SEG)

If you’re using the old "Style Editor Gold" editor, you’ll need to add a block looking something like this:

LogoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD('con/'+logo, xscale=1.0, 
yscale=1.0)],
> (0.0,0.0), (LEFT,BOTTOM) , layer=-1) 

Note the word "logo" above - this will come from the address list and pop in the correct logo for you in "real time". This is obviously more difficult to handle than using the Visual Style Editor.

If you allow an "other" option (whereby a user can type in their own address), you may want to add some logic to show a default logo in those cases.

	Warning
	Note: this chapter is updated to reflect the use of the VSE. However in cases where the VSE misses the functionality to make the examples possible, the code for the old SEG UI is left in place with a warning, like this one, above the example. If you are looking for the documentation of the old SEG UI, please go to "Style Building Tips and Tricks, Old User Interface".

This portion of the documentation shows 'tips and tricks' we recommend for building high-quality ordering sites.

	Tip
	Note that you can learn how to configure the window that pops up in the Configuring the "Preview" (Proofs) page section of the Site Configuration documentation.

Go to the "Preview" tab and add a new zoom block, let's assume it is "zoom1" and set the scale to 200 %. Also make sure that the "normal" preview has it's scale set to 100% (for this example to be truth full). Your "zoom1" should look like this:

Figure 13.1. Zoom1 Preview for Larger Proofs

Then click the edit link of the "html" preview. and put the following html in there:

<table>
<tr> 
<td align=left>
<font face="Arial">
<B>Business Card, Actual Size:</B><BR>
<a href="%(p.zoom1_src)s" target="_blank"><img src="%(p.normal_src)s" border=0></a>
<BR><font size=2>Click image for enlarged proof in new window</font></font>
</td></tr>
</table>

Your window should like the following screen shot:

Figure 13.2. Zoom1 Preview for Larger Proofs

In the html example above, the "normal" preview shows when users first proof, as displayed in the custom HTML section. We define (shown in the first screen shot) a "zoom1" preview that will display at 200 percent. Note the "delay" flag has been enabled on the zoom11 preview in the screen shot. This tells the system to wait to generate this proof on-demand, saving proofing time for the initial proof.

The custom HTML section is required for this approach as we need to define (as shown in bold above) a link defined around the normal preview image. When clicked, this opens a new blank window.

	Tip: Remember to escape % signs
	If your HTML code contains % signs, for instance you want to set a width, like ' width="90%" ' you need to double the % sign, like so: ' width="90%%" ' this is because the % sign is "meaningful" to our form processing system. This is explained in Using Percentage (%) Symbol. So a literal % sign needs to be doubled, but the % sign in href="%(p.big_src)s" is a processing instruction.

Tip: Code View

If you click "Code View" you will see something like the following listing. Actually this is the same code that is used in the SEG mode of Style Editor Gold: 'normal': { 'scale': 1.0, 'use_magick': 1, }, 'zoom1': { 'delay': 1, 'scale': 2.0, 'use_magick': 1, }, 'html': ''' <table> <tr> <td align=left> <font face="Arial"> <B>Business Card, Actual Size:</B><BR> <a href="%(p.zoom1_src)s" target="_blank"><img src="%(p.normal_src)s" border=0></a> <BR><font size=2>Click image for enlarged proof in new window</font></font> </td></tr> </table> ''',

Warning

Note: in general the following in this section does not apply to the VSE, since on most tabs there is no code anymore. However there are two exceptions: The "Preblocks" and "Postblocks" tabs. These tabs are not enabled by default. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs. This following example is based on the old SEG UI.

Commented lines can be added as a way to disable code, or to place a note in the style and mark it in such a way that it is ignored when the style is processed and turned into a file that can be printed.

Comments in a style may be added for a number of reasons, among them being: adding comments for clarity; adding comments so you will be reminded of what and why you did something; "Commenting-out" a line for testing purposes; or, if you need to remove a line from your style, but want to retain it should your client change their mind.

A line may be commented-out by placing the pound symbol (#) followed by a space to separate it from the code that follows.

