Dear Christiaan, I apologize for being unclear.
I'm not interested in editing the contents of a PDF file. All I'm asking is whether there's a URL format (with certain arguments or so) that can point to a specific location in a PDF. If index.html points to a page and index.html#here points to a bookmark/location on that page, I'm asking whether there's any way I can instruct Skim or another PDF reader to open/scroll to a specific location (or annotation) in that PDF after opening it. The reason I'm doing this is that I've written a script to export notes from Skim and tag them with metadata, based on their color, where they were quoted from, etc. I would like to find a way to add to those exported notes a trackback link, whereby when browsing/editing them outside Skim I can click that link to open the source PDF from which they've been extracted and richly annotated in Skim. At a minimum, I can just point to the PDF file, but then all notes exported from a certain PDF would just open the file, without going to that specific note/page. Better yet, if there's a way my links can tell Skim (or another PDF reader) which page to go to after opening the PDF. Best would be if I can instruct Skim to go to a specific annotation after opening the PDF. This is why I was also interested to know how Spotlight passes its search phrases to Skim. Many thanks. On Mar 2, 2010, at 7:39 PM, Christiaan Hofman wrote: > > On Mar 3, 2010, at 0:58, Loai Naamani wrote: > >> Thanks Christiaan. >> Sorry for not being clearer. >> You mention that links can point to a location in a PDF in principle. My >> question is how are those links/URLs formatted or look like, so I can be >> able to create links that point to a location in a PDF. Say I want a URL, >> when handled by Skim or a PDF reader, to open/scroll the PDF to page 5 or to >> a certain 'location'. Would it look something like file:///~/nameofpdf.pdf#5 >> or something. I'm trying to find a way in which I can, upon following an >> external link to a PDF, have the reader (or Skim) go to a specific >> location/page/annotation in that PDF. >> Thanks again. > > I think you misunderstand the nature of the PDF format. It's not some kind of > formatted text that you can just edit. It's a complex and interconnected > format, mixing all kinds of data structures, more like programming code than > text, and it's unthinkable that you can modify it by hand (try opening a PDF > with e.g. TextEdit.app.) Therefore, "what it looks like" is pretty > meaningless: in the resulting display, it doesn't look like anything (it's > invisible), while in the PDF data it's some complex data structure that you > won't be able to add yourself. > > Christiaan > >> >> On Mar 2, 2010, at 5:36 PM, Christiaan Hofman wrote: >> >>> >>> On Mar 2, 2010, at 23:05, Loai Naamani wrote: >>> >>>> Thanks Christiaan. Two questions: >>>> 1) what does the link pointing to a location in a PDF look like (that you >>>> mention, in principle)? >>> >>> It does not look like anything, it's invisible. Unless of course you mean >>> something different with "look like"? >>> >>>> (even if Skim can't add/read it. I'm assuming other readers would be able >>>> to read such a link and scroll the PDF to the specified location?) >>> >>> Skim can read them and open them. You just can't add them in Skim. >>> >>>> 2) how does Spotlight open a PDF, say in Skim, while passing the search >>>> attributes that Skim automatically displays in the 'search' field? is the >>>> search string passed in the URL to the file? and can skim be instructed to >>>> automatically search for this 'string' in the notes panel instead of the >>>> contents panel (which it currently does after Spotlight opens the document >>>> in Skim)? >>>> Thanks again. >>>> >>> >>> The search string is passed in the Apple Event sent to Skim to open the >>> document. And you can't tell Skim to handle that differently. It also makes >>> less sense, because Spotlight only searches the PDF, not the notes. >>> >>> Christiaan >>> >>>> >>>> On Mar 2, 2010, at 4:36 PM, Christiaan Hofman wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Mar 2, 2010, at 19:52, Loai Naamani wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Hello there-- Can specific Skim annotations be directly linked to? That >>>>>> is, an annotation URL that Skim would open, and scroll the PDF to that >>>>>> specific annotation and highlight/select it in the notes list? This URL >>>>>> can of course point to the PDF or the .skim notes file as its root. If >>>>>> not, is there a URL format to link to specific pages in a PDF? That is, >>>>>> a URL that any PDF reader (including Skim) would open and scroll to the >>>>>> specified page? Thank you. >>>>> >>>>> No. In principle, links can point to a location in a PDF though, which is >>>>> essentially the same thing. Skim doesn't support adding links though. >>>>> >>>>> Christiaan >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>>>> Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval >>>>> Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs >>>>> proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. >>>>> See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. >>>>> http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Skim-app-users mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users >>>> >>>> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>>> Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval >>>> Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs >>>> proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. >>>> See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. >>>> http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Skim-app-users mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval >>> Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs >>> proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. >>> See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. >>> http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Skim-app-users mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval >> Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs >> proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. >> See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. >> http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev >> _______________________________________________ >> Skim-app-users mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval > Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs > proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. > See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev > _______________________________________________ > Skim-app-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev _______________________________________________ Skim-app-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
