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All,
We have adopted the following sequence of tests to validate a PDF file's structure as "suitable for commercial printing use". To us this means that the file can be expected to RIP without error on any PDF-consuming device or application. In this case we are not concerned with output quality - only file structure correctness relative to the PDF Standard. I know that this topic has come up on the list before, so I thought some of you might be interested.
Test Process
1. File must open in Acrobat 4.0.5 & Acrobat 5.0 on PC/Windows and Mac OSX & OS 9 without error and without Acrobat requiring you save the file when you close it.
2. The file must open without error in Mac OSX Preview.
3. The file must open and RIP in Ghostscript on both Mac OSX and PC/Windows (we use either GNU or Aladdin (SP?) - same version)
4. The file must open and be printable to PostScript without error on Mac OSX and PC/Windows. The resultant PDF files must redistill without error to a PDF on the respective platforms. (Currently we waive the requirement "distill correctly without error to a PDF" because current Adobe (or Windows) PC print drivers do not always allow you to correctly specify the output page size and rotation.)
5. The file must RIP correctly on one or more commercial RIPs - this can include B/W rips and/or color RIPs and does not have to produce output. This includes and Barco, Harlequin/Global Graphics, or embedded PDF/PostScript printer RIPs - the choice of RIP will depend on file size and complexity.
We have been using this validation program for more than a year and have found that if a file passes this set of tests, it is reasonable to assume that a program which fails to consume and RIP it is in fact in error.
Many other PDF tools have been listed on this list as able to validate PDF file structure. We have found the above set to be sufficient and generally available to anyone doing PDF development. Other applications, e.g., xpdf as it comes with Red Hat Linux, fails with larger, more complex PDF files.
Todd
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