The EGG tool adds commented lines automatically. An example of an auto-added comment line is noted in bold face below:

# auto-added by upload button
LogoBlock = DWIMBLOCK([EPSWORD('con/Your_File_Name.eps', xscale=1,
yscale=1)], (0.0,0.0), (LEFT,BOTTOM) , layer=-1)

# end auto-add

You can add comments in the middle of code as follows:

titles = [card_title1, card_title2, card_title3]
titles = [t for t in titles if t] # filter list to only include titles that are set.
titles = titles + ['', '', ''] # pad titles so that there are at least 3.

You can comment out a line in the middle of a block. Only the line preceded by the '#' sign will be ignored when the style is processed. Also note the auto-added line at the end denoting dimensions:

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([RIGHT, WRAP,
        F10, IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '),
name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE, 
        F4, card_title1, NEWLINE, 
        card_title2, NEWLINE,
#      card_title3, NEWLINE,
        ], (110,87), (RIGHT,TOP_BASELINE), (101,0) )
  # x: LEFT=104.8 RIGHT=151.2 y:BOTTOM=18.3

You can run into a problem if you comment-out a line that contains the 'font call' for the block. Subsequent lines in your style will default to being set with Helvetica until another 'font call' is encountered, as in the following example:

NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([RIGHT, WRAP,
        F10, IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '),
name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE, 
#      F4, card_title1, NEWLINE, 
        card_title2, NEWLINE,
#      card_title3, NEWLINE,
        Phone_Word1
        ], (110,87), (RIGHT,TOP_BASELINE), (101,0) )
  # x: LEFT=104.8 RIGHT=151.2 y:BOTTOM=18.3

In the above example, card_title2 would be set using Helvetica because the line with the 'font-call' that includes card_title1 has been commented out. The next line that would be set correctly is the one that begins with Phone_Word1 because, as a rule, Phone_Words (defined on the Words tab) have 'font calls' as denoted below by 'F1':

Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph11, ph12, ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '(*) *-* * *')

You can comment out a whole section using three double quotes (""") before and after the section instead of putting a pound symbol (#) in front of each line. For example:

"""
NameBlock = DWIMBLOCK([CENTER,
        F2, IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '), name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
        card_title1, NEWLINE,
        ], (128.0, 32.3), (CENTER, TOP_BASELINE))
"""
        

This will prevent the entire NameBlock from being processed.

	Note
	JPG or EPS files can be used.

Setting the layer in the VSE is done in the settings window of a block, i.e. select a block and click the "Edit a block's settings" icon, the one with the wrench. The layers setting is a select list with some common predefined options and an option "Other...". Selecting "Other..." allows you to enter a new value for the layer in a pop up window. When entering a new value for layer, this new value will be added to the options and set as selected.

Consider for example a full-size EPS representation of the 'master' for a business card (MasterShellBlock) that has been lowered to level '-2' so that a photo (PhotoBlock) on layer '0' will float higher in the 'stack' of EPS files. Remember that negative numbers get LOWER and the number increases. Failing to set the layers properly may bury the photo image below the master.

Another option for 'layer' is PREVIEW_LAYER, which stands for -1500 — this shows the image of the EPS file to the user, but does not send the EPS file to press.

Figure 13.3. Preview block layer setting

The above example shows an EPS file in a block called "PreviewBlock" in the proof, but would not send this file to press. Note the select list setting of the Layer field: "Preview layer: -1500", so this is set deep in the stack of files and is often used to show optional items that are pre-printed on masters (goil foil seals, etc).

Any layers between -1000 and -1999 have this "preview layer" behavior, so if you still need to stack and layer files but not send them to press, use this layer range.

A final 'layer' option is the OUTPUT_LAYER option — this does not show the image to the user, but it DOES send the image in the EPS output file. The default OUTPUT_LAYER is reserved at -2500. Similar to the "preview layer", the "output layer" is actually a range as well. So if you need to have stacked images that are all in the output layer, you can set the layer=-2500 for the image on top and and layer=-2501 for the next image below, etc.

Any layers between -2000 and -2999 have this "output layer" behavior, so if you still need to stack and layer files amd send them to production but not to the proof, use this layer range.

