I'm a Perl novice using the PDF::API package to add stuff to the end of a PDF file. I've RTFMed, I've googled this and I even tried emailing the author but I'm totally stuck.
I want to use the method PDF::API2::PDF::Page->add($str). At first I tried PDF::API2->page($index). This inserts-and-returns a new page at $index and it works fine. However an attempt to use $page->add($str) gets the error message: Can't locate object method "add" via package "PDF::API2::Page" So it seems that the scalar returned by PDF::API2->page is not the same kind of object that PDF::API2::PDF::Page->add is supposed to be called on. This surprised me - I expected both 'page' objects to be the same type. But I checked and there is a file /Library/Perl/5.8.1/PDF/API2/Page.pm and also a file /Library/Perl/5.8.1/PDF/API2/pdf/Page.pm so it would appear there are in fact two different kind of page objects. And AFAICT I need the other one. So I tried to create a scalar of type PDF::API2::PDF::Page using its constructor. But to create that I need an object of type PDF::API2::PDF::Pages to base it on. The constructor for Pages is PDF::API2::PDF::Pages->new($pdfs,$parent). But the explanation (http://cpan.uwinnipeg.ca/htdocs/PDF-API2/PDF/API2/PDF/Pages.html) of the parameters needed for $pdfs and $parent aren't explicit enough for a Perl novice like myself. It says that $parent should point at the file context if we're trying to create a root node. And I think thats what I need to do to add pages onto the end of the PDF file. I know enough Perl to know that contexts are very important in Perl. So I looked it up in three different manuals but none of them make any reference to a file context. So I'm assuming that context isn't being using in the canonical sense here and that the author simply means a file pointer of some kind. So I've supplied the $pdf scalar that was returned from PDF::API2->open('aPDFfile.pdf'). The pod says that "$pdfs is the file object (or objects) in which to create the new Pages object." I'm not sure precisely what it means by that but I think its that this is the file that it'll output to. I want it to output to the same file so I've provided the same $pdf value again. So my attempted construction of a 'pages' object looks like this: my $pages = PDF::API2::PDF::Pages->new($pdf, $pdf); when I run it it craps out giving the message: Can't locate object method "new_obj" via package "PDF::API2" at /Library/Perl/5.8.1/PDF/API2/PDF/Pages.pm line 68. I had a look at the line in question and its pretty hairy stuff. I think its doing something about creating a file outputstream or something like that. It's expecting that there will be a pointer to an object in $_ and I think its the wrong kind of object and consequently it can't find the method. But I'm (way) out of my depth. I think my problem is that my providing the wrong parameters to PDF::API2::PDF::Pages->new. But I just can't understand what I should be giving it. The POD comments are too vague for me. I don't get what I should be providing to it. thank you. Nelius Bresnan.
