Andreas:

> If I may try to sum up as clearly as possible: Page orientation is
> only stored in the individual page objects, all different
> instantiations (I hope I got this right). When you do a "refresh",
> all these objects are discarded and the information is lost (unless
> you would first save it). When the new pdf comes in, new objects
> (instantiations) of all the pages are created and they have no idea
> what the previous additional changes were the user might have made.
> No way to do something about it, the convenient it may look given
> the workflow. And Thomas as well as tcb, you need to revise your
> user model of Skim, that it would store somewhere those states
> (information) you are interested in.

Right.  I now understand that the state of each page is stored in each
page.  But as currently implemented, the Rotate buttons always rotate
all pages so from a user viewpoint the mechanism of storage is not
relevant.

> In a nutshell you need first to retrieve the current rotation state
> from all the pages and save that information somewhere.

No.  Just keep a record of the rotation state that the user requested
(by clicking on the rotate buttons), that's one variable.  No
retrieval is needed at all from the user viewpoint.

> Do the refresh and then apply to each page that rotation state.

Right.  Do the refresh and then apply the button presses that the user
had done previously (as recorded in one variable).  This is equivalent
to applying the button presses that the user did to show a particular
page in the middle of the document.  The fact that Skim remembers the
page is why I am using Skim as opposed to other PDF readers!

> An AppleScript seems to be the easiest solution, since Skim (as well
> as BibDesk) are so good, robust, and correctly functional
> applications because they do not implement all the whistles and
> bells the diverse user would like to have. Sometimes giving up on
> nice to have is tough, but remember the perfect is only too often
> the enemy of the good.
>
> My advice: Thomas, write the AppleScript, perhaps make it available
> to other users, and all will be happy. ;-)

I would be happy to do that for everyone except I don't know
AppleScript and can't afford the time to figure out how to implement
it.

Summary:  a single variable in Skim, parallel to the variable that
keeps track of the page number, could keep track of the rotation state
(for all pages) as set by the user.  After refresh, both the page and
overall rotation of all pages is reset.  From the user viewpoint, the
refresh leaves the page looking the same as it was before the refresh
(aside from textual changes etc).

This idea will fail if it was ever intended to allow the user to
rotate individual pages.  Is there a definition document somewhere
which says that?

I'm sorry to bother people so much.  I thought initially that this
would be a trivial change and that still seems to be the case.  Please
bear with me as I learn more about this great program.

Tom

  Thomas D. Schneider, Ph.D.
  National Institutes of Health
  National Cancer Institute
  Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology Laboratory
  Molecular Information Theory Group
  Frederick, Maryland  21702-1201
  http://alum.mit.edu/www/toms (permanent)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gaining the trust of online customers is vital for the success of any company
that requires sensitive data to be transmitted over the Web.   Learn how to 
best implement a security strategy that keeps consumers' information secure 
and instills the confidence they need to proceed with transactions.
http://p.sf.net/sfu/oracle-sfdevnl 
_______________________________________________
Skim-app-users mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users

Reply via email to