The OUTPUT_LAYER can be handy when used in conjunction with the PREVIEW_LAYER. For example, if you need to display a blue EPS file to the user, but send a black EPS file to production, you could set up two DWIMBLOCKs. One would display the blue EPS file and use the 'PREVIEW_LAYER'. The other DWIMBLOCK would use the black EPS file and would use the 'OUTPUT_LAYER'.

Stacking layers can be used for many purposes. Creative masking effects can be generated through creative use of white-out layers stacked above EPS files.

A preview layer in an item's style can be used to create a watermark on a proof. A watermark is an image that displays on the proof presented to users, but which does NOT get sent to press.  This is especially useful to ensure the users simply download the proof and have it printed elsewhere.

Figure 13.4. Watermark Sample

To add a watermark to an item begin by building an functioning item. Once you have a fully tested item, create your own watermark image as an EPS file with a bounding box the same size as item including your full bleed and save it as an Adobe Illustrator Version 8 EPS in line with our standards as presented in the artwork help document.

Go to the Visual Style Editor for the item. Add a new photo block using the tool on the menu bar.

Figure 13.5. Adding a photo block

In the options screen give the block a name, such as "proof" or "watermark" and set the layer to Preview Layer -1500. Use the Browse button to locate your watermark EPS file and click Create.

Figure 13.6. Add photo block options

Now you will have an additional layer that displays your watermark on any previews but will not pass along to the actual production file.

For information about to to achive this using the Style Editor Gold tool, click here.

Warning

Note: in general the following in this section does not apply to the VSE, since on most tabs there is no code anymore. However there are two exceptions: The "Preblocks" and "Postblocks" tabs. These tabs are not enabled by default. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, under the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs. So the following example is mostly based on the old SEG UI.

Debugging a style can be difficult at times. There are times when you as the programmer need to know exactly what value a specific variable has assigned to it. These values can be very hard to 'see' at times. That is where the DBG command comes into play.

In the style add a single line of code which will print the value of a variable to the testing screen from style editor gold. (The screen that appears when hitting the Test button from Style Editor Gold, which has the gray background.)

DBG('Title One=%s', card_title1)

In the example above, the string Title One=(value of card_title1) will print directly under the normal section of the preview test page.

Any variable can be used in a DBG statement. In Python %s is used to add a variable to a string. The variable itself is added after the comma.

Create a block for your text or image in your style in the correct position and size. Then make a new block and make an exact copy of the content of the block, use a unique the name for the block. Then set the right alignment, same as the original block you copied from, and give the new block a small offset in its anchor points.

Then go to the settings window and use the "Layer" field to move the offset block behind the original block, i.e. set the layer to a lower number then the original block.

Make new colors in the fonts section to make the offset block a different color or screen value than the original block. See the example code below.

Original block, let's say anchor has x,y = 324, 757.7 and layer = -4
Content:
CENTER, WRAP,
F3, card_company, NEWLINE,

Shadow block, let's say this one's anchor has x,y = 326, 753.7 and it's layer = -5:
Content:
CENTER, WRAP,
F3_black, card_company, NEWLINE,

Scenario: "Jaggies" or "halos" appear around variable type floating over a background (master) image

We offer two ways to show 'master' (pre-printed shell) images - which are shown to the user when proofing but not sent to press - on our system. One way, which is now depreciated, is to use the GIF images which normally works just fine. One issue with GIF images in this situation is that when you show text over a darker background, you will see "jaggies" or that 'halo' which can confuses users. This does not affect the print, but obviously is something to avoid.

Fortunately, VIPER also supports the use of an EPS file as your background 'master' image, which gets rid of this problem and shows crystal clear text, even over background images. Here are the steps to do this for a layout:

STEP 1) CREATE NEW EPS MASTER IMAGE: Create an EPS file with the exact size as your output file (go to the "blocks" or "other" tab in the Style Editor if you need the dimensions), having just the contents of the master image (the pre-printed element). Save this as an Adobe Illustrator EPS file to your desktop.

STEP 2) CREATE A MASTER IMAGE BLOCK: Create a photo block in the style for the side in question, on the blocks tab in the Style Editor. Set the "Layer" field to preview layer. Note you need to set the "Layer" field in the settings window: select the block and click the "Edit a block's settings" icon. You do not need to change any other settings, but if you may wish to use something unique like "MasterBlock" for the block name. PREVIEW_LAYER essentially tells VIPER to display this EPS file, but not to sent it to press.

STEP 3) Lastly, you need to de-reference the GIF file, if there is one, so the EPS is used. Go to the 'preview' tab of the Style Editor and if you use the "List View", click "edit " of the normal preview and on that form, if there is any "Combine" value, click the "clear" button. Note there will be no "clear" button if there is no "Combine" value. If you are using "Code View", you will see something like this:

{
'normal': {
'combine': 'con/bc1_combine.gif',
'scale': 2.0,
'use_magick': 1,
},

Remove in its entirety the bold line above (select the whole line including the comma at the end and delete it), and then save your style with the Gold "Save" button.

STEP 4: Refresh your item proof or start a fresh order - the jaggies will be gone!

You can use what are known as Zoom Blocks to ‘zoom in’ on one or more particular blocks of text. This technique works very well for letterhead. The default envelope and letterhead Style files included with new sites have a zoom block. Explore these Styles to learn more about this feature, and also see our more detailed documentation on Zoom Blocks that includes a "how to" on this feature.

	Warning
	Note: the following is based on the old SEG UI. But since the "Preview" still has the "Code View", this example can be use unaltered for converted styles. However you can easily translate the code so you can fill out the forms in "List View" in the VSE. If you unsure how, just use "Code View" to paste in the example and change to "List View" to see how it translates.

PageDNA offers the ability for you to provide your users with a link to a PDF link, directly above the GIF proofs shown on the "Proofs" step of the ordering process. This is sometimes helpful on large items with smaller text (such as letters, invites and other direct mail pieces), where the user needs to really 'zoom in' and take a look. Many customers do NOT like to provide this option because of the risk that users will take this file and simply print it on their local laser printer or inkjet. Keep this in mind before adding PDF links to your styles.

To add the PDF links to your products, go to the "Previews" section of Style Editor Gold. You need to add the following within the first brace, but before the zoom or 'normal' blocks:

  'pdf': {'PDF': 1},

For example:

{
  'pdf': {'PDF': 1},
  'zoom1': {
    'scale': 2.0,
    'use_magick': 1,
    'block': 'Block0',
  },
  'zoom2': {
    'scale': 2.0,
    'use_magick': 1,
    'block': 'Block1',
  },
  'normal': {
    'scale': 0.5,
    'combine': '/con/1-sps-vda-002-0704_combine.gif',
    'use_magick': 1,
  },
}

Note: If you use a custom HTML preview for your layout, you will need to manually call the PDF link in your preview HTML. Below is an example showing custom preview HTML with a link to the PDF preview displayed.

{
'html': '''\
     <table>
     <tr><td align=center>
     <font face="Arial"><B>Product Preview:</B> <a href="%(p.pdf_pdf)s" target="_blank">View PDF</a><BR>
     <img src="%(p.normal_src)s"></font></td></tr>
     </table>
     ''',
  'normal': {
    'scale': 1.4,
    'use_magick': 1,
  },
  'pdf': {
    'PDF': 1,
    'use_magick': 1,
  },
}

Two sided items will automatically add a note to the front side proof indicating it as the front. Sometimes it is nice to add a label to the back side proof indicating that it is the back. Here is how.

Start in the 'preview' section of Style Editor Gold for your 'back-side' style and add some html, i.e. when in "List View", click the "edit" for the html preview, where you enter the following HTML code:

  
     <table>
     <tr><td align=center>
     Product Back Side:
     <img src="%(p.normal_src)s"></td></tr>
     </table>

The text "Product Back Side" will print above the main proof of the back side. This text can contain anything required.

For further information about SosBackItems go to "Two Sided Items"

Note: this applies mostly to the old SEG UI. Since the VSE uses forms in most places, proper quoting is less of an issue. One exception is that to include a single or double quote in a string in the block editor you must quote the string with the other type of quotes. Another exception is when you use the "Preblocks" and "Postblocks" tabs. These contain code and the following applies.

Text must be enclosed in a 'quote' of some kind so that it will be seen as text. If your text includes a single quote, comma, apostrophe or double quotes, and must retain them, the line (or string) of text must be enclosed by a style of quote that is not included in the string of text. These styles are single quotes ('xxx yyy'), double quotes made by holding the shift key in conjunction with the single quote key ("xxx, yyy") and triple quotes created by three single quotes ('''"xxx's yyy"'''). Examples follow.

The following is the recommended method to include a line of text that does not contain a comma, single quote or double quotes, the line of text must be enclosed by single quotes. This will ensure that the entire string of text is seen as a single unit. This is also the case for single words.

'The lazy brown fox jumped over the fence.'

If the line of text has an apostrophe or comma, or is enclosed in single quotes, it must be enclosed by double quotes.

"The lazy brown fox jumped over the neighbor's fence, then fell on his
face."

Not that in the example above, when output, the text will read: The lazy brown fox jumped over the neighbor's fence, then fell on his face.

"'The lazy brown fox...'"

Note that in the example above, when output, the text will read: 'The lazy brown fox...'

If the text is a quotation, such that double quotes must be retained, the line of text must be enclosed in single quotes as follows:

'He said, "Thar she blows!"'

In the example above, when output, the text will read: He said, "Thar she blows!"

Double quotes are seen as a single character. So the order in which you type the single and double quotes will determine what is being enclosed so the text can be output correctly.

However, if the text contains an apostrophe and double quotes as in: He said, "The brown fox jumped over the lazy dog's bowl." The string must be enclosed in three single quotes, also called triple quotes, as follows:

'''He said, "The brown fox jumped over the lazy dog's bowl!"'''

In the example above, if double quotes were used instead of the triple quotes, the text would appear as: He said,(space) because the next double quote encountered closes the string, the rest of the sentence would be lost.

If single quotes were used, the line would break at the apostrophe as: He said, "The brown fox jumped over the lazy dog and the rest of the sentence would be lost. So, in this case triple quotes must be used.

	Tip
	While Double quotes will work in almost any instance, we recommend that you use single quotes as much as possible. We find single quotes easier to read and trust that you will as well. Also, Double quotes can be hard to distinguish in the Block Section of the Style Editor from two single quotes next to each other.

Note: this applies mostly to the old SEG UI. The VSE uses forms in most places and % signs in the forms are not an issue. However when you use the "Preblocks" and "Postblocks" tabs the following does apply because these tabs contain code.

The % symbol is "meaningful" to our form processing system.

Therefore, to retain the % symbol in a style in a string of text, e.g. "25%", it needs to appear as:

"25%%"

Please note that this does not affect users when ordering. Nothing out of the ordinary needs to be done to retain the % symbol when they enter their information.

Warning

Note: the following in this section is currently not possible on the VSE's "Blocks" tab. However you can use this example on the "Preblocks" tab. If you don't see the "Preblocks" tab, go to the "Blocks" tab. Open the "Page window" and click the "Enable" check mark at the bottom of the page window, nder the sub heading "Block logic", then click the "Apply"button and after the screen refreshes you will have the two extra tabs.

If you have several phone numbers or titles, and need them to self adjust so that so many will appear on the first line, and so many will appear on the second line, you may use the following code as an example. This can be adjusted to accommodate any number of phone numbers. A second example for three 'floating' titles is also given below.

In the following case, there are five phone numbers. The following code will place up to two phone numbers on the first line, and up to three phone numbers on the second line. Note: the fifth phone number in this example is hard coded for 'parts sales'.

It does not matter which phone numbers are selected by the user, they will self adjust. If, for example, phones 1 and 3 are selected, the first line would have phones 1 and 3, while line two would have phone 5 (because phone #5 is hard coded). So, If no phone number is selected, the phone number for 'parts sales' would appear on the first line.

Note: the following code goes on the "Preblocks" tab. The # precedes informative notes in the code. These notes will not be executed.

phones = [Phone1Word, Phone2Word, Phone3Word, Phone4Word, ('parts sales 888 888 8888')]
phones = [p for p in phones if p] # filter list to only include phones that are set or have copy.
phones = phones + ['', '', '', '', ''] # pad phones so that there are at least 5.

PhoneBlock = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
        F4, phones[0], IF('   ', phones[1]), NEWLINE,
        phones[2], IF('   ', phones[3]), IF('   ', phones[4]), NEWLINE,
        card_email, NEWLINE,
], (18,23.6), (LEFT,BOTTOM))

In the following case, there are three titles. The code example below will place up to two titles on the first line and one title on the second line. Again, it does not matter which titles are selected. For example, if title1 and title3 are selected, they will appear on the first line; if only title 3 is selected, it will appear on the first line by itself.

Note: again, the following code goes on the "Preblocks" tab. The # precedes informative notes in the code. These notes will not be executed.

titles = [card_title1, card_title2, card_title3]
titles = [t for t in titles if t] # filter list to only include titles that are set.
titles = titles + ['', '', ''] # pad titles so that there are at least 3.

Block0 = DWIMBLOCK([LEFT,
        F1, IF(name_prefix, ' '), name_first, ' ', IF(name_middle, ' '),
        name_last, IF(', ', name_suffix), NEWLINE,
        F3, titles[0], IF(', ', titles[1]), NEWLINE,
        IF(titles[2]), NEWLINE,
        ], (18,75.7), (LEFT,TOP_BASELINE) )

If your phone labels are hard coded, e.g. phone 1 is always Main Phone then you can call an EPS or JPG file inline in the Block like this:

LEFT, F5, EPSWORD('con/mainphone_icon.eps'), SPACER(3), SHIFT(2),Phone1Word, SHIFT(0), NEWLINE,

	Note
	JPG or EPS files can be used.

This example uses Phone1Word, but this could be done for other labels such as for Website.

Use the SHIFT command to move the type up or down in order to align the logo with the text. Set the bounding box of the logo to equal the height of the type plus leading and that will help keep the type aligned closely. Using the SPACER command will control the amount of space after the icon before the phone number begins. In this case the value 3 was used and that will result in 3 points of space between the icon and the phone number.

If the phone labels are dynamic you can use the Personal Page to pass a file name in place of the label choice. When defining the drop-down list use the right hand column to provide the path to the image including the filename. (e.g. 'con/image_icon.eps')

Figure 13.7. Phonedrop_with_images

When using dynamic phone labels you will want to use this code in the Block:

LEFT, F5, EPSWORD(ph1_label), SPACER(3), SHIFT(2),'Main Phone', SHIFT(0), NEWLINE,

Replace 'ph1_label' to match what you defined the variable to be when setting up the drop-down list.

When using Visual Style Editor (VSE), you will need to enable Block Logic and put this in the Preblocks tab. Documentation on enabling Block Logic can be found at: http://www.nationsprint.com/hub/docs/html/StyleBuilding/vse-pre-and-post-blocks-tabs.html

The code below will take precedence over phone configuration in the Phones tab in VSE.

Standard code for the configuration of phones is as follows:

if not ph14: ph1_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph24: ph2_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph34: ph3_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph44: ph4_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph54: ph5_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph64: ph6_ext_lbl = ''
        Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph11, ph12, ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '(*) *-* * *')
        Phone2Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph21, ph22, ph23, ph2_ext_lbl, ph24), '(*) *-* * *')
        Phone3Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph31, ph32, ph33, ph3_ext_lbl, ph34), '(*) *-* * *')
        Phone4Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph41, ph42, ph43, ph4_ext_lbl, ph44), '(*) *-* * *')
        Phone5Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph51, ph52, ph53, ph5_ext_lbl, ph54), '(*) *-* * *')
        Phone6Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph61, ph62, ph63, ph6_ext_lbl, ph64), '(*) *-* * *')

The asterisks represent the parts of the PhoneWord: area code, prefix, last 4 digits, extension label and extension number, along with the format, e.g. the area code surrounded by parentheses or the hyphen following the phone prefix.

The code for a bullet is "\x95". (You can find the octal code for standard glyphs in the Variables tab of a style.) We can substitute the parentheses, spaces and hyphens with a bullet. The format would be as follows:

if not ph14: ph1_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph24: ph2_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph34: ph3_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph44: ph4_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph54: ph5_ext_lbl = ''
        if not ph64: ph6_ext_lbl = ''
        Phone1Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph11, ph12, ph13, ph1_ext_lbl, ph14), '*\x95*\x95* * *')
        Phone2Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph21, ph22, ph23, ph2_ext_lbl, ph24), '*\x95*\x95* * *')
        Phone3Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph31, ph32, ph33, ph3_ext_lbl, ph34), '*\x95*\x95* * *')
        Phone4Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph41, ph42, ph43, ph4_ext_lbl, ph44), '*\x95*\x95* * *')
        Phone5Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph51, ph52, ph53, ph5_ext_lbl, ph54), '*\x95*\x95* * *')
        Phone6Word = PHONEWORD(F1, (ph61, ph62, ph63, ph6_ext_lbl, ph64), '*\x95*\x95* * *')

Phone numbers will print as 555•123•1212

If you need a space before and after each bullet, the format would be:

'* \x95 * \x95 * * *'

Phone numbers will print as 555 • 123 • 1212

You can copy and paste the code above into your style. When you do, don't forget the code above the PhoneWord definitions to remove the extension label if the extension number is missing. And remember to change the font, F1, if you need a different font for phone numbers.

Images inline with text run from relatively simple to very complex logic. They can be "hard coded" or linked to a user's profile, an address or a division. The user may be able to select the image from a drop-down list, checkboxes or radio butons. Thumbnails can be associated with checkboxes or radio buttons. You could use the Form Editor to create a Sublogo Field to allow the user to see and choose their image. These are just a few wys in which this can be done. We have quite a bit of documentation you can use to achieve many of these. Here are a few links:

Sublogo - Sublogo Section Form

Sublogo Selection with Thumbnails Using a Drop-Down List

How to Use Images as Phone Labels in a Drop-down List

One of the most common needs for inline images with text is for phone labels. Here is a simple example. If phone #1 needed a "T" (for telephone), phone #2 needed an "F" (for fax) and phone #3 needed an "M" (for mobile), and the user was not allowed to change the order in which they would be typeset, you could replace the phone labels with images as follows:

Figure 13.8. Inline_image

        phone1 = (IF(EPSWORD('con/label_T.eps'), SPACER(2), Phone1Word))
        phone2 = (IF(EPSWORD('con/label_F.eps'), SPACER(2), Phone2Word))
        phone3 = (IF(EPSWORD('con/label_M.eps'), SPACER(2), Phone3Word))
        

In this example we have created three new variables: phone1, phone2 and phone3, and defined them using an IF statement to prevent the phone label from printing if the PhoneWord (phone number) is missing.

You cannot move the image up or down inline with the type. However, you can move the type. So, you can use the SHIFT command and apply it to the text.

Upload the phone label EPS or JPG files to the site using the File Uploader in the site's menu.

	Note
	JPG or EPS files can be used.

In Visual Style Editor (VSE), you will need to add the three new variables to the Variables tab, without a Default Value and with the Type drop-down list as Text.

In VSE, the sample code above would need to be in the Preblocks tab because the engine runs the style from left to right, beginning with the Variables tab. So, the PhoneWords would be defined in the Phones tab before applying the label in the Preblocks tab, and the type could be set in the Blocks tab by using the new variables you created (phone1, phone2 and phone3) in the Blocks tab instead of PhoneWords.

It is difficult to write one piece of documentation with examples of all the different ways to implement inline images. It often requires combining information from more than one piece of documentation to achieve what is needed. If you cannot find what you need here, please contact PageDNA Support for assistance and provide us with all the details of what is needed.

If you wish to have the system auto populate the current date on an item or use the current date to calculate something such as an expiration date, you can do so with the following process.

In the Pre Blocks area add this section of code:

# calculate date 4
import notions, time
days = 86400
date = notions.fmttime('%B %e, %Y', time.time())

In the style block you will need to call the variable 'date' to have the date displayed. The result would look like this: Month Day, Year (i.e. August 23, 2008)